Far from rebuking her, I believe He gave her the greatest honor ever possible!
God NEVER does anything before the time designed by his Divine Will. Yet at the request of his Beloved Mother, even after announcing that His Hour had not yet come, He proceeded to perform His first Miracle.
Yes. Mary gave birth to Jesus. But that doesn’t prove we have to go through her to have a relationship with him. Would you submit your reply to my post by sending it to my mother first?
Luk 11:27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.Hi Chris
Far from rebuking her, I believe He gave her the greatest honor ever possible!
***Why would the Creator of the Universe perform a miracle, ahead of the proper time, just because of the request of a mere human being? ***
I would suggest that there is a greater mystery implied here. Jesus was at the ending of His private years in which He lived in obedience to His Beloved Mother and Saint Joseph. Jesus had learned to received the Father’s direction through their loving intercession. This is why the angel who saved His life from Herod’s massacre had been sent to Saint Joseph.
The only reason for Jesus to perform His first Miracle at Canaa would be that at the time of His Mother’s request, He recognized that through His Mother, the Heavenly Father was revealing that His Hour had indeed arrived!
I pray this makes sense.
Once again, I was very impressed with the points made in the following site. I recommend you take a look at it.
WHY THE CREATOR CHOSE FOR US TO GO THROUGH MARY
To Jesus through Mary
Edward Henry
*You are right. *You don’t have to go through Mary. You do not have to do anything. Our Lord does not force anyone. As a matter of fact, I believe that the mystery of devotion to His Mother is an amazing gift that is not for everyone. Saint Louis De Montfort taught that such gift was a **Sign of Predestination ** and that those who received it should consider themselves blessed.
If I may: Just an added clarification on Saint Louis De Montfort’s teaching.
**Saint Louis *did not claim *** that those who serve Our Lord through Our Lady would be without suffering. Instead this inspired Saint prophesied:
**153. Why is it then, a servant of Mary might ask, that devoted servants of this good Mother are called upon to suffer much more than those who serve her less generously? They are opposed, persecuted, slandered, and treated with intolerance. They may also have to walk in interior darkness and through spiritual deserts without being given from heaven a single drop of the dew of consolation. If this devotion to the Blessed Virgin makes the path to Jesus smoother, how can we explain why Mary’s loyal servants are so ill-treated?
I pray this helps.
- I reply that it is quite true that the most faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin, being her greatest favorites, receive from her the best graces and favors from heaven, which are crosses. But I maintain too that these servants of Mary bear their crosses with greater ease and gain more merit and glory. What could check another’s progress a thousand times over, or possibly bring about his downfall, does not balk them at all, but even helps them on their way. For this good Mother, filled with the grace and unction of the Holy Spirit, dips all the crosses she prepares for them in the honey of her maternal sweetness and the unction of pure love. They then readily swallow them as they would sugared almonds, though the crosses may be very bitter. I believe that anyone who wishes to be devout and live piously in Jesus will suffer persecution and will have a daily cross to carry. But he will never manage to carry a heavy cross, or carry it joyfully and perseveringly, without a trusting devotion to our Lady, who is the very sweetness of the cross. It is obvious that a person could not keep on eating without great effort unripe fruit which has not been sweetened.
- This devotion is a short way to discover Jesus, either because it is a road we do not wander from, or because, as we have just said, we walk along this road with greater ease and joy, and consequently with greater speed. We advance more in a brief period of submission to Mary and dependence on her than in whole years of self-will and self- reliance. A man who is obedient and submissive to Mary will sing of glorious victories over his enemies It is true, his enemies will try to impede his progress, force him to retreat or try to make him fall. But with Mary’s help, support and guidance, he will go forward towards our Lord. Without falling, retreating and even without being delayed, he will advance with giant strides towards Jesus along the same road which, as it is written, Jesus took to come to us with giant strides and in a short time.
- Why do you think our Lord spent only a few years here on earth and nearly all of them in submission and obedience to his Mother? The reason is that “attaining perfection in a short time, he lived a long time”, even longer than Adam, whose losses he had come to make good. Yet Adam lived more than nine hundred years! Jesus lived a long time, because he lived in complete submission to his Mother and in union with her, which obedience to his Father required. The Holy Spirit tells us that the man who honors his mother is like a man who stores up a treasure. In other words, the man who honors Mary, his Mother, to the extent of subjecting himself to her and obeying her in all things will soon become very rich, because he is amassing riches every day through Mary who has become his secret philosopher’s stone.
**
(True Devotion to Mary.)
To Jesus through Mary.
Edward Henry
How do you reconcile those verses with your devotion to Mary? They would seem to be teaching against it.
I’m not sure what this proves. I could probably find quotes from saints that say a lot of unbiblical things. But all that would prove is that even saints have opinions.If I may: Just an added clarification on Saint Louis De Montfort’s teaching.
