Mary our Mother

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Mystic_Warrior

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My brother and sister Catholics,

I am non-Catholic but have a devotion for the Blessed Virgin Mary. I pray the rosary and am very fond of her. I think of her as my mother - not in the same sense as God is my Heavenly Father or that she is Divine.

But I’m trying to teach my kids about the BVM and finding it hard to know how to teach them. I’m not even sure myself of how I’m supposed to think of her. I think of her as my mother as she is the mother of my Lord.

So, I suppose I’m having a tough time as a life-long Protestant understanding how other Christians view Mary as their mother. I know she is Queen of Heaven. Her Divine Son is King.

Maybe this isn’t coming out right, but I think I’m confusing myself and my kids. My 5 year old told me that she has two fathers, me and the Heavenly Father and two mothers - her mom and Mary. I told her yes, but I didn’t really know how to explain it to her.

I know the teachings, I’m just trying to keep from being heretical in my views on my relationship to her and not offend my Father. Can you help me figure out how I am to view her as my mother? Please, I am serious. This is not an anti-Mary thread. This is truly how I feel. And please, no Protestant bashing about this from my brothers and sisters.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is special and I don’t like anyone talking bad about her.

Peace…

MW
 
As far as offending the Father is concerned. What Father is offended by a child who loves his mother?

There are actually at least four scriptural confirmations of Mary as the spiritual mother of all Christians.
  1. Jesus’s presentation of Mary from the Cross as mother to John. John as the only Apostle present is therefore the representative of all Jesus’s disciples. Mary is given as mother to all of us.
  2. The fact that we are brethren of Jesus. As brothers of Jesus, we share Jesus’s Father. We must therefore also share with Him in the Motherhood of Mary.
  3. The fact that all Christians form one body.
    1 Corinthians:12.27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
    As members of the body of Jesus, Mary is our Mother.
  4. Revelation 12.17 shows us that all who follow Jesus are children of the woman who is His mother.
 
Just as the Father gave us his only, perfect Son, the Son gave us his only, perfect Mother. Why? Because we need all the help we can get. We need the help only Jesus Christ could give us, and we need the help that the only perfect human being, Mother of our Savior, can give us.

Just rejoice in the generosity of God!
 
Axion said:
As far as offending the Father is concerned. What Father is offended by a child who loves his mother?

There are actually at least four scriptural confirmations of Mary as the spiritual mother of all Christians.
  1. Jesus’s presentation of Mary from the Cross as mother to John. John as the only Apostle present is therefore the representative of all Jesus’s disciples. Mary is given as mother to all of us.
  2. The fact that we are brethren of Jesus. As brothers of Jesus, we share Jesus’s Father. We must therefore also share with Him in the Motherhood of Mary.
  3. The fact that all Christians form one body.
    1 Corinthians:12.27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
    As members of the body of Jesus, Mary is our Mother.
  4. Revelation 12.17 shows us that all who follow Jesus are children of the woman who is His mother.
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Thank you for your answer - very much. Please, I stated in the beginning that I’m non-Catholic. It’s simply difficult for me to wrap myself around it, that’s all. When you are brought up to think so little of the Blessed Virgin Mary and that she can never be put on such a high pedestal, it’s hard to break free from that.

I know I have a devotion to her. Whenever I pray the rosary I get a tremendous sense of peace. I usually pray it before I go to sleep and I can imagine her watching over me and holding me as my earthly mother would.

In my background as a Southern Baptist, Mary was seen as a normal human, born in sin and never considered Queen of Heaven. That would be considered blasphemy. So, after years of leaving that faith and embracing some teachings from Catholicism, I still encounter obstacles that I have to work out in my mind.

Thanks again.

Peace…

MW
 
VociMike said:
Just as the Father gave us his only, perfect Son, the Son gave us his only, perfect Mother. Why? Because we need all the help we can get. We need the help only Jesus Christ could give us, and we need the help that the only perfect human being, Mother of our Savior, can give us.

Just rejoice in the generosity of God!
Click to expand...
Thank you for the post. Beautiful way to put it. Oh, believe me, I need all the help I can get. My background didn’t include a belief in the communion of saints, nor veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother.

Thanks again.

