Do Catholics honor Mary?

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Hello, everyone.
As a hobby, I make small, wooden shrines which
contain a statue of the Blessed Mother. I have
found that Catholics in nursing homes are often
pleased to have an opportunity to have one.
[After all, for most, when you don’t feel well,
there’s nothing like having your mother around.]
I go to the dollar stores and purchase fabric
roses and baby’s breath to put in the shrines.

An analogy occurred to me one day that I could
employ when the suggestion is made that
Catholics “worship” Mary. I will say:
"You know the Lincoln monument in
Washington? It’s waaaaaaaaayyyyy bigger
than my little shrines. Do we “worship”
Lincoln? No, the nation had that memorial
built to* honor* Lincoln for his service to our
country in a critical period of it’s history.
My little shrines give a Catholic a chance
to honor Mary [and to call her to mind so
that a prayer for her help might well up.]

Any critiques of this analogy?
[My mother has Altzheimer’s and is in
a nursing home. She was holding the shrine
one day and pressed it to her heart and said:
“When you’re not here, she watches over me.”]
I rest my case!
reen12
 
That is actually an excellent analogy. Catholics have been accused of idolatry by worshiping statues. Just as a picture reminds us of a loved one, a statue reminds us of great ones like Mary. Jesus honored His mother, and we honor her by imitating Him.
 
[My mother has Altzheimer’s and is in
a nursing home. She was holding the shrine
one day and pressed it to her heart and said:
“When you’re not here, she watches over me.”
Click to expand...
ooowww, that is so sweet! I guarantee you that our holy St. Mary is watching over your mother, and keeping her company.🙂

A friend of mine that I grew up with got hit by a drunk driver one day when he was walking down the street. He was in the hospital in a very serious condition, with all sorts of problems and internal bleeding, and there was little hope for him. I don’t remember the exact details of the story, but what I do know is that St. Mary visited him at night and touched him and he was healed–completely! I always see him around, and I every time I see him I remember how miraculous it is that he is still here today! Stories like these amaze me, and for that reason I will always honor Saint Mary, St. Mark, who is the apostle that established my church, the Coptic Orthodox Church, and of course the other saints.

God Bless,
Elizabeth
[/quote]
 
I commend your making the shrines… what a nice gift to give. 👍

Just to prepare you however, I suspect the opposition to your analogy will be this: “But poeple don’t pray to Lincoln”.

The analogy will be usefull in perhaps refuting the idea we worship idols, but I’m afraid it will not settle the discomfort of those who mistakenly think we worship Mary.

I have found no substitute yet in defending the Catholic position on Mary, other than to delve into the scriptural and theological evidence. Tim Staples has a great series entitled “All Generations Shall call me Blessed”. It’ll give you the answer to just about any objection to Marain doctrines.

Peace,
Chris
 
Their response to the whole “blessed” argument is that they will list how many times something in the bible is called “blessed”.

God Bless,
Elizabeth
 
There is no doubt in my mind what Jesus is telling us in

John 19: 26:27

26 When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. 27 After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.
 
How many people look lovingly at pictures of their loved ones?
If they are looking at a picture of a departed loved one they may event “talk” to the picture – or meditate on fond memories they have of them.

Is the picture helping them connect with their loved one in their heart (love never dies) - or are they adoring a piece of paper - because paper is so fun to worship?
 
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reen12:
Hello, everyone.
As a hobby, I make small, wooden shrines which
contain a statue of the Blessed Mother. I have
found that Catholics in nursing homes are often
pleased to have an opportunity to have one.
[After all, for most, when you don’t feel well,
there’s nothing like having your mother around.]
I go to the dollar stores and purchase fabric
roses and baby’s breath to put in the shrines.

An analogy occurred to me one day that I could
employ when the suggestion is made that
Catholics “worship” Mary. I will say:
"You know the Lincoln monument in
Washington? It’s waaaaaaaaayyyyy bigger
than my little shrines. Do we “worship”
Lincoln? No, the nation had that memorial
built to* honor* Lincoln for his service to our
country in a critical period of it’s history.
My little shrines give a Catholic a chance
to honor Mary [and to call her to mind so
that a prayer for her help might well up.]

