Do you think we give Mary a lot of credit in Catholicism?

[CrispSnowflake]

As Catholics…
-Do you think we give her more credit than she deserves?
-Do you think we give her *less *credit than she deserves?
-Do you think we give her the *right amount *of credit she deserves?

I’m talking about in terms of veneration, because she is Jesus’ Mother.

I am referring to Mary, saying, “From now on all generations will call me blessed,”-Luke 1:48b.
And St. Elizabeth ,"In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!” -Luke 1:42

:harp:

 

[OraLabora]

No Mary = No Jesus.

I think that says it all.

 

[Rete]

Considering what she has done for me and quite a lot of other people, I don’t think we venerate her enough. She is mother to us all. She converts entire nations and aids each of us who ask for her guidance.

Yet in our twisted culture, you see people like Kim Kardashian venerated higher. So, no, we don’t venerate her enough.

It’s similar to the problem of us spending more money on entertainment and business structures than on our churches and cathedrals. Our nation’s values are opposite what they should be.

 

[Aelred_Minor]

I think for most of us we could do with more Marian devotion, not less.

I don’t generally buy into the idea that any Catholics offer Our Lady too much devotion, except possibly those in a few remote parts of Latin America (some of the modern Maya, for example) where the people are more pagan than Catholic and have a completely warped mythology regarding Jesus and Mary and perhaps some pagan deities mixed in. Most of the time when someone, Protestant or Catholic, thinks he sees a devoted Catholic “worshiping” Mary it is due to some ignorance or superficiality on their own part, not on the part of the pious devotee to the Mother of God.

 

[OraLabora]

I think for most of us we could do with more Marian devotion, not less.

I don’t generally buy into the idea that any Catholics offer Our Lady too much devotion, except possibly those in a few remote parts of Latin America (some of the modern Maya, for example) where the people are more pagan than Catholic and have a completely warped mythology regarding Jesus and Mary and perhaps some pagan deities mixed in. Most of the time when someone, Protestant or Catholic, thinks he sees a devoted Catholic “worshiping” Mary it is due to some ignorance or superficiality on their own part, not on the part of the pious devotee to the Mother of God.

A funny story on the “worship” vs. the “veneration” of Mary. At the last World Oblate’s Congress in Rome (2009), during question period after the presentation of a speaker, a French gentleman had made a comment in which he said we “venerate” the Virgin Mary. Because it was a world congress, there was simultaneous translation into many languages. Because I am a native French speaker, I was listening to the speaker in his native language (French) without translation. When he said that we “venerate” the Virgin Mary, there was a loud outcry of boos from the room. I couldn’t figure it out because he didn’t say anything controversial.

I knew the gentleman and we talked afterwards, and he said that an American delegate had come up to him and chastised him for saying we “worsphipped” the Virgin Mary. He was puzzled because he said no such thing, I did hear him say “nous vénérons (venerate) la Vierge Marie” in French, and not “nous adorons (worship) la Vierge Marie”.

It turns out that the translator goofed and translated “vénérons” in French to “worship” in English. The poor guy had to make a public correction in the dining hall during lunch. All was well after.

Just shoes how translation can be dangerous sometimes. One wonders if any wars started based on a mis-translation

 

[bzkoss236]

-Do you think we give her more credit than she deserves?
Some yes, but as a Church, no.

**-Do you think we give her less credit than she deserves?
Some yes, but as a Church, no.

**-Do you think we give her the right amount of credit she deserves?
As a Church, yes.

If people follow the teachings of the Church about Mary, then there should be no issues. It is when people stray from Church teaching that you get major issues, like some elevating her to a goddess, and others reducing her to merely an earthy vessel for the child of Christ who is then to be disregarded and has no purpose.

 

[bben15]

We can never give Our Lady enough credit.

 

[Lancer]

If you can find one other Christian who has Blessed Virgin Mary’s “credentials”…your question has merit…to at least ask. But given the “data”…the question (in an apologetics…a theological…or a comparative analysis sense…not you as a person or a Christian)…has no real merit.

