I feel like I'm idolizing the Blessed Mother

[Zeldarocks2]

I know that the Holy Rosary is supposed to point us “to Jesus through Mary,” but I honestly feel like I am treating the Blessed Mother as another addition to the Trinity at this point…

I consecrate myself to Her every morning when I wake up, I say the Rosary nearly every night before I sleep, and I wear the Brown Scapular devoutly…

I don’t address God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit as much as I address Our Lady, and that kind of bothers me…

Additionally, I feel like the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Holy Rosary are both vying for my attention:

The promises of the Holy Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet are so similar, it is as if they were in competition with one another (“Mary will provide you Graces and the Mercy of God by intercession. Wrong, Jesus will instead provide His Mercy through the Chaplet”).

I’m just so confused. I don’t know which one to focus on more, which one is more meritorious, and which one will have a greater efficacy on my Soul.

 

[Confiteor_Deo]

You are not idolizing the Blessed Virgin. It is fine if you approach the Blessed Virgin a bit more often than Almighty God since you are still approaching God when you pray to the Blessed Virgin, but through her intercession. You would be idolizing her if you started adoring her as God.

The rosary is certainly a much better devotion than the divine mercy chaplet. If you want to do the divine mercy chaplet, I’d advise doing it along with the rosary.

 

[Pythagoras]

I pray the rosary and the chaplet of the Divine Mercy at night regularly

 

[Stephen_says]

I don’t want to seem like I’m telling you how to pray, but if you focus on the mysteries of the rosary, it is very Christ Centered.

 

[multitude]

I don’t want to seem like I’m telling you how to pray, but if you focus on the mysteries of the rosary, it is very Christ Centered.

Yup. I wouldn’t worry about this at all.

 

[ProdglArchitect]

I don’t want to seem like I’m telling you how to pray, but if you focus on the mysteries of the rosary, it is very Christ Centered.

The prayers of the Rosary are a backdrop to the mysteries we’re supposed to be reflecting on as we pray. Mary does not keep any of the glory of the Rosary for herself, it is all directed towards her Son, our Lord.

As for the two prayers, look at them as complimentary, not competing. The Divine Mercy chaplet is best prayed at 3:00 pm, which I believe is the historic time at which Jesus was crucified. Pray your Rosary in the morning or evening. If you can only pray one per day, then rotate. Maybe say the Rosary on the first instance of each set of mysteries each week, and pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet on the other days. God isn’t going to be annoyed if you pray one instead of the other, He and the angels and saints will simply rejoice that you are praying!!

 

[tuffsmurf]

We don’t idolize the Blessed mother by approaching her: in fact, whenever we pray for her intercession, the prayer reach God! The only way we could idolize her is if we start view of her as a god herself, which you obviously don’t want to. Remeber that the closer you grow to Our lady, the closer do you grow to Christ, since her deepest wish is for you to be united with her son!

 

[Joelle_M]

In having a devotion to our Blessed Mother through the rosary you are simply asking her for her intercession. Everything our lady does is for God. All of the prayers andrequests given to her are perfected and offered up to out Lord for you. She doesn’t keep any of it for herself. If you feel torn between the 2 (the chaplet and the rosary)… do both. The rosary has 4 mysteries, do the rosary 4 times a week while meditating on the life of Christ and on the other 3 nights do the chaplet… alternating nights. That way you are still doing a full rosary every week and also doing the divine mercy chaplet.

 

[Mayita30]

The mysteries of the Holy Rosary starting with the Joyful is about Jesus’ birth and infancy all the way to Sorrowful mystery is Jesus’ Passion, Light Mystery is Jesus’ ministry and then Glorious Mystery…Our Lord’s Resurrection…

Maybe you can pray the Divine Mercy chaplet using your rosary beads if that will make you feel any better. God bless

 

[loumeland]

If this is bothering you, stop the practice and pray as your conscience allows you until you become comfortable with other practices.

 

[Nigel7]

If this is bothering you, stop the practice and pray as your conscience allows you until you become comfortable with other practices.

Amen to that.

 

[godisgood77]

The rosary is certainly a much better devotion than the divine mercy chaplet. If you want to do the divine mercy chaplet, I’d advise doing it along with the rosary.

This statement needs qualification… the rosary may be a ‘much better’ devotion** for you**, but it is not considered to be ‘much better’ for everyone. Apologies in advance if I’m too direct here, but too often we put forward our own devotion practices as being for everyone, which is not true, that is not what the Church teaches and, frankly, is quite off putting.

