Do we as Catholics worship Mary

[rinnie]

Calliope, Ok im sorry i had to go somewhere. I understand what you are saying i understand what Father was saying. See it was a matter of miscommunication. Now what happened is they didnt understand what you were saying. But see here is where the problem lies. when someone says that they went to Father and hes just denied it thats not the same as saying Father didnt understand how confused i was on this matter. See what i mean he thought he fixed the problem. See priests have so much to deal with and it is worse today. with the shortage. Just Calliope, please be careful how you say things because the church never taught that. And see thats what happens some one takes stuff like this and runs with it. And if we dont figure it out and get to the bottom of it, its like we are letting someone attack our church falsely. But its okay honey it really is. Just be careful is all. And maybe now you can say i can see how you could feel like that but this is how it truely is. even if you dont practice the faith you can at least stick up for it when you see someone spreading false things about it thats all God Bless you and i should have seen more then what i did too. But if you still dont understand maybe we can explain it. and being that you were of the faith you can see you were on the right book wrong page kind of thing.

 

[guanophore]

Verses 2 and 3 of this hymn is making some very powerful theological claims about her. Claims that are spoken of God only and yet applied to her. These verses express is a strong indication of worship.

I suppose it could seem that way, to one who could not distinguish between creature and Creator.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; 14 if you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” John 14:12-14

When did you expect this promise to be fulfilled? Have you done any works greater than those of Jesus lately?

 

[Calliope]

Calliope, OP here, thanks for sharing. I believe you. And I’m glad you came around to your senses. Too bad the priest you spoke with didn’t get it. I’m sorry for the pain this caused you. Have you tried speaking with another priest about it? It seems some of our priests and bishops have their head stuck in the sand. That’s part the reason I posted this question in the first place. I’m hopping to fill in the gaps at my parish and clear up miss-understood teachings about our catholic faith within our own ranks. My plan is to take a survey of parishioners beliefs on certain topics, Mary being one of them. Hopefully, God willing it might help.

Peace in Christ

Thank you for responding.

I brought my concerns up on three separate occasions, several years apart with different priests and also some nuns at a school I attended, and then years later, as an adult, in another city and state with another priest. I received pretty much the same response, that it just doesn’t happen and that I had nothing to worry about, that I could never honor Mary enough.

After my third discussion, I thought maybe that what I was being told was “the party line”, and that perhaps they were instructed to respond that way.

After that third time, and several sessions with the pastor of that Church, I never really attended another Catholic church with regularity. Just sporadicly. This issue did have a great deal to do with my “falling away”.

When I see people here say that such things NEVER happen and that NO Catholic ever leaves over the Mary issue,and that anyone who says they did is lying, it hurts all over again.

I appreciate you creating a thread in which all voices can be heard.

Calliope

 

[Calliope]

Calliope, Ok im sorry i had to go somewhere. I understand what you are saying i understand what Father was saying. See it was a matter of miscommunication. Now what happened is they didnt understand what you were saying. But see here is where the problem lies. when someone says that they went to Father and hes just denied it thats not the same as saying Father didnt understand how confused i was on this matter. See what i mean he thought he fixed the problem. See priests have so much to deal with and it is worse today. with the shortage. Just Calliope, please be careful how you say things because the church never taught that. And see thats what happens some one takes stuff like this and runs with it. And if we dont figure it out and get to the bottom of it, its like we are letting someone attack our church falsely. But its okay honey it really is. Just be careful is all. And maybe now you can say i can see how you could feel like that but this is how it truely is. even if you dont practice the faith you can at least stick up for it when you see someone spreading false things about it thats all God Bless you and i should have seen more then what i did too. But if you still dont understand maybe we can explain it. and being that you were of the faith you can see you were on the right book wrong page kind of thing.

I hope that my contributions to this discussion did not come off like I was attacking the Church. I did try to be careful to say that worship of Mary is NOT a teaching of the church, only that sometimes it happens, and that when it happens, sometimes people don’t take it seriously.

I don’t know whether or not the priests and religious that I spoke to didn’t understand what I was saying. We discussed it at some length. It was clear to them that I felt the problem had not been fixed, they pretty much refused to accept that I had worshipped Mary, and told me it was impossible to worship Mary.

