How much is too much Marian devotion?

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I agree with Doc here. I pray the rosary regularly and I think the Virgin Mother is the bees knees tbh; I HIGHLY recommend devotion to anyone. God is always God though. We shouldn’t confuse the two.
 
You can never love any given human being more than Jesus did–He died for us, after all. But that doesn’t make it impossible to have an inordinate attachment to another person, or to “:love” another person in a way and to a degree that perverts the nature of ordinate love.

The Blessed Virgin helps point the way to her Son, and rightly so. But it’s not unknown for some people to attribute faculties to the former that are only the Latter’s to possess. If the Blessed Lady stops pointing the way to her Son in someone’s mind, and threatens to become an end unto herself in that person’s mind or heart, it doesn’t seem out of line to take exception. And to me, at least, it doesn’t seem disrespectful to our Lady to take such exception–quite the contrary.
 
Devotion to Mary must be within the context of “Ad Iesum per Mariam” or “To Jesus through Mary”. If it is just “Ad Mariam” in the sense that the hyperdulia of Mary does not lead the soul to Christ, then this is Marian devotion gone too far.
 
njmah16 said:
I am catholic, but devotion to Mary makes me quite uncomfortable. Not the idea of devotion to her in and of itself, but seeing it lived out. I think many people take it way too far.
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yea, few Catholic feel uncomfortable because they lack proper understanding of the Marian devotion, i myself felt the same once, not any more, and even post R CIA’s or protestant converts to Catholicism would take some time or even many years to really understand this devotion.
njmah16 said:
But, when I see people who are “putting their trust in Jesus and Mary,” that does not sit well with me. Or, when people say they pray exclusively to Mary. I do not understand this. And, to justify this what I would call excessive Marian devotion, they always say “you can’t love Mary more than Jesus did.” It is not a real answer.
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This is a false claim or lack of of proper understanding ,and which is widely misrepresented by a some,those who prayer to Mary often ,would always have great and fervent love of the Lord ,there are many saints like St Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort,st john maria Vianney,st Padre pio,Don Bosco, just to name a few,well this list is endless and all those who had the devotion to Mary are great saints, how much easier for our salvation,to Jesus through Mary,and through Mary to Jesus.

John 2:5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Thus even thought it was not the appointed time and note many places in the Bible Jesus done everything on the appointed time as per the will of God, but Through her intercession she quickened the miracle and everyone’s surprise and everyone glorified Jesus and they believed John 2:11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. ** Blessed Mother, makes it very clear whom to obey? Jesus and He make it very clear whom to obey Mother Mary,did He not? He gave his last treasure(all the Graces,secrets of the Kingdom of God is Hidden in the Immaculate Heart of Mary. LK 2:19,51) to the Church as St John as a Apostle and representing all of us, read and understand ? follow His instructions?

John 19:26 When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman,(addressing as the Women of Genesis 3:15 the New Eve our Mother Mary) behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!”( its a commandment )

Heavenly Father has done great things for Her, He has brought down rulers from their thrones and lifted up the lowly(Mother Mary ) Jesus, He did the will of the Father and fulfilled His promise ,His mission,role,did He not? Jesus said it is Finished only then, He fulfilled and finished His most important mission of His life, the will the Father, by entrusting Mother Mary to the Church. Women behold your Son . “Behold, your mother!” ere Jesus is also mentioning whom to obey, Its a commandment ,lets Obey and finish our mission by doing the will of God.God Bless

www.churchpop.com

10 Great Saints on How Much They Love Our Blessed Mother Mary

[See also: 8 of the Oldest Images of the Blessed Virgin Mary] [See also: Witnessed by Millions: The Confounding Apparition of Our Lady of Zeitoun] From Catholic-Link’s resource library [See also: 10...
www.churchpop.com www.churchpop.com
 
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Thom18 said:
If you spend more time with Mary than you spend with Jesus, it’s too much.
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This is virtually impossible unless you belong to some weird fringe group.

All the approved “Mary prayers” - the Rosary, the Litany of Loreto, the Angelus, the Magnificat, the Regina Coeli, the Miraculous Medal Novena, etc - have large sections praying to God in the person of the Father, Son and/or Holy Spirit, if you read the words of the prayers. The Rosary also has Jesus-focused mystery meditations, a number of which involve Mary only peripherally. It would be extremely difficult to somehow pray exclusively to Mary without invoking/involving God in all of His persons, unless you were somehow making up your own strange prayers and not using any of the Church’s standard popular Mary prayers.

