I know, I know…I hear the groaning out their but I am trying to understand as much about the Catholic dogmas.
Can anyone tell me of any of the early church fathers who venerated Mary to the status that is given her now. I understand the “full of grace” message that is spoken to Mary by the angel. But, in reading some of the church fathers I am not seeing anything that could be shown as tradition of aski ng Mary to take concerns to her versus Jesus himself. I come to you for more expert info in this.
I’m not trying to be a pain but am genuinely interested to learn.
I think that when you list the passages that honor Mary it illustrates how important she was to the Christians of the apostolic age:
Luke 1:28 – “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!”
Luke 1:28 – “Blessed are you among women!”
Luke 1:42 – “Blessed are you among women!”
Luke 1:45 – “Blessed is she who believed!”
Luke 1:48 – “All generations will call me blessed.”
Luke 1:49 – “For the Almighty has done great things for me.”
Luke 1:43 – “And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
Luke 1:46 – “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior!”
Luke 1:48 – “He has regarded the lowly estate of His handmaid.”
Luke 1:38 – “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to thy Word.”
Luke 2:35 – “And a sword will pierce your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
Luke 2:19 – “But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.”
Luke 2:51 – “And his mother kept all these things in her heart.”
Mark 3:34-35 – “Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
John 2:4 – “Jesus said to her, ‘Dear woman, what is that to me and to thee? My hour has not yet come.’ ”
John 2:5 – “His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ ”
John 19:26-27 – “Woman, behold, your son!” – “Behold, your mother!”
John 19:27 – “And from that hour the disciple took her as his own.”
Micah 5:2-3 – “Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is to give birth has borne.”
Acts 1:14 – “All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”
Galatians 4:4-5 – “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.”
Ephesians 5:31-32 – “ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is a profound one, and I say that it refers to Christ and the Church.”
Revelation 12:1-6 – “And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Verse 5: “She brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.”
Another important thing to note is the Magnificat. In Greek, it is written as a song, and it is one of the only ones in the New Testament. That indicates that the early Christians cared enough about Mary to write a song about her, and St. Luke thought it was important enough to preserve it in his Gospel. That’s a very Catholic attitude toward the mother of the Savior.
You want statements from early Church Fathers at the time the New Testament was being written?