That is what I don’t understand, I have heard many homilies on people worshipping false gods, or creating false gods in their life by the importance they give to things other than God, yet when I confessed to the fact that I had put Mary in such an improper position…I was told it was impossible. That is why I continue to be confused.

Anyway, I guess the issue is solved because I know not to put Mary into such a position.

I do defend the Church against false accusations.

Again, this issue is of great concern to me, because, as you can see by this thread, and nearly any other in which Mary is the subject, it is very hard to discuss anything without people getting very heated. The minute anyone, Catholic or not, expresses any concern over anything to do with Mary, people are ready to do the smack down, even before they really hear what the issue is. It’s like hornets protecting their nest, anyone near by tend to get stung in the zeal.

I wouldn’t bother, except I think the issue is important. There are other people who’ve been in situations similar to mine. They end up in Protestant churches and share their stories, and THAT is one of the sources of Protestant issues with veneration. They have heard the stories firsthand from former Catholics, not all of whom were lying. Maybe if the issue could be discussed and dealt with within Catholicism, some of those people wouldn’t be leaving to tell their stories elsewhere and cause more strife.

But when a Catholic with an issue on veneration brings it up, they get told there IS no problem, they feel that something serious isn’t getting dealt with and they go elsewhere because they feel they may be violating the first commandment.

It must get tiresome for priests to have to have that discussion AGAIN…but as it is an issue that causes people to stray (not all of them are lying), maybe it needs to be better addressed in house.

Calliope

 

[Canto]

Take all the prayers and stuff for Mary and then compare it to all the prayer and hymns and writings and the Mass etc for the Trinity and she becomes a very small pea in the pod.

I went to a public school and and so my only real training in the the faith was the Mass and more recently reading apologetical stuff and of course the Bibile. It was always clear that worship was for the Trinity alone but we had to call Mary blessed logically, and scripture deems it accepable. Her Son was brutally massacred on the cross for us. As St Bonoventure says “may my heart never cease to love you, my tongue never cease to praise you.”

In the Hail Mary we say “great choice God!” and ask Mary to interceede for us, just as when we’re sick we might ask a friend to pray for us, except Mary, bearing in mind people in Heaven are alive, is closer to God than anyone.

Sure the Rosary has 10 Mary prayers to 3 Trinity prayers per decade, but that’s just one form of devotion, and I find it so healing to meditate on Christ’s life. Mary I find draws me closer to God every day, so I will never cease to give her my thanks.

Some of the prayers and hymns to Mary may seem over the top, but most of them were written 100 years to many centuries ago. Some even date back to first millenium and back then the way people wrote of Mary or others may seem over the top to us today, but back then it wasn’t scandalous. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day…anyone?

I read the King James translators writing of the King (I assume it’s from the preface, read it on the net ages ago) and the way they spoke of the King, well put it this way, they certainly heaped on the praise!

The Bible is fulll of people helping God out. Gabriel, Michael to name two examples. God loves to share. The Saints, particually Mary, are great role models, many have truly shaped the Church in a great way, Jerome, Agustine, Thomas Aquinas etc and we should never forget that. The Saints are our friends and we should never be affraid to extol their works and ask for their help, just as long as we don’t worship them and I’ve never met a Catholic that does.

 

[Claudius]

Well, I grew up in pre-Vat II times–lo-ong ago.

I almost converted to RCC but didn’t.

To Catholics on the ground (great expression) then, there was a huge emphasis on MARY. The doctrines. The prayers. The statues. You were supposed to pray to her for EVERYTHING.

Maybe not now. I do know that Vat II really tried to *tone down *the devotion to Mary.

Popes after Pius XII haven’t emphasized her so much, not that she needed emphasizing, and I don’t think that Co-Mediatrix has even been proclaimed, like the Immac Conception has been proclaimed.

You should look over the facts again. There is always time. There is still time for you. Do not turn away from the truth anylonger. We are here ready to welcome you into the family of Christ. We are a family and we want to adopt you. We want all of you to come to heaven with us. Learn, have an open mind and use your reason. Start from the begining, Jesus, and follow the path of the apostles. There are a lot of hardships that the Church has had to overcome but we survived just for you. We have kept the teachings and truth of Jesus safe just for you. It is a free gift. Please let me know will take it.

