Questions about Catholics honoring Mary

[The_One_Duck]

O Mother worthy of all praise, you who have given birth to the Word, the Holiest of the Holy, accept this present offering, deliver all of us from ev’ry affliction, and save from the future punishment those who cry out to you: Alleluia! Alleluia, alleluia! Alleluia, Alleluia!

Thank you for your answer. I absolutely understand the honor and veneration we give to the saints and Mary. But in this prayer, I think it would be important to understand, what exactly are we offering to Mary. We agree that Mary is not God, but I am not sure I understand your response. If you could explain it in further detail, I really would appreciate it. Peace

 

[LovelyLadybug]

I can understand where you’re coming from, as a lot of Protestants accuse Catholics of “Mary Worship” Catholics, however, do NOT worship Mary. We honor her and pray to her since is very holy and is a good role model for Christians, but that’s not the same thing as worshiping her. Think about it. Do we treat Mary as if she were some sort of goddess? No, we do not. In fact, God WANTS us to pray to & honor Mary. Mary is our spiritual mother. Think about the 4th commandment “Honor thy father and mother” Mary loves us all very much and is happy to help us if we ask her to. She is not a goddess, but we definitely should honor and pray to her as our spiritual mother.

 

[The_One_Duck]

I can understand where you’re coming from, as a lot of Protestants accuse Catholics of “Mary Worship” Catholics, however, do NOT worship Mary. We honor her and pray to her since is very holy and is a good role model for Christians, but that’s not the same thing as worshiping her. Think about it. Do we treat Mary as if she were some sort of goddess? No, we do not. In fact, God WANTS us to pray to & honor Mary. Mary is our spiritual mother. Think about the 4th commandment “Honor thy father and mother” Mary loves us all very much and is happy to help us if we ask her to. She is not a goddess, but we definitely should honor and pray to her as our spiritual mother.

Oh definitely, I understand. We should honor her as much as possible because she is the greatest saint. But I just don’t understand the meaning of this prayer when we give her offerings. Offering and making sacrifices is a way of worship, is it not? Thanks

 

[LovelyLadybug]

Offering and making sacrifices is a way of worship, is it not?

Not nesscecarily. First of all, Catholics don’t offer Mary sacrifices. We pray to her, but we don’t offer her sacrifices. We don’t burn incense for her as we do to God. We don’t have worship services directed towards her as we do to God. Second, prayer and worship are different things. I’m sorry if I didn’t explain this very well. I hope it helps!!!

 

[Vico]

…
Thank you for your answer. I absolutely understand the honor and veneration we give to the saints and Mary. But in this prayer, I think it would be important to understand, what exactly are we offering to Mary. We agree that Mary is not God, but I am not sure I understand your response. If you could explain it in further detail, I really would appreciate it. Peace

The offering given in veneration is neither an oblation nor a sacrifice, but honor – an expression of warm approval or admiration, and hymns of thanks and victory .

 

[brianjmc1]

sometimes, pictures help…
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

 

[Isearch]

It’s fine! This information is pretty much from the Old Catholic Enclopedia anyway

 

[The_One_Duck]

sometimes, pictures help…

That is a really neat picture. However, I still am unsure of the “offering” that we give to Mary in the prayer mentioned above. Thanks

 

[Mintaka]

If you give your human mom flowers, or a crayon picture, you are offering her something. I presume you are not giving her a pagan offering.

The real issue is that we don’t use big long words in our current society for normal human interactions, even though our parents or grandparents would have heard plenty of people talk about “my humble literary offering” (when someone read a secular poem at a secular club meeting) or a “floral offering” (when someone gave someone else a nice bouquet of congratulation).

There is nothing wrong with using fancy talk when addressing a person of note, or a person of whom one is fond. Valentine’s Day is full of humble sentiments toward the beloved. Boy band songs are notoriously over the top. They are not pagan worship of goddesses, either.

So in the prayer, “accept this present offering” is literally meaning, “please listen to all the words which I am in the middle of saying.” It is kind of an elegant way to put it, because the whole paragraph is mostly a petition, decorated with some praise of previous deeds, and implied thanks.

Hope this helped.

 

[The_One_Duck]

If you give your human mom flowers, or a crayon picture, you are offering her something. I presume you are not giving her a pagan offering.

The real issue is that we don’t use big long words in our current society for normal human interactions, even though our parents or grandparents would have heard plenty of people talk about “my humble literary offering” (when someone read a secular poem at a secular club meeting) or a “floral offering” (when someone gave someone else a nice bouquet of congratulation).

There is nothing wrong with using fancy talk when addressing a person of note, or a person of whom one is fond. Valentine’s Day is full of humble sentiments toward the beloved. Boy band songs are notoriously over the top. They are not pagan worship of goddesses, either.

So in the prayer, “accept this present offering” is literally meaning, “please listen to all the words which I am in the middle of saying.” It is kind of an elegant way to put it, because the whole paragraph is mostly a petition, decorated with some praise of previous deeds, and implied thanks.

Hope this helped.

Wow, that is a good analogy. It did help, and I am really thankful. God bless you