Is the Catholic Church losing sight of Mary?

[AttendeDomine]

There is a questionnaire that is applied to the lives of those who are in the canonization process. The purpose of this questionnaire is to analyze the sanctity of the *Servant of God *or Blessed in question. It reads a bit like an examination of conscience, and there are several questions which are posed with regard to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and which aim to examine the level of the person’s devotion to her.

According to this document, therefore, having an explicit devotion to Mary, and encouraging others to have a similar devotion, are signs that are to be expected from those who are Saints.

I therefore find it a bit tedious to see people (in other contexts, not on this thread) talking about how devotion to Mary is an “optional spirituality” or something based entirely on preference, which is quite common in the Church today, in my experience. According to the official questionnaire used by the Vatican (at least in the past, but probably today too), devotion to Mary* is just as much a sign of a Saint* as are things like suffering patiently or being unattached to material things or being sparing in the use of food and drink. On the contrary, not having an explicit devotion to the Holy Mother of God may count against a person who is in the canonization process.

It therefore behooves each of us who want to be Saints — which should be every single Catholic — to in every way increase in our devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

(Here’s a link to an FSSP priest reading from this document.)

 

[MariaChristi]

There is a questionnaire that is applied to the lives of those who are in the canonization process. The purpose of this questionnaire is to analyze the sanctity of the *Servant of God *or Blessed in question. It reads a bit like an examination of conscience, and there are several questions which are posed with regard to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and which aim to examine the level of the person’s devotion to her.

According to this document, therefore, having an explicit devotion to Mary, and encouraging others to have a similar devotion, are signs that are to be expected from those who are Saints.

I therefore find it a bit tedious to see people (in other contexts, not on this thread) talking about how devotion to Mary is an “optional spirituality” or something based entirely on preference, which is quite common in the Church today, in my experience. According to the official questionnaire used by the Vatican (at least in the past, but probably today too), devotion to Mary* is just as much a sign of a Saint* as are things like suffering patiently or being unattached to material things or being sparing in the use of food and drink. On the contrary, not having an explicit devotion to the Holy Mother of God may count against a person who is in the canonization process.

It therefore behooves each of us who want to be Saints — which should be every single Catholic — to in every way increase in our devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

(Here’s a link to an FSSP priest reading from this document.)

Dear AttendeDomIne,

Thanks for your reply, and for the link to the document (Questionnaire). I listened to the priest’s introduction and then to the questions considered in the canonization process. Indeed the questions included whether or not the person practiced devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Father concluded by emphasizing the need for growing in the interior life.

It takes a little over 20 minutes to hear the entire talk but it is worth the time. We are all called to holiness, yet how many of us are sincerely and seriously making every effort to become the saints we are called to be? Mary is Mother and Model for the Church, it seems more and more important to me that we hear those words of Jesus: “Behold your Mother” and prayerfully seek the graces we need to do the Truth we see and hear in the Gospel.

We need to ponder as Mary did, keeping His Word in our hearts, and doing whatever He tells us. By God’s grace, may the world sees us more and more like Mary who followed Jesus perfectly – may the Church shine more brightly than ever! The darkness of our time, needs Saints who will shine with Christ’s Light as Mary did on this earth.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. Kindle in us the fire of your love.
Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.

 

[MariaChristi]

The church I go to does the Hail Mary prayer in mass. I do however believe the Catholic Church is losing sight of Mary. Then again, I also feel the sight is sometimes dissipating because of some ignorant people who believe that we worship Mary and like to spread that false talk around like pox. Saddening though when some younger Catholics become influenced by that stuff and leave.

Dear miracleplay,

Thanks for your reply. It is very sad to see Catholics leave the Church – young, old or in between. Venerable Fulton J. Sheen said once that he believed people left “a Church they never really knew”. It seems the same with Mary, who is an icon of the Church. It seems to me some people simply never got to know Mary, in Truth, before they began to leave her too.

Recently I read that in the time of the Protestant revolt against the Catholic Church in the 1500’s, the leaders, like Luther and Calvin, retained a certain devotion and reverence toward Mary as God’s Mother but as time went on theology became more and more diverse between Catholics and non Catholics until today we see so many errors.

Let us continue to pray that we ourselves may grow in true devotion to Mary, and that the Catholic Church as a whole may be renewed to even greater devotion towards her on the part of all the members of Christ’s Body.

 

[Mystrx]

No.

Agreed.

 

[MariaChristi]

Not in my area. My parish sings the Angelus after Mass twice a week. Another parish in my area says the Rosary after daily Mass Monday-Saturday every day and on Friday nights. Another on Tuesday nights prior to Mass. My parish doesn’t say the Rosary regularly unfortunately, we did for October though. But overall I’d say Marian devotion is live and well in my area.

Dear Peter23, Dancer2409, pianistclare, Bookcat, DBT, porthos and Mystrx,

Thank you all for your replies. Since you have all in one way or another indicated that you saw no “losing sight of Mary” by the Church, either in your area, your parish or the universal Church, I thought I might respond to you all in one post. It has been difficult to keep up with all the replies, individually.

I wrote in one of my responses and it bears repetition that perhaps the better title for this thread might have been: “Are some members of the Catholic Church losing sight of Mary?” Reading Pope St. John Paul II’s words, I was seeing what he had observed:

…When one moves away from the Mother, sooner or later he ends up keeping distant from the Son as well. It is no wonder that today in various sectors of secularized society, we note a widespread crisis of faith in God preceded by a drop in devotion to the Virgin Mother” … (Address of Pope St. John Paul II to the Legion of Mary, October 30, 1982).

I am grateful that there are still Catholics who have NOT lost sight of Mary, and I believe the Church will always have a faithful remnant who will cling to the complete Truth revealed to the Church until the end of time. Nevertheless, it still grieves me and causes me real sorrow to see and hear some Catholics and non Catholics alike speak and act far differently toward Mary than what the Catholic Church has taught for centuries.

Thank you again for your replies and for your own personal faithfulness to Jesus’ Words from the cross" “Behold your Mother”. May all who love her, and through her, love Jesus and the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit, continue to learn from Mary. By God’s Grace may we do whatever we can to show others by word and example how good a Mother Mary is!