 

[rinnie]

Calliope, i think i just figured it out. Okay i want to ask you one question and please be trueful. When you were praying to the blessed Mother did you ever feel that she was more powerful than God. Now the second question did the Church ever make you feel she was more powerful than God. I think i can show you a real easy way to understand this now.

 

[guanophore]

But when a Catholic with an issue on veneration brings it up, they get told there IS no problem, they feel that something serious isn’t getting dealt with and they go elsewhere because they feel they may be violating the first commandment.

It is impossible to break this commandment unintentially. Unless you deliberately purpose to make a god of someone or something else, you cannot commit idolatry by honoring someone. Worship requires willfullness.

 

[rinnie]

It is impossible to break this commandment unintentially. Unless you deliberately purpose to make a god of someone or something else, you cannot commit idolatry by honoring someone. Worship requires willfullness.

You and i are kind of on the same thing. What i think the problem is people dont really understand what intersession is. Because basically you are going to the Blessed Mother, Saints, and asking for their assistance. But as long as you know that they still themselves are going to God on your behalf to help you its not a sin. To pray to them and asking them to go to GOd with you isnt worshiping them. See what i mean, They still have no more power than God. But we know they are in good standing with GOd and he listens to their prayers. Like in Job. How God says i will listen to Jobs prayers. Not to say that he doesnt listen to us but it doesnt help to have assistance. veneration is to look upon with great respect. You could look at people taking different meanings out of veneration. You have to realize how the church takes it. We just give great respect, but giving great respect and worshiping is very different. You basically are praying to them to help in your assistance to Go with you to God, but you know that they are not God. does that make sense.

 

[Calliope]

Calliope, i think i just figured it out. Okay i want to ask you one question and please be trueful. When you were praying to the blessed Mother did you ever feel that she was more powerful than God. Now the second question did the Church ever make you feel she was more powerful than God. I think i can show you a real easy way to understand this now.

I did not think she was more powerful than God, but probably equal to God. From the amount of attention she received, and the very emotional and enthusiastic types of veneration given to her, I did believe that she had power that was her own, and that we should go to her, rather than Christ. The only time we ever showed anything like the enthusiasm and devotion to Christ was during Holy Week, especially after Mass on Holy Thursday and the veneration of the cross on Good Friday. Otherwise, Christ seemed an afterthought, but Mary was part of our daily lives.

Pilgrimages to her shrines, visits to traveling statues, exhortations and visits by the Blue Army, encouragement to be invested in various scapulars devoted to her, etc. etc. etc. May crowning was a huge event, very dramatic and emotional.

These things were not fully explained, and I did get the impression that Mary was where it was at. As a female, I was even more enthusiastically encouraged to have a special devotion to her. We used to have people come in and teach about Fatima and how Mary intervenes to get us saved, how she doles out graces, how even Christ was bound to listen to her, that was why we should go to her first, because if she told Christ to do something on our behalf, he would.

We were also taught to make sacrifices to Mary to show her our devotion and how much we loved her. To devote our entire self to her, to give things up, to make promises to her, etc.

So, you can see how I might have gotten confused, and found myself putting her in a place of importance above Christ, given the atmosphere in which I was raised.

God was the big meanie, the Judge who watched us looking for a reason to put us in hell, Mary was the mother who had coffers of graces to save us and the power to tell Jesus whom to save and even protect in times of danger. That is how they were presented. Actually, Mary was given credit for being able to protect us herself as well. It was common to hear adults, very solid Catholics, the backbone of the parish say things like “Mary protect us” “Thankyou Mary” etc. They probably understood the whole intervention part, and their words were merely shorthand, but it was not always clear to the hearer.

Calliope

 

[Calliope]

It is impossible to break this commandment unintentially. Unless you deliberately purpose to make a god of someone or something else, you cannot commit idolatry by honoring someone. Worship requires willfullness.