**Saint Louis *did not claim *** that those who serve Our Lord through Our Lady would be without suffering. Instead this inspired Saint prophesied:
**153. Why is it then, a servant of Mary might ask, that devoted servants of this good Mother are called upon to suffer much more than those who serve her less generously? They are opposed, persecuted, slandered, and treated with intolerance. They may also have to walk in interior darkness and through spiritual deserts without being given from heaven a single drop of the dew of consolation. If this devotion to the Blessed Virgin makes the path to Jesus smoother, how can we explain why Mary’s loyal servants are so ill-treated?
I pray this helps.
- I reply that it is quite true that the most faithful servants of the Blessed Virgin, being her greatest favorites, receive from her the best graces and favors from heaven, which are crosses. But I maintain too that these servants of Mary bear their crosses with greater ease and gain more merit and glory. What could check another’s progress a thousand times over, or possibly bring about his downfall, does not balk them at all, but even helps them on their way. For this good Mother, filled with the grace and unction of the Holy Spirit, dips all the crosses she prepares for them in the honey of her maternal sweetness and the unction of pure love. They then readily swallow them as they would sugared almonds, though the crosses may be very bitter. I believe that anyone who wishes to be devout and live piously in Jesus will suffer persecution and will have a daily cross to carry. But he will never manage to carry a heavy cross, or carry it joyfully and perseveringly, without a trusting devotion to our Lady, who is the very sweetness of the cross. It is obvious that a person could not keep on eating without great effort unripe fruit which has not been sweetened. **
(True Devotion to Mary.)
To Jesus through Mary.
Edward Henry
How can you plead for Jesus’ blood to be over anything? Didn’t he shed his blood once for all? That’s your argument when we Catholics talk about receiving the blood of Jesus in the Eucharistic cup (not denying the whole presence of Christ under both species here fellow Catholics, I’m just making a point)?
First off, the saint in question is a WOMAN.
Right… Reminds me of a prayer that supposedly binds God to answer your request (when you use the correct formula for the correct period of time). These sorts of thing are just nonesense. We can’t bind or control God, nor can we remove free will by the wearing of a piece of fabric. At the time of our conversion/enrichment to the Catholic Church, a close friend of ours got involved in this kind of thing shortly before he passed away. I believe we expressed concerns to the parish about it, but I can’t remember further details at this time–except that the consensus was it was dangerous territory for a believer to be treading.
God Himself, through Our Lady of Mount Carmel, gave the Brown Scapular to the Church.
Are you suggesting, by wearing a piece of fabric, one no longer has free will–to choose God or against God? What is your reference from the CCC, for this cancelation of free will?
And you believe that yours are more enlightened than theirs. Why is it, that all those who strongly question and object to the Pope’s* God-given infallibility*, do not have any problems believing in their own and promoting their own opinions?
As there has not been a reply, let me share Catholic Answers’ answer on this issue from a few years ago.
And the spirit that appeared to Joseph Smith said his name was Moroni. Does that mean that is who it was?
I’m sorry, but this sounds like horror movie inspired theology.
Pleading the blood of Christ over something is totally different than puting your faith in Mary and Saints. We know that the blood of Christ has power to defeat evil, and we have to reason to trust that your ‘tradition’ is inspired of God.About devotions that are not explicitly in the Bible, how about your own found in your signature:
How can you plead for Jesus’ blood to be over anything? Didn’t he shed his blood once for all? That’s your argument when we Catholics talk about receiving the blood of Jesus in the Eucharistic cup (not denying the whole presence of Christ under both species here fellow Catholics, I’m just making a point)?
Evangelicals have lots of rituals and practices that aren’t explicitly found in the Bible, but they do them just the same.
What we are really talking about here is the fact that you don’t accept the Church’s teachings about Mary because you don’t believe in the Church’s authority to pronounce on matters of faith and morals. You and your denomination reserve that right to yourselves by making your interpretation of the Bible your supreme authority. Note I did not say you make the Bible your supreme authority because in reality you aren’t doing that.
You have divorced the Scriptures from its proper context–Sacred Tradition, which is why you have such a limited understanding of the deeper matters of the faith. Unless and until you accept all the revelation of Jesus Christ, and not just the parts you wish to accept, you will never be able to see beyond your utilitarian understanding of the relationship between God and man.
You also have to be careful not to just go along with everything you are told. You must test what you are told.And you believe that yours are more enlightened than theirs. Why is it, that all those who strongly question and object to the Pope’s* God-given infallibility*, do not have any problems believing in their own and promoting their own opinions?
Those who question the saintly inspirations of the Saints who prayed, suffered and died for Christ, run the arrogant risk of letting their “learnedness” blind them to the “childlike” inspiration of those who “knew” how to do theology on their knees.
***“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.” ***(Matthew 11: 25-26)
We have to be very careful of intellectual pride. It is a very scary and sneaky thing