Questions on Mary

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Vaclav

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Do you all believe that Mary appeared to the children at Fatima or the child at Lourdes?

I’m asking sincerely and with an open heart and mind.I’m a Lutheran planning to convert (RCIA won’t start until September). So I’m doing a lot of reading and studying between now and then. I realise that no Catholic has to believe the validity of the apparitions; I’m just curious.

Also, can anyone suggest any good internet reading on Mary or Marian devotion?
 
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Vaclav:
Do you all believe that Mary appeared to the children at Fatima or the child at Lourdes?
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I do as a matter of fact I just bought the dvd “The Song of Bernadette”.
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Vaclav:
Also, can anyone suggest any good internet reading on Mary or Marian devotion?
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Try this: mariology.com/
 
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Vaclav:
Do you all believe that Mary appeared to the children at Fatima or the child at Lourdes?
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Yes, I do. While no one can know all the inner workings of any seer’s mind and heart, we can certainly look at the fruit of such manifestations. In both these cases, as well as others approved by the Church, there has been an abundance of good fruit. 😉
I’m asking sincerely and with an open heart and mind.I’m a Lutheran planning to convert (RCIA won’t start until September). So I’m doing a lot of reading and studying between now and then. I realise that no Catholic has to believe the validity of the apparitions; I’m just curious.
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That’s great! I too read, studied, and prayed by way into the Church. Most converts here did, so you are in good company.
Also, can anyone suggest any good internet reading on Mary or Marian devotion?
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Well, if you simply google Marian devotion/teaching you will find lots of info. Of course, you have to be careful what sites you visit since a lot of anti-Catholic sites try to draw people into them by claiming to tell “the truth” about the Church’s teachings on Mary. And you can visit the library on this site where you will find plenty of reading on the topic.

God bless you in your faith journey and your inquiries. 🙂
 
Yes I do believe she appeared at fatima and lourdes.

im reminded of an atheist debating a protestant on whether Christ resurrected who, upon being too frustrated to continue, finally gave up and said "you know im tired of you protestants. you believe in a man who supposedly rose 2000 years ago and appeared to a few men but you dont believe in a woman who, not even a century ago, appeared to thousands! (speaking of fatima)

for a great site on mary, please see ic.net/~erasmus/ERASMUS9.HTM

God Bless you in your search
Mordocai
 
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Vaclav:
Do you all believe that Mary appeared to the children at Fatima or the child at Lourdes?

I’m asking sincerely and with an open heart and mind.I’m a Lutheran planning to convert (RCIA won’t start until September). So I’m doing a lot of reading and studying between now and then. I realise that no Catholic has to believe the validity of the apparitions; I’m just curious.

Also, can anyone suggest any good internet reading on Mary or Marian devotion?
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Hi V,
I’m a convert and I do believe that Mary appeares to people.

I will recommend teh book Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic by David Currie. It helped me.
 
Yes, I do believe she appeared.

For reading, I recommend Scott Hahn’s wonderful book, Hail Holy Queen. I’m sure it’s on Amazon.

Betsy
 
Hi

Welcome, fellow convert 😃 👍

A great book is ‘Hail Holy Queen’ by Scott Hahn - portions of it are HERE from his website. Other good sources I found are:
Erasmus
Catholic Goldmine
Internet Padre For this one - you can either get the toolbar (Very Useful) or just click on weblinks near the top, and then select Mariology and get to all the links (7 pages or so worth) a wealth of information at your fingertips.

And YES - I do believe in Fatima…as well as Lourdes and a few others…some info you may find useful Apparitions in Historical context - full stories
Peace

John
 
I hope I am not taking this off topic, but I have a question about Mary’s titles. I am having a hard time understanding the concept of Mary as being referred to as many different Ladies.

Our Lady of Fatima
Our Lady of Guadalupe (sp?)
Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady of Good Success?

Why do Catholics call her these as if she were a different person under each title. Isn’t she the same person?

I don’t understand any of this. :o

p.s. I posted this previously under a different topic but didn’t get any reponses.
 
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Vaclav:
Do you all believe that Mary appeared to the children at Fatima or the child at Lourdes?

I’m asking sincerely and with an open heart and mind.I’m a Lutheran planning to convert (RCIA won’t start until September). So I’m doing a lot of reading and studying between now and then. I realise that no Catholic has to believe the validity of the apparitions; I’m just curious.

Also, can anyone suggest any good internet reading on Mary or Marian devotion?
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Yes I believe!!!

Ever since i made many pilgimage’s to Conyors Georgia where Our Blessed Lady appeared during the 90’s, I believe and have learned so much more about Our Loving Mother and her apparitions and prophecies throughout the world.

My two favorite Marian sites

marypages.com/indexEng.html

motherofallpeoples.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

In Jesus Name Thy Will Be Done, Amen and Amen
 
Your confusion is understandable Jeanette. 🙂

Of course most of Mary’s titles are simply referring to the places she appeared (Guadalupe, Lourdes, Fatima etc).Others are referring to particular titles, honours or patronage she has been given. In this regard she is not alone. Like St Francis of Assisi is patron saint of animals or St Jude the patron of people in desperate situations.

