Struggling with Marian Devotion

[Erin_m87]

Hello,

I was baptized in a Protestant Church. Recently I attending a Catholic Mass and was very drawn to the style of worship. I really enjoyed the solemnity, ritual, and tradition. It may me feel closer to God than I have felt in a long time.

I really want to become a Catholic. I have been reading up about the doctrines and such, but I struggle with the concept of Marian Devotion. I feel like it is great to honour her and the saints, and ask her to pray for us, but all of the statues, prayers/rosary, and shrines devoted solely to her seems a lot like idol worship. I am wondering what is the point of it and how it bring us closer to God to pray to her? I know most Catholics will say they don’t pray to her, but I was looking up Catholic prayers online and many prayers were listed as a prayer to Mary. Can someone help me to understand this? I really want to try as I loved being part of the Catholic Church and want to partake in Mass. Do you think some take the Marian Devotion too far? Is there a line between honouring her and asking for intercession and worshipping her? How can I be sure I’m not crossing it?

 

[Saints_Alive]

Hello,

I was baptized in a Protestant Church. Recently I attending a Catholic Mass and was very drawn to the style of worship. I really enjoyed the solemnity, ritual, and tradition. It may me feel closer to God than I have felt in a long time.

I really want to become a Catholic. I have been reading up about the doctrines and such, but I struggle with the concept of Marian Devotion.** I feel like it is great to honour her and the saints, and ask her to pray for us,** but all of the statues, prayers/rosary, and shrines devoted solely to her seems a lot like idol worship. I am wondering what is the point of it and how it bring us closer to God to pray to her? I know most Catholics will say they don’t pray to her, but I was looking up Catholic prayers online and many prayers were listed as a prayer to Mary. Can someone help me to understand this? I really want to try as I loved being part of the Catholic Church and want to partake in Mass. Do you think some take the Marian Devotion too far? Is there a line between honouring her and asking for intercession and worshipping her? How can I be sure I’m not crossing it?

Hi Erin, the part I bolded is fine. That is what Catholics are supposed to do, that is, ask Mary to pray for us. Ask her intercession.

And frankly, you don’t even have to ask her intercession if you choose not to. All we as Catholics must do is accept the dogmas concerning Mary. The Immaculate Conception and so forth.

Yes, some can take Marian devotion too far, but you will hear about it on the internet and from non-Catholics on a far greater scale than actually encountering it in real life. The “Mary Worship” claim is one of the most exaggerated anti-Catholic claims you will ever hear.

Again, asking here to pray for us and asking her intercession is in no way “worship”. You can ask her intercession a hundred times a day and never cross the line

 

[Daizies]

I would recommend reading the book Hail Holy Queen by Scott Hahn. He is a convert (as am I ) and I found it really helped me to understand Marian devotion much better, and the biblical basis for many practices.

 

[JerryZ]

Hello,

I was baptized in a Protestant Church. Recently I attending a Catholic Mass and was very drawn to the style of worship. I really enjoyed the solemnity, ritual, and tradition. It may me feel closer to God than I have felt in a long time.

I really want to become a Catholic. I have been reading up about the doctrines and such, but I struggle with the concept of Marian Devotion. I feel like it is great to honour her and the saints, and ask her to pray for us, but all of the statues, prayers/rosary, and shrines devoted solely to her seems a lot like idol worship. I am wondering what is the point of it and how it bring us closer to God to pray to her? I know most Catholics will say they don’t pray to her, but I was looking up Catholic prayers online and many prayers were listed as a prayer to Mary. Can someone help me to understand this? I really want to try as I loved being part of the Catholic Church and want to partake in Mass. Do you think some take the Marian Devotion too far? Is there a line between honouring her and asking for intercession and worshipping her? How can I be sure I’m not crossing it?