For some (not me), repetitive prayer and meditations is not the best form of prayer… yesterday’s gospel seems particularly appropriate for this point:

*MT 6:7-15

“In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“This is how you are to pray:

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.*

Either way, praying to God with Mary and the Saints and asking Mary and the Saints to pray for us, is recommended by the Church and there is a very long list of benefits available to us through our prayers.

 

[mommy_k]

There are also levels of veneration in the church. I forget what they are called, so someone may help me out–I believe it’s dulia, hyperdulia and something else.

One level is for the saints, one is for God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and one is for the Blessed Mother.

When we venerate Mary, it is on a level above the saints, as she is Jesus’ Mother. It is not idolization, it is a recognition of this fact, she is the Mother of Jesus Jesus loves when we become close to His Mother.

The Rosary and Divine Mercy chaplets are wonderful prayers. During the Rosary, we are praying through Mary to her Son, Jesus. During the Divine Mercy Chaplet, we are praying to Jesus to cover us and the world in His infinate mercy.

We pray to Jesus through Mary as she perfects our prayer before they are offered to Him.

 

[Confiteor_Deo]

This statement needs qualification… the rosary may be a ‘much better’ devotion** for you**, but it is not considered to be ‘much better’ for everyone. Apologies in advance if I’m too direct here, but too often we put forward our own devotion practices as being for everyone, which is not true, that is not what the Church teaches and, frankly, is quite off putting.
…

I said that it was a better devotion because it has been praised by countless Popes & saints, been promoted in multiple apparitions of Our Lady, been proven efficacious in answering prayers & stomping heresy, has a plenary indulgence attached to it (which shows how favorably the Church regards this devotion), and has many promises attached to it. Just reading the literature of St. Louis de Montfort on the rosary proves its astounding value.

It is a superior devotion to the chaplet of divine mercy, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to do it. Just like how everyone doesn’t have to go to low Masses during the week even though it is extremely beneficial. I recommended the rosary to the original poster, but I did so as advice rather than command.

 

[Confiteor_Deo]

There are also levels of veneration in the church. I forget what they are called, so someone may help me out–I believe it’s dulia, hyperdulia and something else.
…

I think it’s called latria.

 

[Granum_Frumenti]

There are also levels of veneration in the church. I forget what they are called, so someone may help me out–I believe it’s dulia, hyperdulia and something else.

One level is for the saints, one is for God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and one is for the Blessed Mother.

I think it’s called latria.

Yes, it is.

Saint Worship?

As the terminology of Christian theology developed, the Greek term latria came to be used to refer to the honor that is due to God alone, and the term dulia came to refer to the honor that is due to human beings, especially those who lived and died in God’s friendship—in other words, the saints. Scripture indicates that honor is due to these individuals (Matt. 10:41b). A special term was coined to refer to the special honor given to the Virgin Mary, who bore Jesus—God in the flesh—in her womb. This term, hyperdulia (huper [more than]+ dulia = “beyond dulia”), indicates that the honor due to her as Christ’s own Mother is more than the dulia given to other saints. It is greater in degree, but still of the same kind. However, since Mary is a finite creature, the honor she is due is fundamentally different in kind from the latria owed to the infinite Creator.

The full article is considerably longer and provides more information about the topic of “worship,” honor, and the saints.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

I know that the Holy Rosary is supposed to point us “to Jesus through Mary,” but I honestly feel like I am treating the Blessed Mother as another addition to the Trinity at this point…

I consecrate myself to Her every morning when I wake up, I say the Rosary nearly every night before I sleep, and I wear the Brown Scapular devoutly…

I don’t address God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit as much as I address Our Lady, and that kind of bothers me…

Additionally, I feel like the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Holy Rosary are both vying for my attention:

The promises of the Holy Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet are so similar, it is as if they were in competition with one another (“Mary will provide you Graces and the Mercy of God by intercession. Wrong, Jesus will instead provide His Mercy through the Chaplet”).

I’m just so confused. I don’t know which one to focus on more, which one is more meritorious, and which one will have a greater efficacy on my Soul.

You should choose to populate your prayer life with what assists you to grow spiritually. At the highest level is the liturgy. As the Council Fathers said at Vatican II, the Eucharist and the summit of our spiritual life. If one were to have to choose, for example, between attending daily Mass and reciting the rosary, all else being equal, one should go to daily Mass. Of course, that is not always an option.