Well, I don’t know what to say. Over the years I heard many homilies on breaking the first commandment. Priests said that people made things/beings other than God, gods in their life. That they sinned by putting other things before God. That is what I learned in Mass, that is what I was taught in Catholic school, in preparation for Holy Communion, Penance and Confirmation.

So now you say that it is not true.

I did not worship accidentally, but grew in my devotion to the Virgin over time until she was more important than Christ to me. Maybe not more important than God the father, because I was pretty scared of Him.

I really don’t know how to judge “willfullness”. I mean, most of the time people don’t wake up and say " I think I’ll break a commandment today" yet we DO sin, we do break commandments and are responsible for doing so. There is a level of will, or sometimes merely an over abundance of self that causes us to act as we do. Mary was easier to deal with than Christ or God, she seemed to have more kudos to offer, she doled out graces, she wept for us, etc. etc. All that was very attractive, more attractive than cultivating a relationship with the Father, Son or Holy Spirit. Why deal with them when Mary was so much more accesible?

While I can’t say I ever said to myself " I think I’ll worship Mary instead of God." I found myself doing so just the same. Many sins sneak in the back door. We don’t make a list of pros and cons and decide to offend God…but by not being more careful, prudent, prayerful…we slip into sin. It was more like that.

This is very weird to me, again. That I admit sin, and for some reason, in this area, people are determined to talk me out of it. Why is that? If I said I had sinned by letting my job become more important to me than my relationship with God…I don’t think people would argue, but when I admit to letting Mary become more important to me, people try to tell me I did not.

Does that seem weird to anyone else?

Mary is not the cause of my sin. Defending my sin does her no honor and shows her no respect. Sometimes it seems that people think they are defending Mary when they defend any act of honor done towards her, but if someone does something improper, it is their fault, not Mary’s.

I am not trying to defame the Virgin, or any proper devotion or honor given her.

I find this “blind spot” when it comes to the Virgin very disturbing.

Calliope

 

[rinnie]

i understand you didnt realize that we go through her not to her. The only thing i can say is its sad that someone could not understand enough to make this clear to you… But it is just another example how the Churchs teachings are infallible but we as humans arent. And how the Priest couldnt understand what you are saying just made him like all of us human. Maybe God is using this for a couple of reasons. To teach us all.

 

[Calliope]

You and i are kind of on the same thing. What i think the problem is people dont really understand what intersession is. Because basically you are going to the Blessed Mother, Saints, and asking for their assistance. But as long as you know that they still themselves are going to God on your behalf to help you its not a sin. To pray to them and asking them to go to GOd with you isnt worshiping them. See what i mean, They still have no more power than God. But we know they are in good standing with GOd and he listens to their prayers. Like in Job. How God says i will listen to Jobs prayers. Not to say that he doesnt listen to us but it doesnt help to have assistance. veneration is to look upon with great respect. You could look at people taking different meanings out of veneration. You have to realize how the church takes it. We just give great respect, but giving great respect and worshiping is very different. You basically are praying to them to help in your assistance to Go with you to God, but you know that they are not God. does that make sense.

I think you are right, sometimes people don’t understand intercession and get the idea that Mary and the Saints have their own powers, and that can lead to superstition and improper devotion. Sometimes people get this impression erroneously from what they see or hear others say, because they don’t understand the theology behind it.

That was the cause of my situation, learning from what I saw and heard rather than from the Catechism. It was passed down as tradition in my family and culture, and not questioned or compared to the real teachings of the Church. That was the cause of the original misunderstanding. People tend to say things like “Pray to Mary, she’ll do so and so for you, she never fails”, rather than “Ask Mary to pray on your behalf.” and then later they thank Mary, rather than thanking God for listening to his faithful handmaiden.

We didn’t even have a catechism in my house. I learned by watching what others did, and I guess I came to my own conclusions about what that meant, and found myself doing some improper things.

Calliope

 

[jabelltulsa]

I am actually a bit insulted since Im Catholic - maybe Catholic longer than you, I don’t know.

I honestly did not mean to offend. I am struggling with speaking to people with an air of charity. This is very important to me. Please do not take offense, because I didn’t mean any.

God Bless.

