Struggling with devotion to Mary

[JRKH]

**All I can say is keep on praying. If not to Mary then to Jesus. Tell Him to about all your doubt.

Sooner or later then I am sure you’ll be drawn back to Her. Why? Because Her way is the easiest way to Jesus.** LOL.

Pray to Jesus to draw you to Mary to Lead you to Jesus??? Somehow that just does not compute in my brain…maybe that is just me…

Peace
James

 

[nuntym]

+JMJ+

Pray to Jesus to draw you to Mary to Lead you to Jesus??? Somehow that just does not compute in my brain…maybe that is just me…

Peace
James

As a concrete example: St Faustina Kowalska’s Diary records her praying a vow of total consecration to Mary as her visions of Jesus intensified:

Entry 79: O Mary, my Mother and my Lady, I offer You my soul, my body, my life and my death, and all that will follow it. I place everything in Your hands. O my Mother, cover my soul with Your virginal mantle and grant me the grace of purity of heart, soul and body. Defend me with Your power against all enemies, and especially against those who hide their malice behind the mask of virtue. O lovely lily! You are for me a mirror, O my Mother!

 

[bakaten]

Pray to Jesus to draw you to Mary to Lead you to Jesus??? Somehow that just does not compute in my brain…maybe that is just me…

Peace
James

LOL. That’s not what I really meant. I say tell Jesus all your doubt and dryness. In time if Jesus think the way of Mary will bring you closer to Him, certainly He will direct you to Her. At least for me it always happened to me. Few times I might feel tired and discouraged to pray Rosary. But at the end I always comeback to Her loving embrace. And I always feel that it is the time I spent in Her presence is the closest I feel Jesus is present too.

I know everyone is different. Some might not feel that way. That’s totally fine. I’m just sharing my experiences since OP is going through something similar that I have gone through, that’s all.

If you don’t feel drawn to Her that’s also alright. In any case She is also mediatrix of all graces. So whether you ask or not, she is part of the salvation package.

Peace

 

[DebChris]

Yesterday I was talking to a non-Catholic on the street about Faith.
As our conversation continued, he reached a point where he talked about the loss of his earthly mother. This opened the door for me to show him using scripture where he still has a Mother in Mary. As long as we take this approach, I think we are safe. When we recognize that Jesus gave us his own mother to be our mother as He placed her into the safekeeping of the Apostle John.
We can look at Elizabeth’s response to Mary, “What did I do to deserve that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” Always Mary points to her Son. Even at Cana, when it is Mary who was first approached, her response was, “Do whatever He tells you.”
How much honor and devotion do we give to our own mothers? Do we give them flowers or remember them on their birthdays? Why did we run to our mothers when we were children, except for comfort and nourishment? Who did the cooking in most families, or kissed the skinned knee?
Finally, what type of changes are taking place within you? Our salvation is a continuous conversion process in which we seek to turn further away from sin and closer to the Son as He draws us to the Father.

 

[MichelleP12]

I have been struggling with devotion to Mary for YEARS.
Am feeling so anguished. I liked praying the Rosary
in the beginning after my conversion (1986) from
being a Baptist.

Later, I got involved with what I thought was a Catholic
prayer group / apparition site. We did the group Rosary 3x
a day but gradually in a year, that all stopped and there was a lot
of strife and dissention, threats. Basically it was a cult,
and I and another lady ended up escaping 5 years ago.
Even though my difficulties with devotion to Mary
occurred a year after I joined that place, that leader
kept telling me “don’t blame this place for your not praying
the Rosary.”

I guess if my devotion to Our Lady was strong enough,
I would have been praying the Rosary and talking to her,
no matter what? I was in that group over 16 years. It’s
been 5 years since I left. I love the Angelus, but feel so
paralyzed on the Rosary and in talking to Our Lady…
just devotion in general. Ironically I get chosen to lead the
Rosary during May and October before Mass. I feel like
such a fraud. I have lots of books, like the ones above.
and pray for help, even ask Mary. Why am I still like this?
I feel not fully Catholic… :’(

 

[DebChris]