So you sort of remind her of her special link to certain places or situations. For example if you are ill and in need of cure, you might call her ‘our Lady of Lourdes’ because of the many miraculous healings that have taken place there. If you are in financial or some other need you might call her ‘our Lady of Perpetual Help’, since many who have prayed to her under that title have had their prayers answered.

Course this sort of thing happens in secular situations too. For example, we here in Australia had a Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, who had also been knighted by the Queen of England. If someone wanted to honour him for having been knighted, they’d call him ‘Sir Robert’.

If they were referring to him during his Prime Ministership
they’d call him ‘The Right Honourable the Prime Minister’. Since he was also delegate to the Parliament for a particular geographic region (as all PMs are), people of that region might call him ‘the Honourable Robert Menzies, member for xyz region’, to remind him of his duty to represent them.

Of course if you really wanted to flatter and honour him you’d mention all of his titles, which is kinda what we do when we say ‘the Litany of the Blessed Virgin’ or similar prayers.
 
Thank LilyM -

I was always a little confused on that issue. I’ve heard different people say they had a special devotion to say, Our Lady of Guadalupe or Our Lady of Fatima, and I never understood why they didn’t just say they had a special devotion to Mary if this was all the same person.

I figured you had to have been born a Catholic to get it! :yup:
 
Thanks for the replies. I was really just curious and am pleasantly surprised at the number who believe in the Fatima and Lourdes sightings. (I’m not even sure why I find that a pleasant thought as I haven’t made my mind up yet.)

Since we are asking questions, may I ask another?

Why are there prayers and devotions to very specific parts or segments of Christ or Mary? I’m not sure I asked that well, so I’ll explain, for example, why are there prayers to Christ’s Precious Blood, or Christ the Infant, or Mary’s Immaculate Heart?

It is really unique and not, to my knowledge, found in any Protestant church.
 
To me, as I sort of said in my last post on this thread, some of the different ‘aspects’ of Christ and Mary that are the object of devotion symbolise different qualities that we may relate to, or perhaps wish for, in different situations.

For example, Jesus’ infancy for me is a symbol of his humility - his willingness to take on human (dependent, fragile, vulnerable) nature and be submissive to Mary and Joseph. I may recall this in situations where I feel that I need to be more humble.

On the other hand, the Sacred Heart is of course a symbol of his all-loving nature - so it inspires us to return that love to him and to others for his sake. Divine Mercy refers to his willingness to forgive us, and again that we should be more forgiving when others wrong us.

Mary is venerated as Our Lady of Lourdes, where (as I said), many miraculous physical healings have taken place, or as Our Lady Help of Christians or Our Lady of Perpetual Help in situations where other kinds of favours and healings are needed. The Immaculate Heart is often related to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in terms of representing boundless love.
 
Jeanette L:
I hope I am not taking this off topic, but I have a question about Mary’s titles. I am having a hard time understanding the concept of Mary as being referred to as many different Ladies.

Our Lady of Fatima
Our Lady of Guadalupe (sp?)
Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady of Good Success?

Why do Catholics call her these as if she were a different person under each title. Isn’t she the same person?

I don’t understand any of this. :o

p.s. I posted this previously under a different topic but didn’t get any reponses.
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the titles are not names, they are descriptions of where and when she appeared, the aspect of her life, her activity and intercession in behalf of her children which is being described, or an attribute of hers, usually derived from scripture (i.e. tower of Ivory, Mystical rose, usually from the OT, such as the descriptions in the Litany-=-there is another thread that describes these attributions).

for instance my daughter is also a granddaughter, a mother, a wife, a physics professor, a Girl Scout leader, chess club moderator, softball coach, laundress, housekeeper, chauffeur, hairdresser, seamstress, arts & crafts consultant etc, some of which are part of her identity, and part of which are “job descriptions”. she also has character traits recognized by anyone who know her well, kindess, amiability, leadership, high achiever, etc. If you ask me to describe her I could begin with any of these titles, roles, attributes or traits. Taken all together, especially with a photo, they would give you a good ideal of who she is.
 
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Vaclav:
Do you all believe that Mary appeared to the children at Fatima or the child at Lourdes?

I’m asking sincerely and with an open heart and mind.I’m a Lutheran planning to convert (RCIA won’t start until September). So I’m doing a lot of reading and studying between now and then. I realise that no Catholic has to believe the validity of the apparitions; I’m just curious.

Also, can anyone suggest any good internet reading on Mary or Marian devotion?
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I don’t know about internet, but I read a book called “All Generations Will Call Me Blessed” which really goes down the line with Marian Dogma’s and devotion. If you want you can PM me and I will send you my copy, I’m finished with it. Good luck!

I don’t know if I believe the Marian visitations, to me, it seems counter to how God has always worked with his people. I don’t knock anyone who does, but I just think more unseen faith is necesary.
 
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