I don’t remember how I came to this article, but it’s one of many that condemns us Catholics venerating Mary… Normally I wouldn’t give it too much thought but it shows this particular image of Mary that the author calls “sick”. I admit, the picture isn’t that well done, but one of the things that bothers the author is that Mary has stigmata. I’ve never seen a picture of Mary with stigmata before, and a quick Google image search of stigmata + Mary doesn’t come up with any similar pictures…so my question is, is this picture odd or am I just not that familiar with Catholic art?
Here’s the link to the article. It provides a link to the picture :
jesus-is-lord.com/marysave.htm
This website is a rabidly anti catholic website…with a lot of misinformation and disinformation.
The author is not catholic…why does he even believe in the Stigmata? If he does not believe in the stigmata…why would he even start believing Mary would have the stigmata?
He does not even show the source of the pic…he could have been the source of the pic…for all you know.
It is meant to inflame…that is why.
The site mentioned this…do you know why?
[SIGN]They always show a dead Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ is NOT dead! He is alive! He rose from the dead and his sacrifice was a ONE TIME sacrifice. [/SIGN]
had a friend ask me why Catholics have Crucifixes in our churches…don’t we believe Jesus has risen? Why do we keep Him on the cross?
First of all, you would want to check out 1st Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 23. Paul says, “…but we preach Christ crucified…” Why does Paul preach Christ crucified? Doesn’t he know Jesus has been raised from the dead? Of course he does! But, he knows that it is through the power of the crucified Christ on the cross that the bonds of sin and death are broken. As Paul says in verse 24, Christ crucified is the “power of God”.
1 Cor 2:2, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Again, didn’t Paul know that Jesus had risen from the dead? Of course, he did.
Paul preaches Christ crucified because an empty cross has no power. The cross that bears the beaten, battered, and bloodied body of Jesus Christ, however, that cross is the “power of God”. This is why, we “keep Jesus on the cross,” because we, too, preach Christ crucified. The Crucifix reminds us not only of God’s power, but also His love for us - giving His only begotten Son up for suffering and death.
Also, here in this life we do not share so much in the glory of the Resurrection, as we do in the suffering of Jesus on the cross; after all, we must take up our cross daily if we are to follow Jesus, as it says in Lk 9:23.
And, we must die with Christ in order to live with Him as Romans 6:8 tells us. Where did Christ die? On the cross. The Crucifix serves to remind us of these things.
One other passage to keep in mind is Galatians 3:1, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?” Did you catch that? Jesus was publicly portrayed, before their “eyes”, as being crucified. Sounds kind of like they may have been looking at a Crucifix, doesn’t it?