This article on the “woman” at Cana might help. catholicexchange.com/the-mystery-of-the-woman-at-cana?mc_cid=9dbc055d49&mc_eid=70ee7bc5b8
It shows how Mary leads to Jesus. How “woman” refers back to the O.T. making Mary the New Eve.
St. Pope John Paul II recommended praying a scriptural passage before each decade of the rosary. This is how I like to pray the rosary. During catechetical training, a deacon taught how to add a single word or phrase after the name of Jesus to keep the focus on Christ.
Michelle, that’s how I pray the rosary. It keeps me focused each mystery of the gospel.
Unless I belonged to a religious order whose charism, I cannot imagine praying 3 rosaries a day. Saturday is dedicated to Our Lady. It is after Friday in Our Lord was crucified while she waited for the Resurrection. I might choose to pray the all the mysteries on Saturday, sometimes on Sunday, or if I on a weekend retreat and it is scheduled into the day. In that last case I do not have any other obligations.
The rosary was part of my life from infancy.
I discovered the Little Crown of the Blessed Virgin Mary after reading Louis DeMontfort True Devotion. I like the invocation “Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, Rejoice a thousand times” at the end of each praise. Isn’t everybody supposed to be happy in heaven!
Mary leads us to Christ and that’s where she wants our focus. Don’t think that you are in any way less than Catholic.

 

[Latinitas]

At the risk of getting flamed (it’s happened before)…

No you are not wrong in your feeling. Yes it is possible to be too devoted to Mary precisely for the reason that you mention above.
If you find that it is taking your focus off of Jesus then there is something not right.

I think you mean this in good faith, but this is VERY wrong assertion. If someone were to find that he was losing devotion and faith in the one-ness of God because of his focus on the Trinity, then it means that he doesn’t really understand the doctrine of the Trinity correctly. It does not mean that he is “too devoted” to the Trinity. If someone finds himself losing devotion in the Resurrection because he is “too devoted” to the Passion of Our Lord, then it means he doesn’t understand their intimate connection. Similarly, if a person finds himself losing devotion to Christ, because he’s “too devoted” to Mary, then it means he mis-understands Mary and her role in the Incarnation.

My suggestion is that you spend some time directly with Jesus. You have asked Mary to teach you and to lead you to her Son…So consider that she has. Consider that she now WANTS you to spend less time with her and more time with Jesus.

Perhaps. If I was reading the Old Testament, and I felt it was detracting from the New Testament, should I stop reading the Old Testament? Shouldn’t I rather learn how the Old Testament points to Christ?
So don’t be afraid of adjusting your devotional practices to focus less on Mary and more on Jesus.

Like I said, I think this is meant well, but it’s wrong.

Benedicat Deus,
Latintias

 

[Techno2000]

I have been struggling with devotion to Mary for YEARS.
Am feeling so anguished. I liked praying the Rosary
in the beginning after my conversion (1986) from
being a Baptist.

Later, I got involved with what I thought was a Catholic
prayer group / apparition site. We did the group Rosary 3x
a day but gradually in a year, that all stopped and there was a lot
of strife and dissention, threats. Basically it was a cult,
and I and another lady ended up escaping 5 years ago.
Even though my difficulties with devotion to Mary
occurred a year after I joined that place, that leader
kept telling me “don’t blame this place for your not praying
the Rosary.”

I guess if my devotion to Our Lady was strong enough,
I would have been praying the Rosary and talking to her,
no matter what? I was in that group over 16 years. It’s
been 5 years since I left. I love the Angelus, but feel so
paralyzed on the Rosary and in talking to Our Lady…
just devotion in general. Ironically I get chosen to lead the
Rosary during May and October before Mass. I feel like
such a fraud. I have lots of books, like the ones above.
and pray for help, even ask Mary. Why am I still like this?
I feel not fully Catholic… :’(

“Jesus Christ Himself revealed to Blessed Veronica of Binasco,
that, He is more pleased in seeing His Mother compassionated than
Himself.” He said to her: ‘My daughter, tears shed for My Passion are
dear to Me; but as I loved My Mother Mary with an immense love, the
meditation on the torments which She endured at My death is even
more agreeable to Me.’

fatima.org/essentials/requests/devotion_of_seven_sorrows.pdf

 

[Richca]

Hello. Lately, I’ve been struggling with devotion to Mary. I am a new convert to the Catholic faith (Easter Vigil 2014) and I come from a Protestant background. I understand and believe all of the Marian doctrines and I have had a great love and devotion to Mary. I enjoy praying the Rosary and I even have made the consecration to Jesus through Mary using Fr. Gaitley’s book, 33 Days to Morning Glory. Lately though, I have been struggling with my devotion to Mary. I’m thinking it has something to do with my Protestant upbringing, but I feel like sometimes that devotion to Mary takes the focus off of Jesus. Am I wrong in feeling this or is it possible to overemphasize Mary? If so, how do we know when we start to over emphasize Mary?

