Is Mary in heaven?

[Tis_Bearself]

To take this a step further, the only bowing or genuflecting a Catholic is trained to do in a Church is directed towards the tabernacle or monstrance which contains the Real Presence of Jesus. We bow to Jesus during the consecration and at Communion. We genuflect (one knee normally, two knees during exposition, and some people prostrate themselves) in front of the Tabernacle containing Jesus or the exposed Host containing Jesus.

When someone sees a statue they may choose to bow, kneel, light a candle, nod, get on their knees and say a prayer, stand up and say a prayer, just mentally say hello to the saint, or do nothing. The statue is just to remind you to say the prayer. We are not obligated to pay any sort of homage there. The saint or Mary or Jesus is not in the statue.

 

[Todd_Easton]

There is nothing inherently wrong with bowing down toward religious statues. The psalmist did it. The psalmist said, “I bow down toward thy holy temple…” (Psalm 138:2a) Now, if the temple in question was the meeting tent that was used before Solomon’s temple was built, then the Ark of the Covenant was in the temple. And, what was on the Ark of the Covenant? Two religious statues, two smaller cherubim statues. If the temple in question was Solomon’s temple, then both the Ark of the Covenant, with its two smaller cherubim statues, and two large cherubim statues were in the temple. In either case, if the psalmist bows down toward the Lord’s temple, he not only bows down toward temple but toward everything in the temple, including the religious statues there. When the psalmist bowed toward the temple, was he guilty of worshiping the temple or worshiping the religious statues in the temple? No, because it was not the psalmist’s intention by bowing down toward the temple to worship the temple itself nor the religious statues in the temple themselves but to worship the Lord God. In the same way, Catholics who bow down toward religious statues do not intend by bowing down toward religious statues to worship the statues themselves but to worship the Lord God.

 

[OsculeturMeOsculo]

The Rosary is very important, the works of St Louis de Monfort explains it very well. Mary lived with Jesus ten times more than He was with the apostles. They were quite lukewarm and abandoned him on multiple occasions, but Mary was always there in the background. In the Magnificat its says “every generation will call be blessed.” In Romans 16:6 it says to salute Mary. The Hail Mary or Angelic Salutation came from God himself and brought forth the salvation of the world because through it God was able to become man. In Revelation it describes a women clothed with the sun and the moon at her feet who gives birth to a heavenly child. It seems to symbolize Mary. The assumption of Mary is in Church tradition and in 1 Timothy Paul ask us to hold firm in their traditions. The Rosary is Christ based since the focus is more on Jesus than on Mary in the mysteries. There are also references to God “The Lord is with you” and " Blessed is the fruit of your womb." Protestants think its idolatry since they think you only need to pray directly to Jesus. We honor Mary because it ultimately brings us closer to God. Mary is the masterpiece of God and when we venerate her it makes him “happy” in a way similar to how someone might compliment a drawing you made or something you cooked for dinner.