The vast majority of “Mary devotees” I have known are also the type who are regular (often more than just Sunday) Mass-goers receiving the Eucharist, going to Adoration and Stations, etc. If you are doing these activities it is impossible to be praying “only to Mary”.

Bottom line is if you are accepting the Church teaching on Mary - that we do not worship her, that it is always “ad Jesum per Mariam” etc - and fulfilling your obligations as a good Catholic (for example your Mass obligations), it is highly, highly unlikely that you could possibly be spending more time with Mary than with Jesus even if you are saying 20 Rosaries a day. The approved devotions to Mary are inseparable from devotions to Jesus/ God.
 
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chessnerd321 said:
The Army of Mary is a group that grew out of Catholics but went off the deep end with regards to the blessed mother. We do know too far when we see it.
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To further explain exactly what constituted “too far” with this fringe group, they believed that a visionary currently on earth was either the reincarnation of Mary or possessed by Mary (depending on which source you read) and prayed to the visionary. Since the Church doesn’t believe in reincarnation or that Mary (or any saint) possesses people, this is obviously “off the deep end”. The group further started having a priest ordain its own priests and setting itself up as a schismatic church in opposition to the established Church. This is all heretical stuff and way beyond any approved Marian devotion.
 
Njmah16, You’re in the right camp. There are a lot of people who take Marian devotion way to serious. But people will always take things out of context. Rome had to cut down the list of Archangels in the early days of the church out of fear that angel worship was taking place over a broad swath of people. That’s why you only see the Three from the Bible and not the remaining seven from Orthodoxy or others from ancient Judaism.

I think your heart’s in the right place. Don’t deny her outright but with all things be skeptic of anyone who takes devotion to her to extremes.
 
mrsdizzyd said:
I don’t understand this “fastest surest way” stuff. Jesus said we could go to him directly. How is anything faster or surer than that?
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The above is more or less a direct quotation from St. Louis de Montfort’s “Treatise on True Devotion”.
  1. Finally, God in these times wishes his Blessed Mother to be more known, loved and honoured than she has ever been. This will certainly come about if the elect, by the grace and light of the Holy Spirit, adopt the interior and perfect practice of the devotion which I shall later unfold. Then they will clearly see that beautiful Star of the Sea, as much as faith allows. Under her guidance they will perceive the splendours of this Queen and will consecrate themselves entirely to her service as subjects and slaves of love. They will experience her motherly kindness and affection for her children. They will love her tenderly and will appreciate how full of compassion she is and how much they stand in need of her help. In all circumstances they will have recourse to her as their advocate and mediatrix with Jesus Christ. They will see clearly that she is the safest, easiest, shortest and most perfect way of approaching Jesus and will surrender themselves to her, body and soul, without reserve in order to belong entirely to Jesus.
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The idea is that to the extent Jesus/ God might be difficult for us to approach, or to approach fully and without reserve, Mary can help. To the extent we might be in a “they have no wine” / “Woman, what does that have to do with me?” situation, Mary can help.

St. Louis wrote in a time when the love and mercy of God was not so emphasized as they are today in this “Buddy Christ” sort of era. As was discussed last night by a Redemptorist preaching at our 40 Hours Devotion kick-off, there is also a big emphasis nowadays on Jesus being loving and approachable and we all have this “personal relationship” with Him. This is a relatively modern development. Even at the time of Fatima, which in Church timelines is a relatively recent apparition though it was 100 years ago, we heard a lot about the wrath of God being just about ready to come down on us but Mary was trying to help us. Mary is always trying to help us, like mothers help.

I know St. Louis is not for everybody and that many people, especially some Protestant converts, might prefer the idea of going directly to Jesus and bypassing Mary. I say “some” because I have also known Protestant converts, particularly my own father, who had strong Marian devotions and felt that she helped them. I note that my father was something of a “mama’s boy” who did not have a great relationship with his own dad but was close to his mom, and furthermore had never had any big personal relationship with Jesus or big commitment to a religion prior to Catholicism, plus the woman he married (my mother) had a great love for Mary herself, so it was quite natural for my father to go down this path.

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If you are more comfortable going directly to Jesus then as long as you have respect for both Mary and for the Marian devotions of others, you can do that. Like I said above, the problem I have is when other people decide that because this seems weird to them it must be wrong.