 

[jabelltulsa]

Maybe you missed the part of my post in which I admitted to having worshipped Mary! I am not attempting to read the heart or mind of another, I am telling you MY OWN experience and what others have told me of THEIR own experience.

I am not making assumptions on anyone’s part.

I continued to be puzzled by people telling me that I don’t know what I am talking about, and that something I did and participated in NEVER happens.

It is a level of denial that I simply don’t know how to contend with!

And yes, when I understood what I was doing, and how wrong it was, I stopped immediately.

Are you suggesting that it is impossible for even a person to truly know whom they are worshipping? That only God can determine that?

I do not say that worship of Mary is SO common, but that it does occur, and denying it, even to the people who admit to once being caught in the error of it, is not a stance that is helpful to Catholicism. Correcting (as you suggested earlier in your post) is a much more effective stance.

Non-Catholics have also heard of Catholics who have worshipped Mary, and when they then hear people say it NEVER happens, it looks like a cover up.

It is just another sin, and it makes more sense to say “Yes, some Catholics might do that, but it is NOT the teaching or practice of the church and they are in error”

When I went to priests and nuns and said “Look, I did something wrong, I worshipped Mary” they further confused me by telling me I had not, that Catholics don’t worship Mary, but I knew where my heart had gone. That made me distrustful of the Church, I felt they cared more for their image than my soul, I was willing to admit my error, but they would not admit my error, because it might tarnish their image.

Calliope

I guess I am confused as to why you would worship her in the first place. The 10 Commandments are pretty clear on this. How did you worship her?

The bottom line is this: If someone is worshiping Mary, then they do not have even a basic understanding of what God wants from us, and therefore, need to pursue learning about God from Scared Tradition and Sacred Scripture. The Church teaches these things, not the worship of Mary.

 

[rinnie]

Well, I don’t know what to say. Over the years I heard many homilies on breaking the first commandment. Priests said that people made things/beings other than God, gods in their life. That they sinned by putting other things before God. That is what I learned in Mass, that is what I was taught in Catholic school, in preparation for Holy Communion, Penance and Confirmation.

So now you say that it is not true.

I did not worship accidentally, but grew in my devotion to the Virgin over time until she was more important than Christ to me. Maybe not more important than God the father, because I was pretty scared of Him.

I really don’t know how to judge “willfullness”. I mean, most of the time people don’t wake up and say " I think I’ll break a commandment today" yet we DO sin, we do break commandments and are responsible for doing so. There is a level of will, or sometimes merely an over abundance of self that causes us to act as we do. Mary was easier to deal with than Christ or God, she seemed to have more kudos to offer, she doled out graces, she wept for us, etc. etc. All that was very attractive, more attractive than cultivating a relationship with the Father, Son or Holy Spirit. Why deal with them when Mary was so much more accesible?

While I can’t say I ever said to myself " I think I’ll worship Mary instead of God." I found myself doing so just the same. Many sins sneak in the back door. We don’t make a list of pros and cons and decide to offend God…but by not being more careful, prudent, prayerful…we slip into sin. It was more like that.

This is very weird to me, again. That I admit sin, and for some reason, in this area, people are determined to talk me out of it. Why is that? If I said I had sinned by letting my job become more important to me than my relationship with God…I don’t think people would argue, but when I admit to letting Mary become more important to me, people try to tell me I did not.

Does that seem weird to anyone else?

Mary is not the cause of my sin. Defending my sin does her no honor and shows her no respect. Sometimes it seems that people think they are defending Mary when they defend any act of honor done towards her, but if someone does something improper, it is their fault, not Mary’s.

I am not trying to defame the Virgin, or any proper devotion or honor given her.

I find this “blind spot” when it comes to the Virgin very disturbing.

Calliope

And see Calliope you didnt misunderstand the CHurchs teaching, you first paragraph is exactly correct. And to put it technically and not to offend you i guess yes you were breaking a commandment. If you put the Blessed Mother above Jesus you did. But see to sin is to do something you are totally aware of. God knew you were confused thats why its not held against you. Now if you go to the blessed Mother in the wrong way. knowing now the difference. now its a sin.

