Maybe I am oversensitive, but I am seriously bothered by the level of antagonism/rancor in this thread. Where is all this anger/rancor coming from?
Maybe this song will bring people closer to Christ. As a former Protestant, I saw protestant Christians who are too spooked by Mary and Catholicism to learn anything about her presented directly from us Catholics. It was only when a Protestant leader could clearly explain the concepts of devotion that they realized they have no problem with it.
This
fear of Mary is very dangerous for their souls and strikes me as possibly irrational. Maybe if she is introduced into popular culture by singers, maybe they will lose her fear and it will be one step closer to the Christian unity that we all pray for. If we notice, it may be the Anglicans, who never picked up that
fear of Mary who are the absolute closest to uniting with the Roman Catholic Church.
If one reads
True Devotion to Mary fisheaters.com/totalconsecrationmontfort.html by St. Louis Mary Grignon de Montfort, Mary always leads people to Christ. There are also quite a few conversion stories of wiccas and Protestants (maybe even posted on the Spirituality forum of this board) who started praying the Rosary regularly and then later become Catholics. Who knows, maybe the people listening to this will be touched
Our fear may be more significant when
Catholics, who ought to know better, start to misuse her name. For example, Stalin, who left Catholic seminary, spread devotions to Mary in Russia.
To the best of my imperfect and sometimes sinful understanding, this is the gist of the song:
- She was lost, alone. If you read her interviews, she suffered from depression for a while.
- Something happy came into her life that brought her joy.
- Now she wants to sing “Ave Maria.”
Maybe its a very different form of praise and veneration of Jesus and Mary for bringing her through a troubled time.
Jesus walks
by Kanye West is also a potentially powerful music video. Here is the music video:
(Version 1)
youtube.com/watch?v=b8AyHupByuU
(Version 2)
youtube.com/watch?v=HUmcUuPo3Jo
Excerpted Lyrics:
Yo, We at War
We at war with terrorism, racism, and most of all we are at war with ourselves
(Jesus walks)
God show me the way because the Devil trying to break me down
(Jesus Walks with me) with me, with me, with me [fades]
To the hustlers, killers, murderers, drug dealers even the strippers
(Jesus walks with them)
To the victims of Welfare for we living in hell here yeah
(Jesus walks with them)
No hear ye hear ye want to see Thee more clearly
I know he hear me when my feet get weary
Cause we’re the almost nearly extinct
We rappers are role models we rap we don’t think
I ain’t here to argue about his facial features
Or here to convert atheists into believers
I’m just trying to say the way school need teachers
The way Kathie Lee needed Regis that’s the way I need Jesus
So here go my single dog radio needs this
They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus
That means guns, sex, lies, video tapes
But if I talk about God my record won’t get played Huh?
Well let this take away from my spins
Which will probably take away from my ends
Then I hope this take away from my sins
And bring the day that I’m dreaming about
Next time I’m in the club everybody screaming out.
(Jesus Walks)
God show me the way because the devil trying to break me down
(Jesus Walks)
The only thing that I pray is that my feet don’t fail me now
(Jesus Walks)
And I don’t think there’s nothing I can do now to right my wrongs
(Jesus walks with me… fades)
I want to talk to God but I’m afraid because we ain’t spoke in so long
*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour our death. Amen. *
Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the powerful intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.
For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world! For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world! For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world!
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. *
)
WOW, controversy abounds from Beyonce’s “Ave Maria” here. I ache inside to hear all the criticism of her song, her dress and of her as a human being. Is this how we spread the message of our Faith? Does anybody really think they can “know” what her song is about? Can you be so sure of her intentions? She is not mocking the Mother of God, as some of you would like to believe with this over-analytical banter. Give her a break. Admit her talent & beauty is God-given and perhaps in her own way (not yours) she is drawing someone on this Earth closer to Mary, just by her lovely presence and talent, and the heavenly refrain: “Ave Maria”. Peace on Earth to all in 09!!
She deserves better.