B
benedictgal
Guest
Well, I have just returned from my parish’s celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As I had gone to Mass earlier (and no, not 5AM; I went at noon), I had gone to help out prior to Mass and then assist with getting the food arranged. It was rather lovely and we had a very nice fiesta afterwards.
When I got home, I turned on the TV to watch the late newscast. They aired a story about the various celebrations surrounding OLG. Towards the end, the anchor said that Catholics adore Mary. Yes, I heard right, ADORE. After the newscast, I called the TV station to speak to the anchor. I explained to him that Catholics (he is one, too) do not ADORE Mary. Adoration is reserved to God alone. As Catholics, we VENERATE Mary; that’s a huge difference.
He said that Google and Yahoo had documentation to the contrary, stating that Catholics adore Mary. I told him that Google and Yahoo do not speak for the Magisterium. I also suggested that he get hold of the prayers and readings proper for today’s Mass. Yes, the prayers refer to Our Lady of Guadalupe; however, it is always directed towards God the Father, through Jesus Christ, His Son, in union with the Holy Spirit. As Fr. Mitch Pacwa said, our primary relationship is with Jesus Christ; however, we learn about the Lord through his Mother, who leads us to Him. The anchor then stated that the Church is split down the middle on this issue because scholars on “both sides of the debate” have argued for or against adoration of Mary.
I told him that he needed to check hs sources through verifiable, bona fide Catholic resources that will clearly explain the teachings of the Church regarding our veneration of the Blessed Mother. He told me that he would check. I told him to call EWTN or USCCB. I gave him the telephone numbers.
After we hung up (amicably), I thought about the homily my PV preached during lunchtime. He said that the original image of OLG didn’t have the ornamentation (gold embroidery in the pink garment nor the stars in the green cloak she wears). He said that whatever looks like it’s peeling off is not original to the Tilma. He also said that the original image, without the embellishments, is, our only “photograph” of Mary, so to speak. And, that face of Mary, is the face of Jesus, because, as Jesus has no earthly biological father, he gets his genes all from Mary. But, Mary does not overshadow her Son. She gave birth to the Sun of Justice. She leads us to her Son. Her last words in the Gospel were “Do whatever He tells you.”
The Feast of OLG, my PV concluded, goes beyond ethnicities. It’s not just a feast for Catholics of Mexican-American descent. Marian feasts are truly Catholic because they are universal; they don’t confine themselves to one people or one country. All of us our foreigners. In fact, as Pope Benedict once wrote, the word parish means a community of foreigners. Our true citizenship lies in heaven.
I do hope that the local newsanchor finally gets his facts straight so as to put our Blessed Mother in the proper perspective. She is the greatest of our saints. She is our Mother who prays for us before her Son. But, it is her Son that we worship, most pronounced, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is God whom we adore, in union with Mary.
When I got home, I turned on the TV to watch the late newscast. They aired a story about the various celebrations surrounding OLG. Towards the end, the anchor said that Catholics adore Mary. Yes, I heard right, ADORE. After the newscast, I called the TV station to speak to the anchor. I explained to him that Catholics (he is one, too) do not ADORE Mary. Adoration is reserved to God alone. As Catholics, we VENERATE Mary; that’s a huge difference.
He said that Google and Yahoo had documentation to the contrary, stating that Catholics adore Mary. I told him that Google and Yahoo do not speak for the Magisterium. I also suggested that he get hold of the prayers and readings proper for today’s Mass. Yes, the prayers refer to Our Lady of Guadalupe; however, it is always directed towards God the Father, through Jesus Christ, His Son, in union with the Holy Spirit. As Fr. Mitch Pacwa said, our primary relationship is with Jesus Christ; however, we learn about the Lord through his Mother, who leads us to Him. The anchor then stated that the Church is split down the middle on this issue because scholars on “both sides of the debate” have argued for or against adoration of Mary.
I told him that he needed to check hs sources through verifiable, bona fide Catholic resources that will clearly explain the teachings of the Church regarding our veneration of the Blessed Mother. He told me that he would check. I told him to call EWTN or USCCB. I gave him the telephone numbers.
After we hung up (amicably), I thought about the homily my PV preached during lunchtime. He said that the original image of OLG didn’t have the ornamentation (gold embroidery in the pink garment nor the stars in the green cloak she wears). He said that whatever looks like it’s peeling off is not original to the Tilma. He also said that the original image, without the embellishments, is, our only “photograph” of Mary, so to speak. And, that face of Mary, is the face of Jesus, because, as Jesus has no earthly biological father, he gets his genes all from Mary. But, Mary does not overshadow her Son. She gave birth to the Sun of Justice. She leads us to her Son. Her last words in the Gospel were “Do whatever He tells you.”
The Feast of OLG, my PV concluded, goes beyond ethnicities. It’s not just a feast for Catholics of Mexican-American descent. Marian feasts are truly Catholic because they are universal; they don’t confine themselves to one people or one country. All of us our foreigners. In fact, as Pope Benedict once wrote, the word parish means a community of foreigners. Our true citizenship lies in heaven.
I do hope that the local newsanchor finally gets his facts straight so as to put our Blessed Mother in the proper perspective. She is the greatest of our saints. She is our Mother who prays for us before her Son. But, it is her Son that we worship, most pronounced, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is God whom we adore, in union with Mary.
I do sometimes miss living in the city. Our little country parish does nothing special.
) I was there on a number of different occasions over a four day period, different times during the day, and while it was packed at certain hours, at others it was nearly empty. I’m sorry your time there had difficulties.