 

[Calliope]

And see Calliope you didnt misunderstand the CHurchs teaching, you first paragraph is exactly correct. And to put it technically and not to offend you i guess yes you were breaking a commandment. If you put the Blessed Mother above Jesus you did. But see to sin is to do something you are totally aware of. God knew you were confused thats why its not held against you. Now if you go to the blessed Mother in the wrong way. knowing now the difference. now its a sin.

I did know the commandments at the time I fell into that sin. That is how I recognized that I was involved in sin. But I guess if I recognized and immediately stopped, then perhaps I was not culpable, since I stopped once I realized what I was doing.

That makes sense. Thanks for walking through this with me, that is more than others before have done! I think this will go a long way in helping me come to terms with things. You have given me some powerful food for thought during my Lenten journey!

Calliope

 

[rinnie]

I did know the commandments at the time I fell into that sin. That is how I recognized that I was involved in sin. But I guess if I recognized and immediately stopped, then perhaps I was not culpable, since I stopped once I realized what I was doing.

That makes sense. Thanks for walking through this with me, that is more than others before have done! I think this will go a long way in helping me come to terms with things. You have given me some powerful food for thought during my Lenten journey!

Calliope

Actually my love it is the Holy Spirit working thru us both. Just go to the Holy Spirit now and ask him to lead you to where he wants you to be. It may take a week,it may take a year who knows, but you will see things in a different light. A light God can only show you. I will pray for you on this Lenten Journey. See you showed us too what the Lenten Journey is all about. For all of us to go to the Holy Spirit and open our hearts, eyes, ears, and souls only the way he can. And remember thats what Grace is all about. God gives it to us when we are ready to receive it. Only he knows when.

 

[St_Aloysius]

I don’t know if anyone actually reads these, but I had a while to chew on this subject last night. I knew that what I did as a Christian, as a Catholic, was wholly in the right. It is my firm conviction. But I kept thinking to myself again and again, “Are there words? Or does one simply have to experience this whole thing for one’s self?”

Last night, I screwed up bigtime–as I so often do. I as a Protestant made the mistake of thinking that I needed to give God some “cool down” time before I ran to him. Not because I felt like I couldn’t go to him, but because I felt like it was hypocritical to sin knowing God’s love is endless and he’d just take me back anyway. That’s the definition of taking advantage of someone. But I, perfectionist as I am, am working on accepting grace fully.

Last night, I knelt down, and I began crying–not for “Catholic guilt,” as they say, but because I was truly sorry for my repeated offense. I… wanted forgiveness but also a desire to stop. As I knelt and cried, I suddenly realized I was praying. “Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry…” My eyes closed, I did what I do so often: I saw myself, a little child, blood covering my hands, and Mother Mary holding me her white robes all messied by my hands. But she didn’t care… She just rocked me and wiped my tears, and smiled, saying, “Do not be afraid”, again and again. Then she set me down, took me by the hand and led me to Christ. He knelt down, eyes overflowing, just picked me up, and held me so I could hear his Heart’s beat, while our Mother just stood to his side and smiled.

I was still praying, I realized all of a sudden. “Our Father, who art in heaven…” Jesus is anything but unapproachable in my mind. He endured the Cross out of love, not dutiful obligation. When I see him in my mind’s eye, imperfect image as it is, I see him smiling, gentle, ready to take his child into his arms. So why Mary, too, then? I guess, knowing that she IS my Mother, it’s natural to see myself in her arms. I love her. I’m sorry if that’s “wrong,” but I love her and have a relationship with her–however undeveloped. And when one realizes that she knows full well that our sins crucified her only son, that we caused his agony, and yet smiles that incredible, unbelievable smile and gently whispers, “I love you,” well, that’s God’s love shining through her. In her arms, I experience the love of Christ. True Love finds its source in God, and Mary radiates with the Father’s love and compassion. She shows it to us, helps us experience it. To see her is to see in a dazzling mirror God’s mercy. **What we love in Mary, we love for it finds its origins in God the Father. **Here on earth, we experience this to a degree. We see godly people who are filled with joy and compassion and see God in them and thus begin to love them back. If Mary really is the perfect disciple, the “handmaid of the Lord” who is constantly giving her Yes to God, then it’s natural to love her–we love love, and God IS love.