Hello strings,
It is wonderful that you have made the total consecration to our Blessed Mother and now that you have made it, you are totally dedicated to her and her cause which is the same as that as Jesus, namely, the spread and establishment of the kingdom of God and the most sacred heart of Jesus on earth. I think you need to eliminate from your thoughts the idea that your devotion and consecration to Mary somehow takes the focus off of Christ or God because this is simply not the case. Mary is filled with Jesus Christ and God and she leads us to them and she knows best how to lead us to them. Consecration to Mary involves the imitation of Mary and her virtues and our Blessed Lady fulfilled the will of God perfectly at all times like no other creature.

As St Louis de Montfort and St Maximilian Kolbe tells us, we totally consecrate ourselves to Mary because this is the will of God. So, we don’t have to worry or have such thoughts as overemphazing Mary, for it is the will of God that we give ourselves totally to her, honor and love her as much as we can, and unite our will to hers at all times. For doing the will of Mary is the same as doing the will of God for Mary’s will is wholly united to God’s will. As St Louis de Montfort says, we will never love or honor Mary as much as she deserves.

We consecrate ourselves to Mary not as if she is the end of this consecration. We give ourselves to our Blessed Mother so that we can give ourselves more perfectly to Jesus and to God. Jesus and the Trinity is the end of the total consecration to Mary.

Once we have made the total consecration to Mary, we give and offer everything to Jesus and to God through Mary. It is not necessary that we have to distinctly think about offering everything to Jesus through Mary in everything we do; as long as we don’t detract our consecration to Mary, we offer everything to God through Mary whether we are actually thinking about it or not in all we do. Also, feel free to give yourself to any devotion approved by the Church and to which you may feel attracted such as the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. As long as we don’t detract our consecration, we offer everything to God through our Blessed Lady and this is very pleasing to God.

Total consecration to Mary doesn’t mean we can’t speak or pray directly to Jesus, or God the Father or the Holy Spirit. For Jesus and the Trinity is the end of the consecration to Mary. If our Lady leads you or attracts you to speak or pray to Jesus or the Father or the Holy Spirit, then by all means, do so. Mary may also lead you to pray and speak directly to her and feel free to do this as well. Consecration to Mary is not meant to restrict us, on the contrary, we should have more confidence in going to Jesus and God.

The main point here is that don’t worry about those thoughts that may come to mind that if you consecrate yourself to Mary and do everything for her and try to do her will at all times that you are somehow detracting from devotion to Jesus or God. Jesus knows that you are doing this for him. The simple fact of the matter is that though we love Mary, Jesus, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, the angels and saints in heaven, our own fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters on earth, we can only think of one at a time; unlike God who can think of all things simultaneously.

Feel free to give yourself to Mary in full liberty, without any limitations, unreservedly, without those vain fears which constrict and chill hearts.

I will end here with a quote from St Maximilian Kolbe, a great apostle of Mary, the founder of the Knights of the Immaculata and the Marytowns which was in response to some of his brother friars who asked him the same questions that you have presented:

“How little is the Immaculate known even now, in theory and still less in everyday life! How many prejudices, incomprehensions, and doubts still linger in the minds of some people! May the Immaculate permit her Niepokalanow [Marytown] to dispel these shadows, to dissipate these cold fogs, to revivify and enkindle the fire of love towards her without any limitations, in full liberty, without those vain fears which constrict and chill hearts. So may people seek the King not next to his palace, but within it, inside it, in its innermost chambers [in Mary].”

 

[friardchips]

In answer to this:

At the risk of getting flamed (it’s happened before)…

No you are not wrong in your feeling. Yes it is possible to be too devoted to Mary precisely for the reason that you mention above.
If you find that it is taking your focus off of Jesus then there is something not right.

My suggestion is that you spend some time directly with Jesus. You have asked Mary to teach you and to lead you to her Son…So consider that she has. Consider that she now WANTS you to spend less time with her and more time with Jesus.
So don’t be afraid of adjusting your devotional practices to focus less on Mary and more on Jesus.