Just for fun…lets say an Angel…disguised as a Pew Research Fellow…could take a “person from another world”…show him/her/? all of the “objective” Judeo- Christian data – OT & NT-- plus all the other objective historical data records for the last 4000+ years)…and…after extensive review and study…Angel–the Pew Fellow told that “other world person” that they could meet one human person of their choosing of the Judeo-Christian heritage and history…except The Christ himself. Who do you think that “other world person” would choose?..and…lets add some “spice”…say, you were in Las Vegas visiting the Wynn Hotel at their Race and Sports Book betting lounge…(I am confessing my sins here…except the Jack Daniels part)…and they (first casino to do so on non Sports events) were taking bets on who this “person from another world”…was going to choose …and the betting boards had displayed all the names of every know Judeo-Christian person (including you and me)…who would you place your bet on?

So…if we just use a “thimbleful” of God’s gifts:…first His Grace…and then his gift of Faith in response to our “Yes” to his Grace…then couple that Grace and Faith with his gifts of our intellect, will and reasoning that we got upon our creation…in His Image and Likeness…the Blessed Virgin Mary’s importance and position to and for each and every Christian…based on her role in God’s Economy of Salvation plan and subsequent importance in and for the Church…in and for the Body of Christ…is…well…a no brainier!..IMHO.

Pax Christi

Mary - “Blessed is she who believed”

148 The Virgin Mary most perfectly embodies the obedience of faith. By faith Mary welcomes the tidings and promise brought by the angel Gabriel, believing that “with God nothing will be impossible” and so giving her assent: "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word."12 Elizabeth greeted her: "Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."13 It is for this faith that all generations have called Mary blessed.14

149 Throughout her life and until her last ordeal 15 when Jesus her son died on the cross, Mary’s faith never wavered. She never ceased to believe in the fulfillment of God’s word. And so the Church venerates in Mary the purest realization of faith.

"Rejoice, you who are full of grace"

721 Mary, the all-holy ever-virgin Mother of God, is the masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time. For the first time in the plan of salvation and because his Spirit had prepared her, the Father found the dwelling place where his Son and his Spirit could dwell among men. In this sense the Church’s Tradition has often read the most beautiful texts on wisdom in relation to Mary.101 Mary is acclaimed and represented in the liturgy as the “Seat of Wisdom.”

In her, the “wonders of God” that the Spirit was to fulfill in Christ and the Church began to be manifested:

722 The Holy Spirit prepared Mary by his grace. It was fitting that the mother of him in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily"102 should herself be “full of grace.” She was, by sheer grace, conceived without sin as the most humble of creatures, the most capable of welcoming the inexpressible gift of the Almighty. It was quite correct for the angel Gabriel to greet her as the “Daughter of Zion”: "Rejoice."103 It is the thanksgiving of the whole People of God, and thus of the Church, which Mary in her canticle104 lifts up to the Father in the Holy Spirit while carrying within her the eternal Son.

723 In Mary, the Holy Spirit fulfills the plan of the Father’s loving goodness. Through the Holy Spirit, the Virgin conceives and gives birth to the Son of God. By the Holy Spirit’s power and her faith, her virginity became uniquely fruitful.105

724 In Mary, the Holy Spirit manifests the Son of the Father, now become the Son of the Virgin. She is the burning bush of the definitive theophany. Filled with the Holy Spirit she makes the Word visible in the humility of his flesh. It is to the poor and the first representatives of the gentiles that she makes him known.106

725 Finally, through Mary, the Holy Spirit begins to bring men, the objects of God’s merciful love,107 into communion with Christ. And the humble are always the first to accept him: shepherds, magi, Simeon and Anna, the bride and groom at Cana, and the first disciples.

726**** At the end of this mission of the Spirit, Mary became the Woman, the new Eve (“mother of the living”), the mother of the “whole Christ.”****108 As such, she was present with the Twelve, who "with one accord devoted themselves to prayer,"109 at the dawn of the “end time” which the Spirit was to inaugurate on the morning of Pentecost with the manifestation of the Church.

 

[mymamamary]

As Catholics…
-Do you think we give her more credit than she deserves?
-Do you think we give her *less *credit than she deserves?
-Do you think we give her the *right amount *of credit she deserves?

