Here is something I found here on Catholic Answers on one of the forums that I thought was worth saving so I copied it. I do not know the name of the person who posted it nor the thread or forum in which it was posted but it answers a lot of questions about Mary including devotions to her and why we pray to Mary and why we call her Queen of Heaven.
It is called, “Devotion to Mary”
"There are two incidents in the Gospels that seem insignificant or at most nice little human interest stories that have no relationship to the gospel message. They seem to be little sidebars to the main storyline. The two incidents are the mother of James and John asking Jesus to allow her sons to sit on his right and left and the story of the wedding feast at Cana. Here are the passages:
“35 And James and John, the sons of Zeb’edee, came forward to him, and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
[Mark 10:37-40] [RSV]
Matthew’s gospel has the mother of James and John making the request. [See Mt 20:20-23] The wedding feast at Cana is recorded in John‘s Gospel:
“1 On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; 2 Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. 3 When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” [John 2:1] [RSV]
Now what do these events have to do with the gospel? Apparently nothing other than in the first either the mother of two of the Apostles or the two apostles themselves make a rather selfish request whereas in the second a request is apparently made but it is not a selfish request. So is that it? On the surface it seems so. But I was intrigued by the first one. Who does sit at Jesus left and right? In recalling the creed I know it states that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father. That is also stated in Mark 16:19:
“So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.” [Mark 16:19][RSV]
So if Jesus sits at the Father’s right then the Father sits at Jesus left. No wonder neither James nor John could sit there. But who sits at Jesus right? The obvious answer is the Holy Spirit. But I could not find anything in scripture that stated that. So the question of who sits at Jesus’ right went unanswered.
Then there is the story of the wedding feast of Cana. Two things here I pondered. First, why is this in the scripture and second there seems to be parts of the conversation missing. The conversation as recorded by John is as follows: [NOTE: I added missing parts. They are in brackets}
Mary: “They have no wine.” [Can you do something?]
Jesus: “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” [but for
you I will.]
Mary: (to the servants) “Do whatever he tells you.”
Again a nice human interest story but so what? What does that have to do with the gospel message? Again outside of one request being selfishly and the other unselfishly there appears to be nothing.
Then one day while reading the Old Testament the old proverbial light bulb came on. The passage I was reading was :
“12 So Solomon sat upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was firmly established. 13 Then Adoni’jah the son of Haggith came to Bathshe’ba the mother of Solomon. And she said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably.” 14 Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” She said, “Say on.” 15 He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel fully expected me to reign; however the kingdom has turned about and become my brother’s, for it was his from the LORD. 16 And now I have one request to make of you; do not refuse me.” She said to him, “Say on.” 17 And he said, “Pray ask King Solomon–he will not refuse you–to give me Ab’ishag the Shu’nammite as my wife.” 18 Bathshe’ba said, “Very well; I will speak for you to the king.” 19 So Bathshe’ba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adoni’jah. And the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a seat brought for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right. 20 Then she said, “I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you.” [1 Kings 2:12-25] [RSV]
For clarity Adoni’jah is David’s fourth son by his wife Haggith. He has a right to be afraid of Solomon as the usual practice when a new king was crowned was that the king did away with all his competitors. So Adoni’jah doesn’t want Solomon to see him lest he be hauled off and eliminated. Thus he approached Bathsheeba to make his request for him.
Continued next post
This doesn’t take away from our adoration of Mary. She is a saint, yet the “sinless life” supposes a God-like quality and separate path to achieve heaven apart from Christ. Please elaborate and elucidate this foundational basis.
-since sacred Scripture directs/derives proper Theology, yes?
} However, that does not make it the sole authority. The argument, “Where is that in the Bible?” doesn’t work because there is no biblical basis for sola scriptura.
- you say this as if Catholic Christians believe that Mary is Divine …