Role of the Virgin Mary

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So, as of recently, I’ve begun to feel a new movement in my spiritual life. God has been showing me new levels of intimacy with Him I haven’t known yet; calling me, day by day, to unite myself with Him; my actions with His life on earth. He wants me to strive for oneness with Him. It’s beautiful.

Where does this leave the Virgin Mary in my life (and the saints, for that matter)?

If I want to speak to the Father, I do so united with the Son. If I seek to love the Father and the Son more perfectly, I call upon the Holy Spirit. I have also been drawn to devotion to Christ’s Passion and His Sacred Heart. It’s clear Christ wants to become more and more familiar with me through these devotions. I’ve also been making it a point to make daily adoration to the best of my ability.

Back during times when I felt far from God or if my spiritual life was feeling dry, I would pray for Mary’s intercession, as if to give her Son a “tap on the shoulder” so to speak (though I knew deep down He never left me at all or ignored me). Even now, I still pray to St. Monica for the conversion of certain family members. It’s been a habit for a really long time.
Like, I know all the great saints had devotion to the Virgin Mary and recognized the power of praying to the saints. But, at this point in my spiritual journey where I feel, as it were, hyper fixated on Christ, I feel like I’m just squeezing the saints in, almost begrudgingly. Even His Mother.

Like, even for ordinary people you love, don’t you feel an inclination to love their mothers because they were the ones who gave birth to them and raised them the way they did? That’s a comparison I would make with Christ’s mother.

And yet, her role is, ultimately, to draw us back to her Son.

Wouldn’t worrying about this be a distraction?

Any (name removed by moderator)ut would be helpful 🙂

~Roseproject
 
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If a devotion to Jesus doesn’t involve a devotion to Mary, it isn’t an authentic devotion to Jesus (just as a devotion to Mary wouldn’t be authentic without a devotion to Jesus).

Mary is Jesus’ literal human mother. You can’t call him master and brother and not have a devotion to Mary. It isn’t rational in terms of human relationships. Pope St JP II says in ‘Crossing the Threshold of Hope’ that Mariology is Christology.

Peace.
 
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Jesus would say; and i’d bet my life on this, if you are a friend of my my “Mother”, you are a friend of ME

try to pray the rosary

Mary is our Holy Mother
be devoted voted to Her

when you have time look into Her appearances at Guadolupe, Knock & Fatima

Mary is pleading on our behalf…
 
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“Protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope.”

What is happening in your prayer life does not “leave” Mary anywhere. It especially does not leave Mary and all the other saints out of your life. They are right there, cheering you on. Mary does not feel abandoned because you are giving her Son attention. It gives her great joy. This is number one thing she wants for you, to “Do whatever He tells you to.”

Be at peace and know that He is Lord. Mary is there and will be there, just like any mother would be as she watches over her children play.
 
I have nothing to add. Praise the Lord for your growth and how you are drawn close to Jesus.

Mary and the saints’ role is intercession. We ask them to intercede for us if and when we want to. It is not an obligation. The important focus is Jesus. Mary is only helping us to be closed to him and therefore an intercessor in this respect.

We are under no obligation to have a devotion for Mary, so do not worry that you don’t want to.

God bless you.
 
If you want to focus on Jesus right now, focus on him. As long as you’re not minimizing or diminishing Mary or saying she’s not important, then she doesn’t mind if you are drawn to meditating on Christ’s Passion. She’s right there with you meditating on it too.

And if you should need her again for something, she will be right there.

There have been quite a few saints who were focused on some aspect of Jesus directly and not so much on Mary, though they didn’t disrespect or diminish her or put her down, so you’re in good company.
 
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Consider reading Pope St. John Paul II’s encyclical Redemptoris Mater. It really clears up all things Mother Mary in a way that sets your heart ablaze and in no way diminishes your devotion to Christ.

I was going to link to it but it seems as a new user I cannot. It’s out there!

That being said, your suggested reading list is probably just as long as everybody else’s. I’m sure everyone here and, in a most special way, Our Lady will be praying that you perservere in prayer and come to know her better.❤️
 
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John 2:5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Love Jesus more and he will soon lead to his Mother Mary,St John was the beloved Apostle of Jesus because he was beloved of Mother Mary.and she in-turn will lead to Jesus.

Sirach 24:18, I am the mother of beautiful love, of fear, of knowledge, and of holy hope; being eternal, I am given to all my children, to those who are named by him.

wisdom 8:1 She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other,
and she orders all things well.
 
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TK421 said:
If a devotion to Jesus doesn’t involve a devotion to Mary, it isn’t an authentic devotion
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I don’t agree with this point of view… Jesus and God are altogether sufficient. God has no needs, no contingencies. This takes nothing away from Mary’s roll. I do not believe I care for her any less by saying this… I firmly believe that she would agree.

For the original OP, if you do not feel drawn to squeezing in Mary or the other saints, that is not an issue at all. God will lead you where you He wants you to go.
 