Peace…

MW
 
Mystic_Warrior said:
I think of her as my mother as she is the mother of my Lord.
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Christ enabled Mary’s suffering to be fruitful.
Mary gave birth to all of us at the foot of the cross. You know that Woman travailing in pangs of birth in Revelations? In the encyclical on the Immaculate Conception (a Catholic dogma that teaches the BVM did not suffer the stain of original sin by a singular grace of God), the Holy Father says:
  1. Leaving aside charity towards God, who can contemplate the Immaculate Virgin without feeling moved to fulfill that precept which Christ called peculiarly His own, namely that of loving one another as He loved us? “A great sign,” thus the Apostle St. John describes a vision divinely sent him, appears in the heavens: “A woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars upon her head” (Apoc. xii., 1). Everyone knows that this woman signified the Virgin Mary, the stainless one who brought forth our Head. The Apostle continues: “And, being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered” (Apoc. xii., 2). John therefore saw the Most Holy Mother of God already in eternal happiness, yet travailing in a mysterious childbirth. What birth was it? Surely it was the birth of us who, still in exile, are yet to be generated to the perfect charity of God, and to eternal happiness. And the birth pains show the love and desire with which the Virgin from heaven above watches over us, and strives with unwearying prayer to bring about the fulfillment of the number of the elect.
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And that’s why Mary is our Mother.

**She who gave birth to our Head, Jesus Christ, must, consequently, give birth to the entire body.

**God Bless you.
 
Chaldean_Rite said:
Christ enabled Mary’s suffering to be fruitful.
Mary gave birth to all of us at the foot of the cross. You know that Woman travailing in pangs of birth in Revelations? In the encyclical on the Immaculate Conception (a Catholic dogma that teaches the BVM did not suffer the stain of original sin by a singular grace of God), the Holy Father says:
And that’s why Mary is our Mother.

**She who gave birth to our Head, Jesus Christ, must, consequently, give birth to the entire body.

**God Bless you.
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Thank you Chaldean Rite. And may God bless you as well.

Peace…

MW
 
Mystic_Warrior said:
Thank you Chaldean Rite. And may God bless you as well.

Peace…

MW
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Thank you.

Are you familiar with a meditation on the sorrows of Mary?
  1. The Prophecy of Simeon .(Luke 2:34)
  2. The Flight into Egypt of the Holy Family. (Matthew 2:13)
  3. The Loss of the Child Jesus for Three Days. (Luke 2:43)
  4. The Meeting of Jesus and Mary along the Way of the Cross. (Luke 23:26)
  5. The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus: Mary at the foot of the Cross. (John 19:25)
  6. The Descent from the Cross where Mary receives the dead body of Jesus in her arms. (Matthew 27:57)
  7. The Burial of Jesus. (John 19:40)
I’ve been doing his for about 4 years and it has helped ground my own prayer life. And its also a blessing:
The Blessed Virgin Mary grants 7 special graces to the souls who honor her daily by saying 7 Hail Mary’s
and meditating on her tears and dolors. This devotion was passed on by St. Bridget of Sweden.
Here are the 7 special graces:
  1. I will grant peace to their families.
  2. They will be enlightened about the divine mysteries.
  3. I will console them in their pains, and I will accompany them in their work.
  4. I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.
  5. I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy, and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.
  6. I will visibly help them at the moment of their death; they will see the face of their mother.
  7. I have obtained (this grace) from my divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors, will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son and I will be their eternal consolation and joy.
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September 15th, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Pray for us, O most sorrowful Virgin.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
 
Chaldean_Rite said:
Thank you.

Are you familiar with a meditation on the sorrows of Mary?
  1. The Prophecy of Simeon .(Luke 2:34)
  2. The Flight into Egypt of the Holy Family. (Matthew 2:13)
  3. The Loss of the Child Jesus for Three Days. (Luke 2:43)
  4. The Meeting of Jesus and Mary along the Way of the Cross. (Luke 23:26)
  5. The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus: Mary at the foot of the Cross. (John 19:25)
  6. The Descent from the Cross where Mary receives the dead body of Jesus in her arms. (Matthew 27:57)
  7. The Burial of Jesus. (John 19:40)
Click to expand...
No, I wasn’t familiar with them. I know some of these are mysteries in the rosary, that is, no. 3 and no. 1. Is there a form for this meditation?
I’ve been doing his for about 4 years and it has helped ground my own prayer life. And its also a blessing:
Click to expand...
September 15th, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.
Click to expand...
Pray for us, O most sorrowful Virgin.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the link. I’m doing the best I can at un-doing my past influences with regard to the BVM. Thanks for your help.