Beyond the Mass, there is the Liturgy of the Hours. It is the prayer of the Church and, even as a lay person, to pray it is to celebrate the liturgy. I fell in love with it and it has been a tremendous gift. It is not suited to everyone as the breviary is somewhat complicated to learn, it must be said. However, there are apps and websites that make it much simpler. Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer take about 10 minutes each while Daytime prayer and Night Prayer take about five minutes each. It is drawn from Sacred Scripture.

Once we move beyond the Church’s public prayer (the liturgy) and enter into private prayer, it is completely your discretion. Some people derive great benefit from the rosary. Some people do not care for it at all. The Divine Mercy chaplet is a perfectly lovely devotion. Personally, for decades I have been very partial to the Stations of the Cross, with their emphasis on meditation on the Passion. One can use one of many published formulas or, as I do after so many years, improvise.

Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. Lectio divina with the Sacred Scriptures. Praying the psalms. There is a vast treasure trove of devotions in Catholic spirituality. One need not feel locked into anything from one day to the next or one season to the next. Perhaps you should just explore more of the options. Perhaps you should speak to one of the priests or deacons in your parish. Knowing you, they may be better positioned to offer suggestions.

 

[multitude]

I said that it was a better devotion because it has been praised by countless Popes & saints, been promoted in multiple apparitions of Our Lady, been proven efficacious in answering prayers & stomping heresy, has a plenary indulgence attached to it (which shows how favorably the Church regards this devotion), and has many promises attached to it. Just reading the literature of St. Louis de Montfort on the rosary proves its astounding value.

It is a superior devotion to the chaplet of divine mercy, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to do it. Just like how everyone doesn’t have to go to low Masses during the week even though it is extremely beneficial. I recommended the rosary to the original poster, but I did so as advice rather than command.

And, if one were to actually read the literature of St. Louis de Montfort, you’ll realize that he had encountered a lot of people who made excuses exactly like that, not to pray the rosary, and they would quote that exact bible quote, “don’t babble like the pagans”. The saint had also specifically criticized Catholics for this one too.

Just pray it. I started out really clumsily as well. Tried to pray it years ago, then gave it up; wish I hadn’t. Our Lady always leads to Jesus. Always.

 

[fred_conty]

I know that the Holy Rosary is supposed to point us “to Jesus through Mary,” but I honestly feel like I am treating the Blessed Mother as another addition to the Trinity at this point…

I consecrate myself to Her every morning when I wake up, I say the Rosary nearly every night before I sleep, and I wear the Brown Scapular devoutly…

I don’t address God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit as much as I address Our Lady, and that kind of bothers me…

Additionally, I feel like the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Holy Rosary are both vying for my attention:

The promises of the Holy Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet are so similar, it is as if they were in competition with one another (“Mary will provide you Graces and the Mercy of God by intercession. Wrong, Jesus will instead provide His Mercy through the Chaplet”).

I’m just so confused. I don’t know which one to focus on more, which one is more meritorious, and which one will have a greater efficacy on my Soul.

I don’t see that you have a problem. You talk to Mary and your worried about talking to her? Are you worried that you’re talking to us too? You talk to many people and there is no need to worry over it. I can’t think of a better person to talk to.

Jesus has never said that you have to concentrate on him 100%. How would that even be possible?

And Jesus himself talked to Mary most of his life.

There is no problem here. It is like a old german saying, “Don’t scratch a sore you don’t have or you’ll make one.”

I believe the real problem for most people is that they do not make Mary real before they start praying. And as a result they pray in some sort of misty, foggy way. Sort of throwing their prayers into outer space hoping it will be heard some how. Instead of forming within themselves a real person of Mary, and then praying to the real person of Mary with the understanding that she is paying close attention to everything you are saying. And she is, for that is being a mother which Jesus assigned her to become to us.

If you are really praying too hard and too long to Mary, then maybe you are causing Mary to pay attention to you too much and she is sinnning. Now you know that is a bunch of giberish. So why would you think you talk too much to her?

When the day comes that you are talking too much to her, you can bet your last red penney that she will let you know and direct you.

I think the reason a lot of people talk to Mary is because she is a woman and a mother. And we understand that women have certain ways to understand that a man doesn’t have. And because she is a mother, we feel comfortable telling mom anything and we feel at ease asking her for favors. And I personally think that is why Jesus not only gave his life for us, but also his very own mother to be ours.

So when the day arrives when you quit talking to your very own mother in heaven, then you have a problem.