Peace
James

I second this:

kpeople::nunchuk::crutches::nunchuk: :stretcher:

 

[JRKH]

I think you mean this in good faith,

Why do you just “think” I meant “in good faith”.

but this is VERY wrong assertion.

Actually no it’s not and you partially explain why very well below…

If someone were to find that he was losing devotion and faith in the oneness of God because of his focus on the Trinity, then it means that he doesn’t really understand the doctrine of the Trinity correctly. It does not mean that he is “too devoted” to the Trinity. If someone finds himself losing devotion in the Resurrection because he is “too devoted” to the Passion of Our Lord, then it means he doesn’t understand their intimate connection. Similarly, if a person finds himself losing devotion to Christ, because he’s “too devoted” to Mary, then it means he misunderstands Mary and her role in the Incarnation.

The key here is “misunderstands” Which can take many forms. When one misunderstands something they need to do something different in order to grow in proper understanding.

Perhaps. If I was reading the Old Testament, and I felt it was detracting from the New Testament, should I stop reading the Old Testament?

Perhaps you should for a time in order to concentrate more on the NT.

Shouldn’t I rather learn how the Old Testament points to Christ?

Yes - and by changing your reading habits you might be able to do this. For example…you stop reading the OT and instead concentrate on the NT with particular attention to the notes and references to the OT. In this way the NT teaches you about the OT and helps to put things back in proper perspective.

So don’t be afraid of adjusting your devotional practices to focus less on Mary and more on Jesus.

Like I said, I think this is meant well, but it’s wrong.

Benedicat Deus,
Latintias

I’m sure you mean well by telling me I’m wrong…but I’m not wrong…

The bottom line is that the OP feels uncomfortable and is concerned. Many do as they grow in faith. There is nothing unusual or wrong in this and if it helps the OP to step back and change how s/he approaches things then this is what s/he should do.

Mary doesn’t mind.

Peace
James

 

[Latinitas]

Why do you just “think” I meant “in good faith”.

Actually no it’s not and you partially explain why very well below…

The key here is “misunderstands” Which can take many forms. When one misunderstands something they need to do something different in order to grow in proper understanding.

Perhaps you should for a time in order to concentrate more on the NT.

Yes - and by changing your reading habits you might be able to do this. For example…you stop reading the OT and instead concentrate on the NT with particular attention to the notes and references to the OT. In this way the NT teaches you about the OT and helps to put things back in proper perspective.

I’m sure you mean well by telling me I’m wrong…but I’m not wrong…

The bottom line is that the OP feels uncomfortable and is concerned. Many do as they grow in faith. There is nothing unusual or wrong in this and if it helps the OP to step back and change how s/he approaches things then this is what s/he should do.

Mary doesn’t mind.

Peace
James

Fair enough. I apologize if I was uncharitable. But it sounded like in your first assertion that Mary must decrease for Christ to increase. I wouldn’t ever recommend that someone not ask Our Lady’s intercession - she’s the spring from which all graces flow, as we say in the hymn “Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above” - so it’s foolish to do that. I would certainly recommend that a person pray to Christ directly. Perhaps the OP should spend some time before the Blessed Sacrament.

Again, I’m sorry for any lack of charity on my part. For that I stand corrected,
Benedicat Deus,
Latintias

 

[DebChris]

…
Mary doesn’t mind.

Peace
James

I don’t often read the messages from Our Lady of Medgugee.
I do remember one from many years ago and it goes to your message about stepping back.
“Do not worship me. Worship my Son.”

Very often Catholics are accused by non-Catholics of Marian worship because they do not understand the various Marian devotions of the Catholic Church. If at any time an individual feels that he/she is falling into the trap of worship over devotion, then definitely step back.
Mary points to her Son. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Mary is the Child Bearing, the Ark of the Covenant.
The moon reflects the sun, as Scott Hahn puts it. The moon is not the Sun.
As Mary says in her Magnifat, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” She does not claim any higher stature.

 

[friardchips]

I don’t often read the messages from Our Lady of Medgugee.
I do remember one from many years ago and it goes to your message about stepping back.
“Do not worship me. Worship my Son.”