Peace…

MW
 
Mystic_Warrior said:
Thank you for your answer - very much. Please, I stated in the beginning that I’m non-Catholic. It’s simply difficult for me to wrap myself around it, that’s all. When you are brought up to think so little of the Blessed Virgin Mary and that she can never be put on such a high pedestal, it’s hard to break free from that.

I know I have a devotion to her. Whenever I pray the rosary I get a tremendous sense of peace. I usually pray it before I go to sleep and I can imagine her watching over me and holding me as my earthly mother would.

In my background as a Southern Baptist, Mary was seen as a normal human, born in sin and never considered Queen of Heaven. That would be considered blasphemy. So, after years of leaving that faith and embracing some teachings from Catholicism, I still encounter obstacles that I have to work out in my mind.

Thanks again.

Peace…

MW
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Hi MW,

I think I understand you.

In my experience, such nervousness or rejection of Mary as “the Mother of God”, or as the “Queen of Heaven”, while understandable, is often due to the idea that both supposedly attribute divinity to Mary.

Is this the source of your unease?

If so, I hope it would be helpful to point out that divinity is not necessary for either role. As such, the Catholic Church does not teach that Mary is or ever was divine.

Mary is human, but one specially gifted by God. As the mother of God, Mary has been given far more graces than any other person, & is the most blessed of all humans.As God, Jesus was not only able to choose his mother, but also begin to give her gifts long before he became incarnate, & after he ascended to heaven.

You are correct in your statement that Mary is the mother of God.
Jesus is God, & Mary is His mother.

You are also correct in stating that Mary is the Queen of Heaven.
Jesus is the “King of kings”, & Mary is His mother.

Perhaps it would comfort you to know that Mary was given to us as mother by the Father.
As the Father, Son & Holy Spirit are one, the gift of one member of the Trinity is the gift of all.

As he came from a staunchly Protestant background, perhaps Scott Hahn’s book “Hail Holy Queen” would be a helpful read. You can download a set of audio archives of an EWTN series with Scott Hahn & Mike Aquilina discussing this book & the issues it examines.

It is not the same as the book, (nor is it a sales pitch,) but it is a discussion of the contents of the book & can be a very good introduction or companion to the book itself.

catholicaudio.blogspot.com/2007/10/scott-hahn-hail-holy-queen.html

God bless,

Chris
 
ChrisWRIT said:
Hi MW,

I think I understand you.
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Thank God - maybe a few people do 🙂
In my experience, such nervousness or rejection of Mary as “the Mother of God”, or as the “Queen of Heaven”, while understandable, is often due to the idea that both supposedly attribute divinity to Mary.
Click to expand...
Is this the source of your unease?
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In a way, yes. When you have it ingrained in your mind to not have communion with saints - to not honor the BVM and especially not attribute anything special to her, it’s hard to get rid of. I can’t explain why I feel like she is my Heavenly Mother.

I feel that way, but I haven’t been able to get it right in my mind as to how she is my mother. I pray the rosary often because I feel compelled to and since then have come to wonder about these things. It’s even difficult to consider Jesus as my brother - although He Himself describes Himself that way. I know it might seem stupid to some for me not to be able to grasp it, but I’m asking for an allowance for that stupidity 😃
If so, I hope it would be helpful to point out that divinity is not necessary for either role. As such, the Catholic Church does not teach that Mary is or ever was divine.
Click to expand...
Yes, that’s true. She wasn’t/isn’t Divine. I found myself teaching my little girls about Mary and how she is our Mother and my 5 year old (very charismatic for her age) said, “So, we have two fathers, Daddy and God and two mothers, mommy and Mary.” I said yes, but I think in her mind she was beginning to conjur the thought that Mary was the wife of God and knowing that that wasn’t accurate, but not knowing how to explain, I just dropped it.
Mary is human, but one specially gifted by God. As the mother of God, Mary has been given far more graces than any other person, & is the most blessed of all humans.As God, Jesus was not only able to choose his mother, but also begin to give her gifts long before he became incarnate, & after he ascended to heaven.
Click to expand...
Wonderful! For some reason that hit the mark.
You are correct in your statement that Mary is the mother of God.
Jesus is God, & Mary is His mother.
Click to expand...
You are also correct in stating that Mary is the Queen of Heaven.
Jesus is the “King of kings”, & Mary is His mother.
Click to expand...
yes, yes.
Perhaps it would comfort you to know that Mary was given to us as mother by the Father.
As the Father, Son & Holy Spirit are one, the gift of one member of the Trinity is the gift of all.
Click to expand...
I didn’t think of it that way till now.
As he came from a staunchly Protestant background, perhaps Scott Hahn’s book “Hail Holy Queen” would be a helpful read. You can download a set of audio archives of an EWTN series with Scott Hahn & Mike Aquilina discussing this book & the issues it examines.
Click to expand...
It is not the same as the book, (nor is it a sales pitch,) but it is a discussion of the contents of the book & can be a very good introduction or companion to the book itself.
Click to expand...
catholicaudio.blogspot.com/2007/10/scott-hahn-hail-holy-queen.html
Click to expand...
God bless,
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Chris
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Yes, you know I’ve heard about that book and I listen to Catholic Answers on the radio in the mornings and afternoons back and forth to work and Hahn is sometimes on with a regular spot devoted to talking about the BVM. I always enjoy this. And sometimes I watch EWTN when he is on talking about it. I know - I know, kind of odd but I enjoy watching all kinds of Christian shows, Catholic or not.

