How Can Spirituality be Marian?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JM3
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

JM3

Guest
How Can Spirituality be Marian? (link to download PDF)
By Father Johann Roten, S.M.
Recognizing Christ as the central figure of the Gospel, we will be able to discover in Mary the first Christian, first in time and first as to the quality of her faith. "We need not imagine where Mary is … she is at the heart of the Gospel."5 Mary is an integral part of Christianity’s genetic code, and thus intimately related to the various expressions of its life in past, present and, so we hope, future. The question here is: How does Mary relate to mainstream Christianity? Can one be Christian without being Marian? Is it legitimate to speak about Christian spirituality without making reference to Mary? Or, in different perspective: How can spirituality be Marian? Last but not least, is there a form of “Marian spirituality” which, in fact, is neither truly Marian nor truly Christian?
Click to expand...
 
My spirituality is Christ-centered … although I have a deep devotion to Mary, I do not consider having a Marian spirituality. I do pray to her … but I don’t think that is a spirituality … your spirituality is what encompasses you most of the time … and Christ encompasses me most of the time.
 
Katherine438 said:
My spirituality is Christ-centered … although I have a deep devotion to Mary, I do not consider having a Marian spirituality. I do pray to her … but I don’t think that is a spirituality … your spirituality is what encompasses you most of the time … and Christ encompasses me most of the time.
Click to expand...
Spoil-sport! You didn’t include the knock and the bump.😛

What I think this can be summarised as, is simply straight up, Catholic Orthodox faith. One is not separate from the other. Through Mary came Christ ,and so, with Mary we find Him. That is not to say that those who don’t have devotion don’t have a relationship with God on some level. But that Mary is definitely and definitively part of that process, somewhere.

The divide seems to be that some say with Mary, while some say through Mary. Yet to be honest, there is no argument there either, because Our Lady, as has been acknowledged by the Church, proceeded the Church (she was the beginning of the Church), and therefore, it is both, whether we recognize this truth, or not.

In terms of spirituality, I tend to think the same applies. When we say Marian spirituality, or Franciscan, or Dominican, or Benedictine, we are not implying different spirituality, really, but what we are acknowledging, is that some live the Catholic faith with this emphasis and some more with that emphasis and way of expressing the same faith. This takes nothing away from the intercessory hierarchy of Heaven.
 
…I was once told that all Religious Orders belong to Our Lady.
 
Katherine438 said:
My spirituality is Christ-centered … although I have a deep devotion to Mary, I do not consider having a Marian spirituality. I do pray to her … but I don’t think that is a spirituality … your spirituality is what encompasses you most of the time … and Christ encompasses me most of the time.
Click to expand...
Did you read the article?

God is the end of all things (CCC36, DV 6)
 
JM3 said:
Did you read the article?

God is the end of all things (CCC36, DV 6)
Click to expand...
I gave my opinion as to what I do personally … there are people that have a Marian spirituality … there are many people that will tell you that to have a Marian spirituality, even though you are saying that it leads to God, is not the way to go … my opinion is that people should have a Christ-centered spirituality.

Oh, I see you are not talking about the article you quoted … but the article you linked too … I had not seen the link … I just clicked on it and can’t find the article … it’s a download … I won’t download from an unknown source … so I can’t read your article.
 
Katherine438 said:
Oh, I see you are not talking about the article you quoted … but the article you linked too … I had not seen the link … I just clicked on it and can’t find the article … it’s a download … I won’t download from an unknown source … so I can’t read your article.
Click to expand...
University of Dayton - udayton.edu
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top