Having a personal relationship with Mary

[Catholic20064]

Yesterday on EWTN radio there was a commentary in which the speaker talked about the value of having a personal relationship with Mary. I guess I had never considered my requests for Mary’s intercession as developing a personal relationship with her – I had always reserved that for Christ. I think the commentary was done by Cardinal Rigali. As a Mormon I didn’t even think about having a personal relationship with Jesus – that was something I wanted to develop with the Father through Jesus. Is that the same way we Catholics normally would look at our relationship with Mary?

 

[PAboy57]

Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit and the mother of the Son of God. She was picked by the Father to carry and watch over His Only Begotten Son. That is fact and no one can take that away from her. Jesus also gave her to be the mother of the apostle John which means she is our mother also. We also believe she was assumed body and soul into Heaven. The Blessed Virgin is the Queen of Heaven and earth.

We believe it is right to honor (not worship) the Blessed Virgin and to also develop a prayer life as she will always bring you closer to her son, Jesus. I doubt that the Blessed Trinity would ever refuse any request by by the Queen of Heaven. The Rosary is a devotion to her and we receive many graces by saying it regularly. It is right after the celebration of the Mass. There are promises associated with saying the Rosary:

FIFTEEN PROMISES OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
TO CHRISTIANS WHO FAITHFULLY PRAY THE ROSARY

1. To all those who shall pray my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and great graces.
2. Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my Rosary will receive some special grace.
3. The Rosary will be a very powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin and dispel heresy.
4. The rosary will make virtue and good works flourish, and will obtain for souls the most abundant divine mercies. It will draw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
5. Those who trust themselves to me through the Rosary will not perish.
6. Whoever recites my Rosary devoutly reflecting on the mysteries, shall never be overwhelmed by misfortune. He will not experience the anger of God nor will he perish by an unprovided death. The sinner will be converted; the just will persevere in grace and merit eternal life.
7. Those truly devoted to my Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
8. Those who are faithful to recite my Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces and will share in the merits of the blessed.
9. I will deliver promptly from purgatory souls devoted to my Rosary.
10. True children of my Rosary will enjoy great glory in heaven.
11. What you shall ask through my Rosary you shall obtain.
12. To those who propagate my Rosary I promise aid in all their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Son that all the members of the Rosary Confraternity shall have as their intercessors, in life and in death, the entire celestial court.
14. Those who recite my Rosary faithfully are my beloved children, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion to my Rosary is a special sign of predestination.

Our Mother Mary will always bring us closer to Jesus.

Take care and God Bless.

 

[hansard]

Just wondering: where do those 15 promises come from, and are they endorsed by the Church?

 

[Stylteralmaldo]

…the speaker talked about the value of having a personal relationship with Mary…Is that the same way we Catholics normally would look at our relationship with Mary?

Absolutely!

Mary is the reflection of the Son of God. Whenever I look at the moon, it reminds me of my relationship with Mary. Just like the sun’s light is reflected off the moon. So too is Mary a reflection of Jesus. Mary leads us through dark times and places not because of who she is, but because of who Jesus is.

The moonlight (Mary) can lead us through the dark of night, but it is only because of the light of the sun (Jesus) that this is even possible.

 

[nickybr38]

Just wondering: where do those 15 promises come from, and are they endorsed by the Church?

If you look around the board you’ll find a big old debate about the promises. if I recall correctly it’s basically from private revelations. No need to believe in the promises and quite frankly I don’t.

Pray the rosary because you wish to be closer to God and because you wish Mary’s help in this.

As to the OP, I’m not sure how we can have a personal relationship with Mary in all honesty. I don’t really understand personal relationship with Christ even. How can we have a ‘personal’ relationship with someone who is not on this world?

Now, I’ve had some pretty amazing prayer experiences. I asked Saint Ambrose to help me once (just asked him to pray for me) and very soon after I found a prayer that he had written that I desperately needed. I’ve been praying earnestly for a friend (to God) and the other day the friend quoted my prayer WORD FOR WORD (I had not told him I was praying so it was a bizarre thing). And I see these answers to prayer as proof that I’m being heard. You could argue answered prayers are like a conversation. I ask, I receive an answer… however, how does this become a ‘personal relationship’?

Perhaps I’m getting stuck on the word ‘personal’. Someone care to explain how this is supposed to work?

 

[KathleenGee]

Reading about Mary is not the same in being with people who have an authentic relationship with her.

I witnessed people as such, had a brief experience that seemed to take me more into the contemplative kingdom of God. But it took 7 years before I finally had that personal connection with Mary…It has to be in God’s time. Prior to that, I had little or no devotion to her. I didn’t disagree with Church teachings about her.