Thanks for your help Chris.

God bless you too,

MW
 
Thank you to all who have replied so far. And I thank the Lord that the thread hasn’t denigrated into something negative. The Catholics here have tried to help me with this, sensing my honesty and offering their thoughts.

Thank you, but keep it coming! 😃

Peace…

MW
 
I’ve been producing a podcast on Mary for a little over 6 months. It could be helpfull. You can find in on i-tunes by searching ( Theotokos) or you can download it from the website. motherofgodpodcast.com/
Another resorce is motherofallpeoples.com/ some of the Contributing Authors are:
Jonathan Baker, Msgr. Arthur B. Calkins , Fr. Maximilian Mary, Dean, F.I. , Ambassador Howard Dee, Jason Evert, Fr. Robert Fox, Scott Hahn, Ph.D. , Fr. Stefano Manelli, F.I. , Msgr., Charles Mangan, Fr. James McCurry, O.F.M.Conv. , Michael O’Brien Order of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary
If you’d like I’d be more than happy to exchange e-mails with you if you’d like.
 
I am so glad you also find peace in the Rosary as a non catholic!

I can’t help you, but I can tell you that I feel the very same thing.🙂

Monica
 
adam_in_ohio said:
I’ve been producing a podcast on Mary for a little over 6 months. It could be helpfull. You can find in on i-tunes by searching ( Theotokos) or you can download it from the website. motherofgodpodcast.com/
Another resorce is motherofallpeoples.com/ some of the Contributing Authors are:
Jonathan Baker, Msgr. Arthur B. Calkins , Fr. Maximilian Mary, Dean, F.I. , Ambassador Howard Dee, Jason Evert, Fr. Robert Fox, Scott Hahn, Ph.D. , Fr. Stefano Manelli, F.I. , Msgr., Charles Mangan, Fr. James McCurry, O.F.M.Conv. , Michael O’Brien Order of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary
If you’d like I’d be more than happy to exchange e-mails with you if you’d like.
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Thanks Adam. I went to your blog and I’ll be listening to some of the podcasts. I’ll email you at your yahoo address when I have questions. Thank you for the offer. I appreciate the help.

God bless…

MW
 
notsmart said:
I am so glad you also find peace in the Rosary as a non catholic!

I can’t help you, but I can tell you that I feel the very same thing.🙂

Monica
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Hi Monica. Yes, an absolutely wonderful peace. I mean, everything is in there that speaks of the Christian faith. I never had anything to do with the BVM before and it just is a wonderful devotion for me now. Now if I can just get my thinking cap on! Thanks for the support.

God bless…

MW
 
:hug3:
Mystic_Warrior said:
Yes, that’s true. She wasn’t/isn’t Divine. I found myself teaching my little girls about Mary and how she is our Mother and my 5 year old (very charismatic for her age) said, “So, we have two fathers, Daddy and God and two mothers, mommy and Mary.” I said yes, but I think in her mind she was beginning to conjur the thought that Mary was the wife of God and knowing that that wasn’t accurate, but not knowing how to explain, I just dropped it.
MW
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Mary is the daughter of God the Father.
and
Mary is the Mother of God the Son.
and
Mary is the Spouse of God the Holy Spirit.

This is how I got it through my own (:yup: Methodist) head.👍 👍

God bless you, and I hope this helps!!
 
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