Two questions about Mary...

[Elizium23]

Why do Catholics worship Mary, Saints, or even Angels when there a creation of God Himself?
Why do I find Idols or images of Mary, all the time in church?
Catholic seem to worship Mary, Saints , and Angels more than God.
I’m confused please help.
Romans 1:25
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Exodus 20:4-5
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

Do you have images of your grandmother hanging on your wall? Or saved in your computer and phone? Why do you worship her?

The Jews created images to be venerated: the saraph serpent in Exodus, the Ark of the Covenant’s cherubim, and the Temple in Jerusalem had extensive carvings and tapestries of angels, nature, animals, etc. Were the Jews disobeying God, or perhaps is there a novel interpretation of the Bible being proposed by Protestant neo-iconoclasts, that conflicts with a true understanding by Christians and Jews?

 

[Thomas_White]

Why do Catholics worship Mary, Saints, or even Angels when there a creation of God Himself?
Why do I find Idols or images of Mary, all the time in church?
Catholic seem to worship Mary, Saints , and Angels more than God.
I’m confused please help.
Romans 1:25
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Exodus 20:4-5
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those wwho hate me,

You are quoting Exodus 20:4-5 out of context. What immediately precedes these two verses provides the proper context.

20:2-3: “I am the Lord they God…thou shalt not have strange gods before me.”

20.4: “Thou shalt not make to theyself a graven thing…”

This is the First Commandment. “Graven” means an object that is worshipped as a god. This Commandment concerned the pagan worship of false idols. Images of Mary, the Saints or Angels are not “graven” things, and neither are they worshipped by Catholics as gods.

It’s just that simple.

 

[Steveabrous]

Read Exodus 20:4-5
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

yes but we are freed from the law as Paul explains in Romans ( I can give you scriptures if you need them). Before Christ, yes, the mere act of bowing in front of a statue and praying would be breaking a commandment. But since Christ has freed us from the law it is what’s in our hearts that matters. If someone is kneeling in front of a statue and praying they are no longer automatically guilty of idolatry, they are only guilty if they are actively worshipping the statue, and Catholics don’t do that.

If we are not freed from the law then every Christian, except the sabbitarians, are guilty of not keeping the Sabbath (Saturday, not Sunday) holy. Paul uses the example of adultery. If we are freed from the law concerning these why are we bond to the prohibition of statues?

Of course we are not freed from the spirit of the law, a person who commits adultery is still guilty just not of breaking the law, and the spirit of the Sabbeth is still in place. Likewise we are not to commit idolatry. But it’s what’s in our hearts that matters.And only God can be the judge of that.

If you want to be bound to the law be my guest, but I have freedom from the law through Christ Jesus

 

[godisgood77]

I rarely post on “Mary” threads anymore because there is always claims of Catholics showing “excessive” devotion to Mary. Now when non-Catholics make this claim, I tend to shrug it off as someone who is for lack of a better term, “ignorant” of what Catholics truly believe. But when other Catholics make this claim, my question to them would be; what is your evidence for making such a comment? What have you observed to make these bold assertions? And I never get an answer. I would ask you, what would you say to those who made the following statements with regards to the Virgin?..

I’m a Catholic and have witnessed issues with devotion to Mary. I’m proud to be the first to respond to your question…

I referenced this in another thread… about a year ago, our pastor gave multiple homilies and a explicitly stated in a letter in the bulletin that, as Catholics, we can not pray directly to God. Instead we must go to Mary for intercession. He said that only those prayers and intentions delivered by Mary are efficacious. This would not be so bad if it were only an isolated instance, but that pastor has since moved on and his replacement reiterated the same thing. My wife and I were astonished and when we expressed our concerns with several parishioners, we were greeted with animus.

Now these ‘situations’ were all in the same diocese and are in a place that is connected to Franciscan U at Steubenville where Mark Miravalle’s influence is most heavily felt, so it may not be a widespread problem. However, I think it would be intellectually dishonest to act as though there haven’t been issues with Marian piety in some Catholic circles throughout the ages. John XXXIII referenced excesses on multiple occasions and there are several books that carry imprimatur’s that outline some of them; ‘The Question of Mary’ but world renowned Marian expert Fr. Rene Laurentin to name one.