I just see it as asking the mother of the King to please help me talk better to the King. It doesn’t mean the King himself is unapproachable, but why would I not want to use every channel I could? If I were trying to have the best relationship with the King, would I not want to be close with not only him but with his mother - and his foster father Joseph as well? It’s just normal human relations (Jesus, Mary and Joseph all were humans) and good common sense.
 
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Dear njmah16

As you are Catholic, you and some others on this thread may be helped in reading carefully, what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches about Mary, in paragraph #971 especially:
II. DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN

971 “All generations will call me blessed”: “The Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.” The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of ‘Mother of God,’ to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs… This very special devotion … differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration." The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an “epitome of the whole Gospel,” express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.
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Please notice the Catechism text uses the word “intrinsic” and puts it in italics to emphasize the word – “intrinsic” – I put that word in bold to emphasize it more – because the word means “something we cannot do without”. The Catechism gives much more on Mary, explaining what the Church teaches. A person need only go to the index to learn more about Mary and the Truth the Holy Spirit has given the Church. I thank those on this thread who referred to St. Louis De Montfort, St. Alphonsus and St. Maximilian Kolbe – all great champions of Mary who practiced and taught the Church’s True Devotion to Mary.

I would also encourage those who have never read De Montfort’s treatise on “True Devotion” to at least read those sections which deal with false devotion as opposed to authentic devotion to Mary see paragraphs 105 - 110 in True Devotion
 
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“Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.”
St Maximilian Kolbe
 
How far is too far? When you’re so used to saying a Memorare in dire situations that you do it in a mixed company prayer grouptext in the middle of the night and wake up to the aftermath of people’s discomfort. 🤦‍♀️😥
 
mrsdizzyd said:
I don’t understand this “fastest surest way” stuff. Jesus said we could go to him directly. How is anything faster or surer than that?
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From De Montfort’s 33 day concecration;

This devotion is an easy, short, perfect and secure way of attaining union with our Lord, in which union the perfection of a Christian consists.

It is an easy way: It is the way which Jesus Christ Himself trod in coming to us in which there is no obstacle in reaching Him. It is true that we can attain divine union by other roads, but it is by many crosses and strange deaths, and with many more difficulties which we shall find it hard to overcome.

It is a short way: This devotion to our Blessed Lady is a short road to find Jesus Christ, both because it is a road from which we do not stray, and because as I have just said, it is a road we tread with joy and facility, and consequently with promptitude. We make more progress in a brief period of submission to and dependence on Mary, than in whole years of following our own will and of relying upon ourselves.

It is a perfect way: This practice of devotion to our Blessed Lady is also a perfect path by which to go and unite ourselves to Jesus, because the blessed Mary is the most perfect and the most holy of creatures, and because Jesus, Who has come to us most perfectly, took no other road for His great and admirable journey. The Most High, the Incomprehensible, the Inaccessible, He Who is, had willed to come to us, little worms of earth, who are nothing. How has He done this? The Most High has come down to us perfectly and divinely, by the humble Mary, without losing anything of His Divinity and Sanctity. So it is by Mary that the very little ones are to ascend perfectly and divinely, without any fear, to the Most High.

It is a secure way: This devotion to our Blessed Lady, is also a secure way to go to Jesus and to acquire perfection, by uniting ourselves to Him. It is a secure way because the practice which I am teaching is not new. Indeed, we cannot see how it could be condemned without overturning the foundations of Christianity. It is clear then, that this devotion is not new, and that if it is not common, that is because it is too precious to be relished and practiced by everyone. This devotion is a secure means of going to Jesus Christ, because it is the very characteristic of Our Blessed Lady to conduct us surely to Jesus.
 
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It should further be noted that de Montfort’s motto was “God Alone”.
The expanded meaning of this, he wrote as:
To God Alone, by Christ’s Wisdom, in the Spirit, in communion with Mary, for the reign of God
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He believed that consecrating oneself to Mary was ultimately consecrating oneself to “God Alone” through Mary.
Hardly Mary-worship.
 
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Since you are an Eastern Catholic, you will not be offended if I ask you that relative to the Western Rite, do the Eastern Church have a more toned down version of Marian Devotion?
 
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Regarding St. Pio praying the Rosary 35 times a day…

He could bilocate. Praying two Rosaries at once makes it a lot easier.
 
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