The day the Holy Father was shot at the Vatican, I got on my knees and prayed the rosary, which I previously considered an old lady’s prayer. My head cleared up on some theological issues regarding liberation theology in about 15 minutes. From then on my faith became rock solid with Mary’s help.

A priest told me the strongest Catholics…those connected to Christ and His church, are the Marian Catholics…and she is particularly efficacious during times of great upheaval and confusion.

 

[Gabriel_of_12]

Reading about Mary is not the same in being with people who have an authentic relationship with her.

I witnessed people as such, had a brief experience that seemed to take me more into the contemplative kingdom of God. But it took 7 years before I finally had that personal connection with Mary…It has to be in God’s time. Prior to that, I had little or no devotion to her. I didn’t disagree with Church teachings about her.

That was beautifully said Katheene Gee, thank you. I can say this much in summary, that in praying the rosary has helped me to understand scripture and sacred Tradition lived out from sacred scripture in my Catholic Christian walk, and it is our blessed Virgin Mary who brings me closer and closer to our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I see no problem in having a relationship with my best friend’s (Jesus) Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary in my daily walk with Christ. Yet when I go to the Father during the liturgy prayer of the Church, it is always through Jesus body, blood soul and divinity that leads me into Our Fathers presence to whom we cry “Abba” Father in the presence of Our Mother to whom Jesus gave me, with all the angels and saints in “festal gathering” including my brothers and sisters here on earth.

Those who enter the Kingdom of God by first learning to have a relationship with Jesus is wonderful, Its not until Jesus introduces this one to his Mother and then gives his Mother to you, that this new Christian begins to have a “full” and intimate relationship with Jesus. Many have come to a relationship with Jesus in a more profound way through humility and obedience with a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary who later went on to become canonized saints and mystics.

I believe the mysticism of ones faith is realized in ones understanding of the family of God. Where we have a relationship with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit with His Bride the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of Jesus and His bride the Catholic Church (the body of Jesus Christ). Removing one of these relationships with the Father, can remove oneself from growing in a **personal **relationship with Jesus. For in all of the above only one thing connects them all that is “Love” for “God is Love” and without “Love” as Paul puts it “you are nothing”.

Do you need a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary in order to be saved? No, says the Church. But it doesn’t hurt in keepping ones relationship in full communion with the Father either.

Peace be with you

 

[KathleenGee]

Thank you, Gabriel,

Again and again I say to people that they do not realize all that they are missing denying the Eucharist and the communion of saints, especially with Mary.

Without the spirituality of the Eucharist and the apostolic faith and tradition – the human incarnation of the Word among us, the Church, it is very difficult to understand Mary.

 

[Sandalwood]

Absolutely!

Mary is the reflection of the Son of God. Whenever I look at the moon, it reminds me of my relationship with Mary. Just like the sun’s light is reflected off the moon. So too is Mary a reflection of Jesus. Mary leads us through dark times and places not because of who she is, but because of who Jesus is.

The moonlight (Mary) can lead us through the dark of night, but it is only because of the light of the sun (Jesus) that this is even possible.

love this!

I’m still learning Mary’s place in the Catholic Church. It’s interesting, confusing, comforting, unsettling…all those typical feelings of the “unknown”. I am learning about and appreciating Mary more and more though.

 

[wisdomseeker]

Yesterday on EWTN radio there was a commentary in which the speaker talked about the value of having a personal relationship with Mary. I guess I had never considered my requests for Mary’s intercession as developing a personal relationship with her – I had always reserved that for Christ. I think the commentary was done by Cardinal Rigali. As a Mormon I didn’t even think about having a personal relationship with Jesus – that was something I wanted to develop with the Father through Jesus. Is that the same way we Catholics normally would look at our relationship with Mary?

why not? it is better than trust humans beings around you, is it not? why would you not want to have close relationship with your Mother?

She is holy and she is the Mother of God. what better friend could you have? just think if you lived at that time of Jesus, and you could get closer to His Mother. yes, Jesus is our King and HIs mother is the Queen.

Jesus is our God, the Supreme Being. let start seeing God for What He is. our King and above all. we became accostumed somehow to treat God as if He was one of us. very sad. you wouldnt think that queen of england is one of us, would you? well God is way above her.

 

[Mike2010]

Absolutely!

Mary is the reflection of the Son of God. Whenever I look at the moon, it reminds me of my relationship with Mary. Just like the sun’s light is reflected off the moon. So too is Mary a reflection of Jesus. Mary leads us through dark times and places not because of who she is, but because of who Jesus is.

The moonlight (Mary) can lead us through the dark of night, but it is only because of the light of the sun (Jesus) that this is even possible.