I’m talking about in terms of veneration, because she is Jesus’ Mother.

I am referring to Mary, saying, “From now on all generations will call me blessed,”-Luke 1:48b.
And St. Elizabeth ,"In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!” -Luke 1:42

:harp:

**I feel we cannot give Her enough healthy devotion. Speaking for myself, I know that ever since I have grown closer to my Blessed Mother, I have grown in virtues, one particular vice is not reigning over my life and I cannot get enough of Jesus Christ. I hunger for Him more and more (I suppose this is a good thing as a Seminarian).

The more Marian devotion, the better!**

 

[Mary_Ellen]

I think that most Catholics give her less credit than she deserves. Certainly most Christians give her much less credit than she deserves.

I know that** I** give her less credit than she deserves but I am working on that.

The Church officially gives her the right amount of credit and that’s what I strive for.

 

[MorEphrem]

No Mary = No Jesus.

I think that says it all.

I’ve always had a problem with this Mother Teresa quote. It almost suggests that “No Mary” equates to necessarily “No Jesus;” it’s one of those instances where a catchy phrase is repeated because it’s catchy and not closely scrutinized. Even if Mary, against her own good nature, rejected God’s call He would obviously have other means in His Will to dispatch Himself as God; Mary is to be exalted, but not by diminishing God.

That being said, Mary is the exemplar Christian: even in uncertainty when others fell away, she was the one who remained to guide, after all she is the Gates of Jerusalem. And think of all the typology that the word of God itself lays out for the foundations of this Gate:
Maronite Sunday Monday Office Hymn:

Mary is likened to the Ark of the Covenant, to a jug of manna and a veil that was put on, through her, by the Divine One; she is testimony of the God-man as Mary carried the Son of the Self-Existent One.

She is likened to the New Garden in which the Tree of Life sprang forth and it was called the Lord Jesus, the proverbs of Solomon who is wise, the cloud of Isaiah that gave the dew of life and the uncut, select stone of Daniel.

She is likened to the Holy City and a veil of the Divine One; in her collected the water of life to the images of Adam; she was foreshadowed through the praiseworthy fleece of Gideon, who is judge, and from it rose the rain that quenches the thirst of Adam.

Her greatness is in the fact that she feared and did not know yet her faith guided her above immediate inclination. I would say she is the closest mortal to God and where all the great fathers failed (old like Abraham and companions like Peter), Mary did not. She is a beacon that points to the Great Beacon, and since true Christianity is a religion of mediation who better to ask for help from than the closest to God?

 

[bcuster]

No Mary = No Jesus.

I think that says it all.

The second part to that is: Know Mary = Know Jesus.

 

[Jvrlns]

I think we give Mary the credit she deserves. Well, what I really want to say is that Mary rocks!! She is just human, yet she has achieved such heights that I think that I still have hope as a member of her species , I mean God has made of her an example of how close to Him we as creatures can get.

 

[Jvrlns]

I’ve always had a problem with this Mother Teresa quote. It almost suggests that “No Mary” equates to necessarily “No Jesus;” it’s one of those instances where a catchy phrase is repeated because it’s catchy and not closely scrutinized. Even if Mary, against her own good nature, rejected God’s call He would obviously have other means in His Will to dispatch Himself as God; Mary is to be exalted, but not by diminishing God.

That being said, Mary is the exemplar Christian: even in uncertainty when others fell away, she was the one who remained to guide, after all she is the Gates of Jerusalem. And think of all the typology that the word of God itself lays out for the foundations of this Gate:

Her greatness is in the fact that she feared and did not know yet her faith guided her above immediate inclination. I would say she is the closest mortal to God and where all the great fathers failed (old like Abraham and companions like Peter), Mary did not. She is a beacon that points to the Great Beacon, and since true Christianity is a religion of mediation who better to ask for help from than the closest to God?

Only another Mary I’m afraid. I mean, he could have just appeared out of thin air, but even He, being God, wouldn’t have been one of us if He had used that method. He wouldn’t have been one born of woman.

 

[Thomas_Casey]

This is an apologetics subject