Any critiques of this analogy?
Click to expand...
I think that is excellent. I usually point out that protestants have nativity scenes all over their house during Christmas, and that isn’t worshiping the nativity scene but as a reminder of Jesus’ birth and is put there in honor of Jesus Mary and Joseph.
 
How many people look lovingly at pictures of their loved ones?
If they are looking at a picture of a departed loved one they may event “talk” to the picture – or meditate on fond memories they have of them.
Click to expand...
Is the picture helping them connect with their loved one in their heart (love never dies) - or are they adoring a piece of paper - because paper is so fun to worship?
Click to expand...
Hope you don’t mind my arguing with you here, but I have had this conversation, and know what the response will be.

First they will say that they don’t pray to the picture of their loved one. And second, they’ll say they don’t look at a picture of their mother to remind them of their father–i.e. looking at a picture of Mary to think of Jesus.

God Bless,
Elizabeth
 
True - but what DO they look at to remind them of God?

I’ve been in many protestant homes and have seen their paintings of Jesus, or depictions of the Trinity.

I’ve seen the great reverance they carry for their bibles -and yet I understand that they don’t “worship” pieces of paper and ink.

I’ve seen them kneel before their pastor asking for intercession - yet I understand they are not worshipping their pastor.
 
40.png
Coptic:
…they’ll say they don’t look at a picture of their mother to remind them of their father–i.e. looking at a picture of Mary to think of Jesus.
Click to expand...
And yet they look at words in a book every day to think of Jesus. Curious.

Ah, but they’ll say, those are the words of God!

Yes, you’ll say, and Mary is a creation of God, made in His image and likeness (unlike a book), and thus “very good”. Can one think of God via words in a book, but not via His creation?
 
Scott Hahn talks about the fact that we are to imitate Jesus in all things. Since Jesus was an obedient son, He honored his mother and father. Jesus is our brother, Mary is our mother, thus we honor her as Jesus did.

Father Corapi says simply “If she is good enough for Jesus, she’s good enough for me!”
 
Dear Chris W,

Uh, oh. I didn’t think of that. “But we don’t pray to
Lincoln.” Sigh. Thanks for your thought. I’ll work
on circumventing that possible objection.
God bless you,
reen12
 
Dear Elizabeth,

Thanks for pointing out the objections that will
arise when I employ my analogy.
Isn’t it lovely that you a Coptic Orthodox and i
an R.C. can pray to St. Mary together?

Isn’t it the mother of Jesus of whom it was said:

“Thou art the glory of Israel,
Thou art the honor of thy people.”

Are you familiar with the Roman Catholic
litany to Mary? It contains the following
words:
Mystical rose,
Tower of David,
Tower of ivory,
House of gold,
Ark of the covenant,
Gate of heaven,
Morning star,
Heath of the Sick,
Refuge of sinners,

I just think that’s so beautiful.
God be with you, Elizabeth,
reen12
 
Dear mommy,

Thank you for the thought on the nativity not being
considered idol worship ! How true.
When I’m not making shrines, I’m making
nativities, and I’ve wondered whether some of our
Protestant brothers and sisters had a nativity
in the home at Christmas.

God bless you,
reen12
 
There have been some good points raised. I liked the analogy of George Washington, or was that Abe Lincoln.

As an Australian I need to point to the statues of other people that are to be found in our parks and elsewhere, such as Tommy Bent’s statue.

The statues are there as a reminder of what those people did for the growth of our country, or whatever. We also have war memorials where the names of those who died fighting in war are listed. These memorials are a reminder of what happened in the past. It is a reminder of why we have our freedom of speech and of religion.

Those little shrines do the same thing as we honour the role that Mary played in our salvation.

Maggie
 
Dear MaggieOH,

Thanks for your thoughts. One wing of my family
left England a century ago to settle in
Australia. I’ve always been sorry that I don’t
know their descendents.
All best wishes,
reen12
 
40.png
Coptic:
First they will say that they don’t pray to the picture of their loved one. And second, they’ll say they don’t look at a picture of their mother to remind them of their father–i.e. looking at a picture of Mary to think of Jesus.
Click to expand...
I guess you don’t really have to care about Mary for salvation, but you really miss something about God if you cannot look at the world and see God. Sometimes it’s so obvious it is easy to overlook, but God’s hand is everywhere. God’s hands has made many great brush strokes, Our Blessed Mother was one of them.
 
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