Very often Catholics are accused by non-Catholics of Marian worship because they do not understand the various Marian devotions of the Catholic Church. If at any time an individual feels that he/she is falling into the trap of worship over devotion, then definitely step back.
Mary points to her Son. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Mary is the Child Bearing, the Ark of the Covenant.
The moon reflects the sun, as Scott Hahn puts it. The moon is not the Sun.
As Mary says in her Magnifat, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” She does not claim any higher stature.

No one does worship Mary. I vowed I would never use this over-used expression, but worshipping Mary is a ‘strawman’ argument, dressed up by anti-Marian proselytizers in an attempt to carry out their dastardly destruction of sincere Catholic devotion - which never works, of course.

 

[bakaten]

I have been struggling with devotion to Mary for YEARS.
Am feeling so anguished. I liked praying the Rosary
in the beginning after my conversion (1986) from
being a Baptist.

Later, I got involved with what I thought was a Catholic
prayer group / apparition site. We did the group Rosary 3x
a day but gradually in a year, that all stopped and there was a lot
of strife and dissention, threats. Basically it was a cult,
and I and another lady ended up escaping 5 years ago.
Even though my difficulties with devotion to Mary
occurred a year after I joined that place, that leader
kept telling me “don’t blame this place for your not praying
the Rosary.”

I guess if my devotion to Our Lady was strong enough,
I would have been praying the Rosary and talking to her,
no matter what? I was in that group over 16 years. It’s
been 5 years since I left. I love the Angelus, but feel so
paralyzed on the Rosary and in talking to Our Lady…
just devotion in general. Ironically I get chosen to lead the
Rosary during May and October before Mass. I feel like
such a fraud. I have lots of books, like the ones above.
and pray for help, even ask Mary. Why am I still like this?
I feel not fully Catholic… :’(

Hi Michelle, sorry to hear about your experiences.

To me it’s not like you are drawing yourself away from Her. It’s like a trauma of praying Rosary because of the bad experiences.

Probably, now that you are chosen to lead the rosary is a sign for you to overcome your trauma. Find your priest or anyone that you can trust and tell your problem. Hopefully that would help.

Last year I also was being invited to join Legion of Mary. Turns out just like yours the groups are full of dissention and strife. Moreover, the leader of the group taught us things that contradict the church teaching. After a few months I left the group.

However a few months after that, I can’t concentrate praying my Rosary. A lot of time, when I’m trying to meditate on the mysteries, my mind always wandered to the scene of the groups bickerings and all the false teaching the leader taught us. It was really restless.

But you know what “cured” me? A simple trip to the priest in my church, who is in charge of devotional groups. Telling him everything, suddenly just take every burden away. Turn out the priest was so busy (we got a huge community over here), that this kind of thing slip out of his notice.

Now to look back on it, I feel that those restless night praying the Rosary is a nudge for me from God to tell the priest of what has transpired, and in doing so (hopefully) help the group change for the better.

I hope that this might help you somehow.

Peace

 

[Richca]

Hello. Lately, I’ve been struggling with devotion to Mary. I am a new convert to the Catholic faith (Easter Vigil 2014) and I come from a Protestant background. I understand and believe all of the Marian doctrines and I have had a great love and devotion to Mary. I enjoy praying the Rosary and I even have made the consecration to Jesus through Mary using Fr. Gaitley’s book, 33 Days to Morning Glory. Lately though, I have been struggling with my devotion to Mary. I’m thinking it has something to do with my Protestant upbringing, but I feel like sometimes that devotion to Mary takes the focus off of Jesus. Am I wrong in feeling this or is it possible to overemphasize Mary? If so, how do we know when we start to over emphasize Mary?

After the post I made yesterday on this thread, I was thinking about the question you raise of "how do we know when we start to over emphasize Mary? This is a good question especially in its relation to the consecration to Jesus through Mary as taught by St Louis de Montfort and St Maximilian Kolbe and of which St John Paul II himself practiced. I can think of two things which some posters here have already mentioned where Mary would be over emphasized. Firstly, if we take Mary to be divine or part of the Godhead. Mary is a created creature like us and between God and creatures there is an infinite distance. Secondly, in our consecration to Mary, we take Mary as the end of the consecration. The end of the consecration is the greater glory of God and of Jesus Christ. God is the end of all things, the Alpha and the Omega. Of course, our Blessed Mother knows this and we consecrate ourselves to her so that we may be a fit instrument in her hands for this end, our own sanctification, and the salvation of souls. Beyond these two things, our consecration to Mary, I think, cannot be over emphasized, but rather, under emphasized. Let me try to explain this with the help of St Maximilian Kolbe who founded the Knights of the Immaculata.