Devotion to Mary according to Church teaching is a beautiful thing, but like all things can be distorted… even by well meaning Catholics.

 

[Thomas_White]

I’m a Catholic and have witnessed issues with devotion to Mary. I’m proud to be the first to respond to your question…

I referenced this in another thread… about a year ago, our pastor gave multiple homilies and a explicitly stated in a letter in the bulletin that, as Catholics, we can not pray directly to God.

This is just not understandable. There is the Our Father Prayer, which is part of the Liturgy of the Mass: “Our Father, who art in Heaven…”

I cannot fathom why your pastor would say we cannot pray directly to God.

 

[Dorothy]

I wonder if the way the priest articulated himself caused others to misunderstand.

 

[Eliza10]

Speaking of Mark Miravalle, I have this wonderful book from EWTN: ewtnreligiouscatalogue.com/Home+Page/BOOKS/Marian/MEET+MARY±+GETTING+TO+KNOW+THE+MOTHER+OF+GOD.axd
I highly recommend it!

 

[PJM]

Okay I have a few questions about Mary mother of God:

1. Do Catholics give offerings to Mary? If so, isn’t all reserved to God?
2. Why do Catholics sing hymns to Mary when by definition a hymn is reserved for God?
   Mary and the pope are my biggest stumbling block… thank you!

MY REPLY

“Okay I have a few questions about Mary mother of God”?

1. Do Catholics give offerings to Mary? If so, isn’t all reserved to God?
   I’m not sure what you mean by “offerings”? I suspect you are referencing our praying to Her?

Many outside the Catholic Church are taught that Catholics praying to Mary; the Mother of our God, is an idolatrous practice. It’s not, and here is why.

Here we find Yahweh Himself commanding Moses to make “graven images” [idols]

**Exod.25: 18, 20 **“And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be}

Num.21: 8-9 “And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.”

We are to understand this seemingly contradictory teaching by recognizing that it is NOT the item or “person” that is an evil practice; it is rather the PURPOSE of the item or person.

Anything that leads us towards God is a GOOD; while anything that competes or leads us away from God is an evil. READ what Mary herself say’s:

Luke 1: 34-35 “And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” Lk. 1: 46-48 “ And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed”

Catholicism teaches that “Worship” is reserved to God alone. We reverence, respect, and honor Mary as thee Mother of God. The one women chosen out of Billions of options to fulfill this role.

1. "Why do Catholics sing hymns to Mary when by definition a hymn is reserved for God?

Mary and the pope are my biggest stumbling block… thank you!"

My friend these are great questions. Thank you.

Mary better than any other being or thing is qualified to lead us to Her Son. It is “correct” to say that we “sing and pray to Mary” HOWEVER, it is far more telling to understand that Catholic’s are taught that ALL prayer is aimed at God as its end.

What we ARE doing is praying THROUGH Mary as an intercessor. One who pleads our cause and then personally presents them to God on our behalf. The same is true of the many saints we pray “to” /through.

I should also mention that the Church does not mandate that we do this; BUT suggest it as being a “worthy practice”.

From our Catholic Catechism:

#2135 “You shall worship the Lord your God” (Mt 4:10). Adoring God, praying to him, offering him the worship that belongs to him, fulfilling the promises and vows made to him are acts of the virtue of religion which fall under obedience to the first commandment.

#2105 The duty of offering God genuine worship concerns man both individually and socially. This is “the traditional Catholic teaching on the moral duty of individuals and societies toward the true religion and the one Church of Christ.” By constantly evangelizing men, the Church works toward enabling them “to infuse the Christian spirit into the mentality and mores, laws and structures of the communities in which [they] live.” The social duty of Christians is to respect and awaken in each man the love of the true and the good. It requires them to make known the worship of the one true religion which subsists in the Catholic and apostolic Church. Christians are called to be the light of the world. Thus, the Church shows forth the kingship of Christ over all creation and in particular over human societies.

Because there is but One True God

God can and does have just one set of Faith beliefs [Eph. 4: 1-7]

And desires just One Church as He desired only One Chosen people in the Old Testament.

Space is limited on the Forum,so if you have other questions please let me know.

Space permitting I can also explain for you “the Pope”.
God Bless you!

Patrick