The line is not so thin There is huge difference between Prayer which in English simply means “to ask” and “Worship”

We Catholics can only worship GOD

Mary is a creature and yes a special one at that, worthy of praise, love and respect but certainly NOT worship.
I would encourage you to think of Mary as Jesus taught us to do, SHE is your Heavenly Mother.
Once you realize this and come to love her as that you will find that there are no issues.
And statues are meant as reminders think of it as the photo you carry in your wallet of your loved ones.
Well same applies as in the age when there were no photos (they had not been invented yet) they had paintings and statues to remind the faithfull of our heroes (the Saints).
Hope this helps you come to the fullness of faith, the Church founded by Jesus that will prevail to the end of time.

 

[robwar]

Marian devotion is not a requirement to be Catholic. At this time, if you are uncomfortable with it, you can put is on the back shelf and learn and study required beliefs. As one poster suggested, ther are a number of very good books like Scott Hahn’s book to read even at a later time.

 

[fordhamstudent]

The early Christian community in the early 1st century would find our modern devotion to Mary foreign and they were fully Christian. The early Christian community was comprised of mostly Jews who also would find our modern devotion to Mary to be idolatry if not sheer apostasy because doctrinal development was a process of centuries of the Spirit’s interaction with the Church and theirs was an early development.

Devotion to Mary arose in the late first and second centuries as more gentiles came into the Church–a Church which accommodated their love for a Divine Mother. The “baptism” of non-Jewish traditions coming from the Greco-Roman world was permitted by the Church Fathers in order to ease the conversion of pagans into the Church. Thus the Catholic Church derives many of its traditions and even philosophy from the pre-Christian Hellenistic world.

When the bishop would go into a city after the Catholic religion was made the State Church by Constantine he would exorcise and consecrate the pagan temples in the city to the Trinity an example which establishes that the Church never saw any problem with either pagan temples, architecture, rituals, traditions, customs and philosophy as long as they were sanctified by the Catholic Church.

Devotions to saints develop over time in the historical context of the Church and this is also true for that of Mary. The development of mariology or the theology of Mary over the span of 2000 years is due in most part to apparitions of Mary who herself revealed to the Church her relation to the Son of God and her role in the plan of salvation as intercessor and mother of the faithful. The theological reflection by the Church fathers and Pontiffs on Sacred Scripture and the contemplation on Sacred Tradition also caused the development of the doctrine of Mary in the Catholic Church.

I would recommend that you set aside your doubts and ask the intercession of Mary so that you can discover that she truly is your mother. Mary has converted many Protestants through her intercession and she will fully convert your heart to the fullness of the Catholic Faith. You will find in Mary a true advocate and friend whose warmth and love will not only bring you closer to Christ but also be mystically united to Him as His Bride. Learn and pray the Rosary, it will convert your heart, destroy heresies, explain the Mysteries, and overcome the Devil.

You have my prayers!

 

[mymamamary]

Hello,

I was baptized in a Protestant Church. Recently I attending a Catholic Mass and was very drawn to the style of worship. I really enjoyed the solemnity, ritual, and tradition. It may me feel closer to God than I have felt in a long time.

I really want to become a Catholic. I have been reading up about the doctrines and such, but I struggle with the concept of Marian Devotion. I feel like it is great to honour her and the saints, and ask her to pray for us, but all of the statues, prayers/rosary, and shrines devoted solely to her seems a lot like idol worship. I am wondering what is the point of it and how it bring us closer to God to pray to her? I know most Catholics will say they don’t pray to her, but I was looking up Catholic prayers online and many prayers were listed as a prayer to Mary. Can someone help me to understand this? I really want to try as I loved being part of the Catholic Church and want to partake in Mass. Do you think some take the Marian Devotion too far? Is there a line between honouring her and asking for intercession and worshipping her? How can I be sure I’m not crossing it?

This is the ever ubitiquitous question of Catholics. A question that I even ask myself at times. However, we must not be afraid to love Our Lady. Let me give You an example that A Poster on these forums once used.