In the act of consecration to Mary which St Maximilian Kolbe drew up for the Knights of the Immaculata, we make a voluntary donation of ourselves to the Blessed Virgin imploring her “to take me, with all that I am and have, wholly to yourself as your property and possession. Please make of me, with all my powers of soul and body, of my whole life, death, and eternity whatever most pleases you.” The idea here is that we should belong completely, totally, without reservations and limitations to our Blessed Mother as Jesus, our model and example, gave himself completely to Mary in his incarnation to be her Divine Son. This is the essence of being a knight of the Immaculata. In this sense, the donation of ourselves to Mary cannot be over emphasized or limited. St Maximilian Kolbe says that whatever words or phrases we use to describe our consecration to Mary, “we try to sum them all up in one, we wish to “belong totally to the Immaculata.”” We know about the possessed and lunatics through whom the devil speaks and acts. Well, we want Mary to take total possession of us so that it is her who speaks and acts through us. St Maximilian Kolbe says “We desire to belong to the Immaculate to the extent that nothing will remain in us that does not identify her, so that we may be annihilated in her, transformed into her, changed into her, that she alone remains, so that we may be as much hers as she is God’s.”

This is having the spirit of Mary. Why do we want to be possessed by the spirit of Mary? Because Mary is wholly possessed by the Holy Spirit which is the Spirit of Christ and the Father. The more we allow our Blessed Mother to take possession of us and become one with her, the more closer we will draw near to Jesus Christ , the Holy Spirit, and God the Father.

 

[JRKH]

Fair enough. I apologize if I was uncharitable. But it sounded like in your first assertion that Mary must decrease for Christ to increase. I wouldn’t ever recommend that someone not ask Our Lady’s intercession - she’s the spring from which all graces flow, as we say in the hymn “Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above” - so it’s foolish to do that. I would certainly recommend that a person pray to Christ directly. Perhaps the OP should spend some time before the Blessed Sacrament.

Again, I’m sorry for any lack of charity on my part. For that I stand corrected,
Benedicat Deus,
Latintias

Apology accepted.
To your comment about what it “seemed like” I was asserting…I try very hard to say what I mean - and nothing else. In other words, I hope that someone does not have to struggle to understand what I mean.

Peace
James

 

[DebChris]

No one does worship Mary. I vowed I would never use this over-used expression, but worshipping Mary is a ‘strawman’ argument, dressed up by anti-Marian proselytizers in an attempt to carry out their dastardly destruction of sincere Catholic devotion - which never works, of course.

Read my earlier posts. I have never put down sincere devotion of Mary. The question becomes when Marian devotion overshadows our devotion to Christ. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Faith. Do we pray the rosary during Mass, or do we keep our focus on the Eucharist?
Mary leads to Christ. That is her role. If I love my mother, I will spend time with her. If you notice in an earlier post, I even inserted a reference to the gospel of John. Mary is listed first among the guests to the wedding feast of Cana. Jesus and the Apostles came only because Mary was first invited. When Jesus calls Mary, “Woman” he is referencing the Genesis, in which God places enmity between the woman and the serpent. It is Mary who crushes the demons head. A man is honored when roses are brought to his mother. At the wedding of Cana Mary steps forward to intercede for mankind. She points to Christ. Christ is our salvation.

 

[Latinitas]

+JMJ+

This is a very good suggestion. To be honest, I am finding that Marian devotion is more of a kind of solid food that those new to the Catholic faith would find hard to eat (cf. 1 Cor 2:21). Let Jesus Himself introduce you to His mother.

I humbly disagree. It’s beginners and sinners who need her intercession most. Latria means to worship as your final end, whereas dulia is honor on account of something else. It’s mary that leads us to Christ, who is God. Christ did not come for the holy, but sinners. Mary His Mother is for sinners to invoke as well.

Of course, we should pray to Christ directly too. But beginners absolutely ought to invoke the Mother of God’s intercession.

Benedicat Deus,
Latinitas

 

[Goya]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N45CuF91k3o/T6E2ARs5-0I/AAAAAAAAEIo/IXQBSY5pPMs/s320/Mary’s+Greatness.jpg
Keep calm and love the Immaculata.

Awesome!