Is the Glories of Mary heretical?

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This is not how you should understand it. The scripture says that Mary “Magnifies the Lord” Lk 1:46. She is there to help Christians. Something that magnifies the sun does not “blot it out” it makes it brighter!
 
TheNeutral said:
Every time I even get a sliver of light in the darkness or even a breath of hope
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You haven’t read scripture regarding Mary. Start from there. And stop judging! Take care of yourself and entrust yourself to God’s mercy. I used to struggle with some of those same aspects - the justice and hardship of sin, the demands in Scripture. Well, Our Lord’s mercy surpasses all of that, as does His sacrifice and merit on the Cross. So trust in Him. If Our Lord decided to give Our Lady and Saint Joseph such a large role in the history of salvation, He certainly knew what He was doing…!!
 
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Think what the audience of this book would’ve been. It probably was sophisticated and maybe slightly pretentious theologians. They get the nuances and they may like bold statements that over-state. Also Marian devotion is just an x% of these people’s lives, it usually is very small (at most let’s say 15%) but that percentage tends to be very… well… Marian. I guess most people don’t have a problem with the actual nuances but with the nuances being understood. Trust me, most of the so called mega Marian “grannys” of the era never laid hands on that book and weren’t thinking of these kinds of concepts. You really got to try and get the cultural nuances not just the doctrinal ones. The level of “respect” (for lack of a better word) and the kind of relationship that Catholic culture has with God cannot be compared and is very superior to what it has for Mary.

As for the nuance; well the text explains it. It isn’t like Mary has actual power over God more than in the fact that her prayers are really effective.
 
MCH1 said:
Mary is Jesus’ Mother, so He would obey her.
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More importantly though… Jesus is Mary’s creator so she would obey him and would never, ever pretend to be able to command God…

We should always start with God and his divinity, not Mary - a mere creature… one of God’s creations
 
Of course Jesus would have obeyed his own commandment and honored his earthly father and mother - that he created.

More importantly is that Mary would have obeyed the first commandment…

Mary is subordinate to God, not the other way around
 
Mary does not command God but rather prays to Him like we do…
 
Biblical types don’t always correspond that way. Christ is many times prefigured by sinful people, in order to show how He does what those in the OT failed to do. The clearest example of this is how St. Paul speaks of “Adam, who is a figure of him who was to come,” (Rom 5:14), elsewhere saying, “And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.” (1 Cor 15:22).

So, in the case of Solomon and Bathsheba, we see the formal custom presented (which is no arbitrary detail), the custom being that the king rises for no one but the queen mother, who intercedes for others, and that the king will honor her every request. In practice though, Solomon did not follow this custom.
Almost all the kings mentioned in 1 & 2 kings are listed along with the names of their mothers.
And Solomon is proved to be wicked in the end. Yet Solomon was used as a type of Christ in that great Messianic prophecy of 2 Sam 7, as the seed of David, the Davidic king, and a speaker of parables. Christ did what Solomon failed to do.
So also, this queen mother did not ask a good request, since Adonijah was indeed seeking to usurp the sovereignty by his request. Whereas Mary the true Queen Mother, asks always in accordance with God’s will, and in total subjection to His Sovereignty; which is, very straightforwardly, the reason her requests are always granted.
And indeed, as Sammy stated, Mary does not command God. She request, and He obeys her requests, not commands.

This is a cool bonus. The queen mother’s intercession to the king again appears at the end of the Book of Proverbs, addressed to king Lamuel (which may or may not be another name for Solomon, but in any case is a Jewish king):

The words of king Lamuel. The vision wherewith his mother instructed him.
What, O my beloved,
what, O the beloved of my womb,
what, O the beloved of my vows?
. . .
Give strong drink to them that are sad:
and wine to them that are grieved in mind:
. . .
Open thy mouth, decree that which is just,
and do justice to the needy and poor.
(Prov 31:1-2,6,9)
 
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Here is Blessed John Henry Newman making some comments that could help with this discussion… his writings pertaining to Mary are so valuable and not known widely enough
  1. After such explanation, and with such authorities, to clear my path, I put away from me, as you would wish, without any hesitation, as matters in which my heart and reason have no part, (when taken in their literal and absolute sense, as any Protestant would naturally take them, and as the writers doubtless did not use them), such sentences, and phrases, as these:—that the mercy of Mary is infinite; that God has resigned into her hands His omnipotence; that it is safer to seek her than to seek her Son; that the Blessed Virgin is superior to God; that our Lord is subject to her command; that His present disposition towards sinners, as well as His Father’s, is to reject them, while the Blessed Mary takes His place as an Advocate with Father and Son; that the Saints are more ready to intercede with Jesus than Jesus with the Father; that Mary is the only refuge of those with whom God is angry; that Mary alone can obtain a Protestant’s conversion; that it would have sufficed for the salvation of men if our Lord had died, not in order to obey His Father, but to defer to the decree of His Mother; that she rivals our Lord in being God’s daughter, not by adoption, but by a kind of nature; that Christ fulfilled the office of Saviour by imitating her virtues; that, as the Incarnate God bore the image of His Father, so He bore the image of His Mother; that {114} redemption derived from Christ indeed its sufficiency, but from Mary its beauty and loveliness; that, as we are clothed with the merits of Christ, so we are clothed with the merits of Mary; that, as He is Priest, in a like sense is she Priestess; that His Body and Blood in the Eucharist are truly hers and appertain to her; that as He is present and received therein, so is she present and received therein; that Priests are ministers as of Christ, so of Mary; that elect souls are born of God and Mary; that the Holy Ghost brings into fruitfulness His action by her, producing in her and by her Jesus Christ in His members; that the kingdom of God in our souls, as our Lord speaks, is really the kingdom of Mary in the soul; that she and the Holy Ghost produce in the soul extraordinary things; and that when the Holy Ghost finds Mary in a soul He flies there.
 
godisgood77 said:
Of course Jesus would have obeyed his own commandment and honored his earthly father and mother - that he created.

More importantly is that Mary would have obeyed the first commandment…

Mary is subordinate to God, not the other way around
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The statement when read in context clearly is saying what is said in the first paragraph.
 
It almost seems like you’re jealous of Our Lady, and no, just because she was born without original sin doesn’t mean she didn’t have the free wil to do so. Just like us, she faced temptation, she faced suffering, she faced it all. The only thing her lack of original sin did was that it was easier for her to choose good. However, the sufferings she faced, the things she accepted, the temptations she overcame with trust and love in God are far, far greater than those any of us face. The purity God blesses her with only made the suffering greater because she loves more purely. God is just, if we believe he’ll reward His faithful, why on earth would you be angry over Him honoring His mother??
 
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This is frightening because the devil can be the only one causing this. This is how he feels.
 
The blessings bestowed on her were far greater…

She was saved from original sin, saw and spoke with angels, bore God…a very privileged life!!

God blessed Mary immensely
 
Yes, yes He did. And this should not make any one of us sad or upset. She also accepted the sacrifice of Her Son and God. She accepted giving up her every life plan for God’s plan. The blessings He have her were immense because her role was immense. She was to give the Eternal God of Israel, the Holy of Holies, the Almighty, everlasting God her very flesh and blood. She was going to give birth in time to the One who has no beginning or end. This required special graces. And God says Himself, “ I will have Mercy in who I will have mercy”. If this is what He wanted, who are we to be upset over it?
 
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What? How? Where? My friend! How did you come upon such literary treasure!!!
 
I just order The Glories of Mary a few days ago and I can’t wait to get it. Hopefully I finish my other books before it gets here.
 
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