Imagine, You are a poor little Child, in the Court of the KING. You absolutley adore the KING as HE is wonderful, Loving and Approachable. However, You just cannot get over the initial fear of approaching HIM. Your tummy gets all knotted up out of anxiety, trying to approach the KING. You see the Queen Mother, whom You don’t adore, but You do love Her as She is absolutley sweet and Kind Hearted. Imagine She has the softest Heart in the world. You want to gift the King, with the best and only thing You have, a wormy apple (Our Imperfect prayers), however, even admist the wonderful Goodness of the King, You are just terrified to approach HIS throne to gift HIM. So, You beg the Queen Mother to gift it to HIM, AND since it comes from the Queen Mother, the KING delights in the wormy apple, as if it was HIS most prized possesion!!

That is the relationship we strive to have with Our Lady. A healthy devotion to Her, will ONLY lead You to loving Her SON, never Herself. Mary is never greedy for attention. When GOD became MAN inside Her Womb, She called Herself merely, the “Handmaid” of the LORD. What humility! Imagine, Carrying GOD HIMSELF inside Your Womb, and calling yourself, just a Mere Handmaid. Our Lady will never steal the attention. She loves Her SON, and She loves us. She never seeks to be worshipped. Whenever She has appeared, e.g Fatima, Lourdes, Akita, Guadalupe, Lasalette, Etc. Her message has always been “I Love You as my Children”, “Do Penance for your sins and the sins of the world” “Stop offending GOD with Your sins”. Albeit, these apparitions are not nessescaty for Your Salvation, She appears to offer proof that We don’t worshi Her, but to quit offending GOD through our sins. She Loves You!! (Pray an exta Rosary with the intention that You overcome this fear!!)

 

[fred_conty]

Hello,

I was baptized in a Protestant Church. Recently I attending a Catholic Mass and was very drawn to the style of worship. I really enjoyed the solemnity, ritual, and tradition. It may me feel closer to God than I have felt in a long time.

I really want to become a Catholic. I have been reading up about the doctrines and such, but I struggle with the concept of Marian Devotion. I feel like it is great to honour her and the saints, and ask her to pray for us, but all of the statues, prayers/rosary, and shrines devoted solely to her seems a lot like idol worship. I am wondering what is the point of it and how it bring us closer to God to pray to her? I know most Catholics will say they don’t pray to her, but I was looking up Catholic prayers online and many prayers were listed as a prayer to Mary. Can someone help me to understand this? I really want to try as I loved being part of the Catholic Church and want to partake in Mass. Do you think some take the Marian Devotion too far? Is there a line between honouring her and asking for intercession and worshipping her? How can I be sure I’m not crossing it?

A prayer is talking to a saint, or talking to God.
A prayer of itself only means talking to a spiritual being in heaven.
When I talk to you on earth, it is just talk.
If you would die and I would talk to you, it is prayer.
Prayer is talking to someone in the next world.

When I talk to God I am not usually adoring him in my prayer. In fact most times I am not adoring God when I pray, but rather, I am just plain talking to or with Him. Just because I know He is God dosen’t mean I am in the act of adoration. Seldom does this happen. And when I do adore God it is something special that I say or do in the act of adoration, like “I adore you”, or genuflecting before the Blessed Sacrament where his real presence is.

What really counts is not what we call something, but what our intention is.
I may have a budda, holding the curan in his hand,ridding a golden calf, resting on a little prayer rug, and put it on my mantel and think it is a beautiful piece of art. I can sit there and gaze at it, admire it, and be very much at home in my faith about it. It is what Jeus said, “…what comes out of the heart.”

The intention has everything to do with right and wrong. The intention is what God sees and judges. He does not judge appearances as humans do but what is going on in the inside.

Just some thoughts.

 

[De_Montfort]

"The Blessed Virgin Mary is born to be Mother. The supreme consolation that our Lady receives at the cross of her Son is the assurance that her vocation as Mother does not end with Christ’s death. The Lord commands the world, “Behold your Mother.” The resurrection begins for Mary – and for us --with these words. The Blessed Virgin’s womb remains for ever fruitful. Mary leads us to Christ, but Christ leads us back to his Mother, for with Mary’s maternity, Jesus would become a mere abstraction to us. The Lord wills to “let his face shine upon” us through the face of the Mother of God. We “serve a Mother who seems to grow more beautiful as new generations rise up and call her blessed.” (G.K. Chesterton)