Mary worship? I don’t think so

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Pixle_Catholic

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I have been thinking on this for a while. Often, we as Catholics are accused of worshiping and idolizing Mary above God. But, as I thought on this, I began to wonder, is it even possible to worship Mary above God? Everything about Mary points to Jesus Christ. How could any human possibly worship Mary in that capacity, it seems impossible. Mary is a like a beautiful mirror that reflects Jesus Christ, therefore how can anyone actually idolize her above him?

To be rid of any confusion, when I say worship I do not mean revere or respect, I mean it in terms of an unhealthy and sinful idolatry. 🙂
 
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You are correct, we don’t worship Mary. She is a creature like us, and privileged (full of grace) for our sake.

We can ask for her intercession; Jesus gave her to us at the foot of the cross.
 
I think we praise God when we recognize the good work He’s accomplished in His Saints.
 
I’ve always personally have been very skeptical of invoking saints and Marry in prayer. My reasoning being that if God loves me maximally, he will answer my prayers to his fullest capacity (even if the answer is no), and thus, intermediaries would be useless as they would do nothing to boosts God’s effects.
 
quaestio45 said:
I’ve always personally have been very skeptical of invoking saints and Marry in prayer.
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Except that in the history of the Church, more miracles have occurred through intercession of saints than directly from God. It pleases God to grant us favors through intercession. I do not question God just accept his will.
 
Pixle_Catholic said:
To be rid of any confusion, when I say worship I do not mean revere or respect, I mean it in terms of an unhealthy and sinful idolatry.
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It’s possible. Catholic’s I’ve spoke to when I asked them about prayers to Mary, say that some times veneration prayers to Mary can boarder line on worship.
 
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quaestio45 said:
My reasoning being that if God loves me maximally, he will answer my prayers to his fullest capacity (even if the answer is no), and thus, intermediaries would be useless as they would do nothing to boosts God’s effects.
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I remember one of the epistles saying our prayers aren’t answered because we ask wrongly, we ask to satisfy our desires.

So for me I ask a Saint to pray on my behalf, thinking they’ll pray on my behalf, out of love. Pure love. Perfected love.

Then God isn’t granting my desire be satisfied, but to satisfy the love of His Saint.
 
The Catholics “worshipping” Mary; praying rosary daily, consecrating themselves to her immaculate heart, wearing their brown scapular, praying seven sorrows, little office, etc. are the Catholics going to mass daily, receiving Jesus in eucharist in the most reverent way, are spending hours a day with Jesus in eucharistic adoration, etc. The Catholics “worshipping” Mary are the ones that are on fire for Jesus and the closest to Him. Mary is the key to a close relationship with Jesus.
 
How do you know they have no other prayer life? …and are they not also at Mass, and presumably receiving holy communion? Thus they by definition have a relationship with Christ.
Private devotion often tends to focus on Our Lady… but all practicing Catholics participate in the Liturgy of the Church which is always Christ centred.
 
God could have set it up that way… but He chose not to. He doesn’t need Our Lady or the saints…or priests… or us… but He WILLS to work through His creatures. We ignore Our Lady and the saints at our own detriment!

Christ could have appeared to every person on the planet and revealed himself. He chose to send forth his apostles, and now us, to work through us… likewise He chooses to work through the Woman He created to be His own mother.
 
Look up Father Don Calloway. He has some beautiful talks on Mary that paint a great perspective.
 
Amberlea said:
I have seen worship of Mary in the church. I know people who love her and don’t know Jesus well. I know some who have no prayer life outside of Marian devotion. I am not saying it is the practice of the church officially, but I think the objections of christians looking into the church should be taken more seriously.
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Mary is the Holy Mother of God. As such, Mary is worthy of our love, veneration and prayers. We pray to Mary asking for Her Intercession now and at the hour of our death. The Memorare prayer expresses our confidence in Her.
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me, Amen.
Yes, Catholics pray to the Mother of God and venerate Her. But worship is reserved to God alone.
 
A rosary “saying” person I can understand bring like that. But not a rosary praying…
 
Amberlea said:
I am very careful to ascribe any after effects to God. Always returning the glory to Him. While I love Mary as mother, I am careful there too to always be looking for how she is pointing me at her Son.
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I agree, and strive to do the same 🙂
 
Amberlea said:
I know them well enough to know their prayer life, it is something shared in conversation. I don’t think that communion without actually being in personal relationship with Christ, is enough. While I agree that the liturgy is Christ centered, I also don’t think this replaces knowing Jesus as personal saviour. I think you can be a rosary praying, church attending… non-believer. I think I have seen it.
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Praying the rosary is exactly what brings me to know Jesus as my PERSONAL savior. When I pray the sorrowful mysteries and meditate on those, it brings me to tears. Thinking of my wicked sins of my past and how Jesus was agonizing in the garden praying for this cup to pass from Him. In His humanity, he did not want to suffer and die for my wickedness and ungratefulness. How about knowing every sin I committed and Jesus taking the scourging with metal and bones ripping his flesh? Continually being beaten for my sins! How about Jesus being crowned with thorns that hit the nerves and caused excruciating pain and the blood running into his eyes? Then being mocked, ridiculed, spit on, etc.? He didn’t say a word or get angry. He took that for me because of my sins and wickedness. All His disciples abandoned Him except HIs mother and John. I can go on but you get the point. Praying the rosary and meditating on Jesus’ life has brought me to a very deep love for him and understanding He is my Lord!
 
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@c4csp

The Rosary has brought me so close to Jesus. Walking through the mysteries with Mary brings me to a new understanding of what Jesus has done for us. My favorite mystery are the Joyful ones.
 
Worship involves sacrifice. The Eucharistic sacrifice is the centre of Catholic worship. Catholics certainly praise Our Lady, and rightly so. In fact, St Louis de Montfort said we lowly mortals can never praise her highly enough, and certainly can never praise her as highly as Christ himself does…
Unless you can show me Catholics who offer sacrifices to her on an altar, I find it difficult to accept that they are worshipping her in the Catholic sense of the term.

I also reject the notion that Our Lady is optional for Catholics. It comes up a lot on this forum but makes no sense. At a minimum, we are obliged to participate in the Liturgy, which involves invoking her intercession at certain points. And what Catholic hasn’t been given a Hail Mary as a penance in the confessional? Our assigned penance is definitely obligatory.
 
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The difference between worship and veneration is not quantitative but qualitative. As twf has explained, worship involves offering sacrifice. It is a key distinction. Therefore, if sacrifice is offered, then we can call that “worship”. It is unambiguous. And I don’t know anyone who makes sacrifice to Mary.
 
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