It’s more than “giving credit where credit is due.” It’s seeing what we as humans have to potential to be.

Christ is always shining brilliantly in our obedience, and to encounter his love in his saints, and in the Blessed Mother in particular, is just one way of experience him. We grow to love him for it, and appreciate our extended family. To love Mary all the more, is to love Christ in her all the more.

It’s never an either/or deal. Christ or Mary. **“Wherever there is goodness–wherever there is love–that is God.” We do not fear to love the godly here on earth for their christliness, do we? Neither do Catholics fear loving the saints in heaven for theirs. **

Hope this makes sense.

Peace

 

[Gabriel_of_12]

I don’t know if anyone actually reads these, but I had a while to chew on this subject last night. I knew that what I did as a Christian, as a Catholic, was wholly in the right. It is my firm conviction. But I kept thinking to myself again and again, “Are there words? Or does one simply have to experience this whole thing for one’s self?”

Last night, I screwed up bigtime–as I so often do. I as a Protestant made the mistake of thinking that I needed to give God some “cool down” time before I ran to him. Not because I felt like I couldn’t go to him, but because I felt like it was hypocritical to sin knowing God’s love is endless and he’d just take me back anyway. That’s the definition of taking advantage of someone. But I, perfectionist as I am, am working on accepting grace fully.

Last night, I knelt down, and I began crying–not for “Catholic guilt,” as they say, but because I was truly sorry for my repeated offense. I… wanted forgiveness but also a desire to stop. As I knelt and cried, I suddenly realized I was praying. “Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry…” My eyes closed, I did what I do so often: I saw myself, a little child, blood covering my hands, and Mother Mary holding me her white robes all messied by my hands. But she didn’t care… She just rocked me and wiped my tears, and smiled, saying, “Do not be afraid”, again and again. Then she set me down, took me by the hand and led me to Christ. He knelt down, eyes overflowing, just picked me up, and held me so I could hear his Heart’s beat, while our Mother just stood to his side and smiled.

I was still praying, I realized all of a sudden. “Our Father, who art in heaven…” Jesus is anything but unapproachable in my mind. He endured the Cross out of love, not dutiful obligation. When I see him in my mind’s eye, imperfect image as it is, I see him smiling, gentle, ready to take his child into his arms. So why Mary, too, then? I guess, knowing that she IS my Mother, it’s natural to see myself in her arms. I love her. I’m sorry if that’s “wrong,” but I love her and have a relationship with her–however undeveloped. And when one realizes that she knows full well that our sins crucified her only son, that we caused his agony, and yet smiles that incredible, unbelievable smile and gently whispers, “I love you,” well, that’s God’s love shining through her. In her arms, I experience the love of Christ. True Love finds its source in God, and Mary radiates with the Father’s love and compassion. She shows it to us, helps us experience it. To see her is to see in a dazzling mirror God’s mercy. **What we love in Mary, we love for it finds its origins in God the Father. **Here on earth, we experience this to a degree. We see godly people who are filled with joy and compassion and see God in them and thus begin to love them back. If Mary really is the perfect disciple, the “handmaid of the Lord” who is constantly giving her Yes to God, then it’s natural to love her–we love love, and God IS love.

It’s more than “giving credit where credit is due.” It’s seeing what we as humans have to potential to be.

Christ is always shining brilliantly in our obedience, and to encounter his love in his saints, and in the Blessed Mother in particular, is just one way of experience him. We grow to love him for it, and appreciate our extended family. To love Mary all the more, is to love Christ in her all the more.

It’s never an either/or deal. Christ or Mary. **“Wherever there is goodness–wherever there is love–that is God.” We do not fear to love the godly here on earth for their christliness, do we? Neither do Catholics fear loving the saints in heaven for theirs. **

Hope this makes sense.

Peace

AMEN, I read every letter, It was like seeing her through this whole ordeal, as I read. She has spoken through you to touch others , that she doesnt recieve worship, see loves to love us. I hope others get to read this blessing.

Peace, Holy Mary mother of Jesus pray for us sinners