For a start, pretty much all the saints and martyrs of the early Church before Mariology started to develop.
Jesus, and aspects of Jesus, were definitely the main focus in the first few centuries.
Mary was not completely ignored, but the doctrines and theology around her didn’t start developing until either the 5th century or the Middle Ages, depending on what source you read.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
For a start, pretty much all the saints and martyrs of the early Church before Mariology started to develop.
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Mariology started to develop with Her Immaculate Conception and the role she played in the Redemption. I would argue that at the precise moment when Our Blessed Lord gave Our Blessed Mother to Saint John, the Apostles and Church Fathers had a pious and perpetual devotion to her. Just because the early Church didn’t have the Holy Rosary, Our Lady of Fatima etc., or the 1950 promulgation, the Church has always had a pious devotion to her in Christ since the beginning of the Church. The Fathers referred to her as the New Eve since the second century.
 
I see you completely missed my point, which I figured from the tone of your previous post to me you were going to do, regardless of what I said.

Next time just skip asking me and make the speech you wanted to make. It’s more efficient.

Have a nice day!
 
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The Blessed Virgin Mary is the New Eve. Just as death entered the world through Eve’s disobedience, life entered the world through Mary’s obedience.

The Blessed Virgin is the woman mentioned in Genesis chapter 3. She is the one whose seed will crush the head of the Serpent. God predestined Mary to be the Mother of his Son from the very beginning.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is the mother of the Church because Our Lord gave her to us at the foot of the cross. Whoever does not have Mary as their mother cannot have God as their father.

The Blessed Mother is co-redemptrix which means that she assisted Our Lord in his redemptive work. Her cooperation was necessary for our salvation. She had to consent before Chris would become man.

The Blessed Virgin is the mediatrix of all grace. Every grace we receive is given to us through Mary. She is the mystical aqueduct. If Jesus is the head, Mary is the neck that connects the head to us the body. You receive absolutely nothing from God that is not dispensed by the Virgin Mother. That is her role in salvation. This is the teaching of the Church.
 
Gross over-simplification: When you have a paper cut, do you use your other hand to apply a band aid? We are one body, with one part aiding the other in need. We have needs. The Saints have none. So, we call on them, even though we technically can forget the other parts of our body. But, is that wise? Prudent? We are Christ’s Body - a unity - with Him as the Head in heaven.

Since the rebellion in 1500s Germany, there has developed a very unfortunate focus on forgetting the rest of Christ’s Body. “Me and Jesus!” is the word, but we did not hear that from either Christ or His Church.
 
TK421 said:
If a devotion to Jesus doesn’t involve a devotion to Mary, it isn’t an authentic devotion to Jesus (just as a devotion to Mary wouldn’t be authentic without a devotion to Jesus).
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Respectfully opinion only>>> I do not agree with. Peace 🙂
 
I feel like I’m splitting straws and being pedantic but I want to try to iterate something anyway. Please be generous with me:

It is not the case that a person can be solely devoted to Jesus and this is sufficient, namely because God/Jesus has prohibited this.

It is obligatory by charity for a person to have devotions to neighbor. In the case of Catholics - who have been given revelation both through the sacred text & the Church - this includes the Communion of Saints which has been incorporated into the faith from the very beginning in the Apostles Creed, and later the Nicene-Constantinople Creed.

As far as how a person specifically prays, that of course isn’t laid out. There isn’t any express canonical requirement to even say the ‘Hail Mary’ a single time in your life, let alone pray the Rosary or other prayers. I don’t want to make the OP or anybody else feel scrupulous about his.

But, if a Catholic never prays to Mary, this would be a very bad sign according to many Medieval and counter-Reformation saints. It is true that the Church Fathers and the ancient monastics didn’t yet have a highly developed theology related to the Blessed Virgin, but their authority is inferior to the authority of later Popes & theologians, since the Church operates on the principle that her theology develops and refines itself over the generations (also, related to this, the morality & theology of the New Testament is superior to the Old Testament, and especially pertaining to some of the bronze age practice that Moses conceded to). The Church of the 21st century surpasses the Church of the 5th or 1st century. The Church of the 24th century will surpass the current Church, assuming there is a 24th century.

Another way of saying this, is that if a person’s devotion to Jesus is authentic, it will inevitably and inescapably include a devotion to others as well, and this especially includes Mary. She is our spiritual mother who was given to us by Christ on the cross, so the idea of never talking to her, confiding in her, or lavishing her with love is somewhat inconceivable.
Alright. That’s all.
 
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We all millions agree with you.If God is for us who can be against us

Always Jesus and Mary; always Mary and Jesus.

To Mary through Jesus: Behold, your mother! (Jn 19:27).

To Jesus through Mary: Do whatever he tells you (Jn 2:5).

First Jesus, the God man;

then Mary, the Mother of God.

In short, simply: Jesus and Mary; Mary and Jesus.

And through Christ, to the Father, in the Holy Spirit.
 
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