Very well said! I like this

 

[KathleenGee]

Beautiful reflections on Mary, our companion and guide to Jesus.

Some people know Mary and she leads them into the Catholic church. Some are Catholic like me, for many years just focusing on Christ, and then some experience brings us to her.

Mary will come to you in God’s time.

 

[SteveVH]

I think it all comes down to the “communion of saints”. We are not seperated by death from those who go before us and have died in Christ. Absolutely we can have a personal relationship with her.

 

[nickybr38]

I think it all comes down to the “communion of saints”. We are not seperated by death from those who go before us and have died in Christ. Absolutely we can have a personal relationship with her.

I still don’t understand what that means at all.

Oh well. I don’t think it really matters.

 

[Byzantine_Wolf]

I believe the mysticism of ones faith is realized in ones understanding of the family of God. Where we have a relationship with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit with His Bride the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of Jesus and His bride the Catholic Church (the body of Jesus Christ). Removing one of these relationships with the Father, can remove oneself from growing in a **personal **relationship with Jesus. For in all of the above only one thing connects them all that is “Love” for “God is Love” and without “Love” as Paul puts it “you are nothing”.

Doesn’t that rather draw dangerously close to the idea that the Virgin Mary is part of the Trinity, or on equal with the persons of the Trinity? Scripture uses such language as you talk about in relationship to God, but only in reference to the Persons in the Trinity.

 

[lil_flower_luv]

Doesn’t that rather draw dangerously close to the idea that the Virgin Mary is part of the Trinity, or on equal with the persons of the Trinity? Scripture uses such language as you talk about in relationship to God, but only in reference to the Persons in the Trinity.

Those who promote the idea or “draw dangerously close to the idea” that Mary is part of the Trinity, or equal to It’s persons, do not understand Catholic Teaching. Mary may be the Mother of God and Queen of Heaven and Earth, but she was created by God. Being given a singular privilege at birth sets her apart from us human beings, but she is still a handmaid of the Lord (Luke 1:48) who rejoices in God, her savior (Luke 1:47). Blessings to you.

 

[beehumble]

Doesn’t that rather draw dangerously close to the idea that the Virgin Mary is part of the Trinity, or on equal with the persons of the Trinity? Scripture uses such language as you talk about in relationship to God, but only in reference to the Persons in the Trinity.

I think the order goes: Holy Trinity, Mary, Angels and Saints. She is below the Trinty (infintely below it in fact just as we all are) but Queen of the Cosmos, sitting on a throne beside her Son. The son of David, Solomon, sitting on the Davidic throne alongside his mother the Queen Bathseba, prefigures this (from typology).

 

[bearcat101]

Yesterday on EWTN radio there was a commentary in which the speaker talked about the value of having a personal relationship with Mary. I guess I had never considered my requests for Mary’s intercession as developing a personal relationship with her – I had always reserved that for Christ. I think the commentary was done by Cardinal Rigali. As a Mormon I didn’t even think about having a personal relationship with Jesus – that was something I wanted to develop with the Father through Jesus. Is that the same way we Catholics normally would look at our relationship with Mary?

I guess I would be at a loss as to why. It has always been my desire to have a growing personal relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. for obvious reasons. He alone saves us. He alone is without sin. He alone is flesh and God too. No disrespect to Mary, but where would she fit into this divine picture? She can’t save us, she isn’t without sin and she is obviously not divine. Special person yes, but personal relationship in the spiritual realm with anyone other than God? No.

 

[lil_flower_luv]

I guess I would be at a loss as to why. It has always been my desire to have a growing personal relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. for obvious reasons. He alone saves us. He alone is without sin. He alone is flesh and God too. No disrespect to Mary, but where would she fit into this divine picture? She can’t save us, she isn’t without sin and she is obviously not divine. Special person yes, but personal relationship in the spiritual realm with anyone other than God? No.

What would you say if knowing the Blessed Mother brought you into an even deeper relationship with her Son?

It’s every good Christian’s desire to grow closer to our Lord. Guess what? Mary is the freeway to His heart! As both Mother and Queen, Mary who is without sin (otherwise would not be the Mother of Jesus), can set us on the right path. Who would not want a relationship like that? We only have to ask.

Whatever your answer be, Our Humble Mother still does work ‘behind the scenes’ for our souls whether we ask her to or not.

 

[Vixit]

Doesn’t that rather draw dangerously close to the idea that the Virgin Mary is part of the Trinity, or on equal with the persons of the Trinity? Scripture uses such language as you talk about in relationship to God, but only in reference to the Persons in the Trinity.

Isn’t the Hebrew word for Holy Spirit a feminine word? Does Mary not ‘guide’ Holy Church today as the Mother of the Church? Think about it.