Why Catholics adore Mary

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aball1035

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I’m looking for a few brief reasons on why Mary is so adored in Catholicism.

One reason I have come up with is that we Catholics on earth aren’t holy enough to truly worship Christ as we should, so we need a “middle man”, which is Mary. However then that leaves the question of why Christ Himself came to earth…

Any help would be appreciated.
 
‘We Catholics’? You’re not speaking for any other Catholic I know of - and what you say is nothing like Church teaching.We no more need a middle man to approach God than He needs a middle man to come to us. Look at our chief act of worship - the Mass. 99.9% of its prayers are directly addressed to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

NONE of its prayers are directly addressed to Mary apart from the final section of the Confiteor - which includes all the other angels and saints (and our earthly brethren) as well, certainly none express ‘adoration’ of her in any real way. So it’s not like it’s an inevitable part of our worship in any way.

But fact is, God CHOSE middle men all the time - Moses and the prophets in the OT. Mary and the Apostles in the NT. So we, following His example, can and do choose to approach Him through and with them. Remember, praying through Mary or a Saint means they add their prayers to ours, not that we aren’t praying directly to God ourselves!

See Christ didn’t have to be born of woman, He could’ve appeared as a foundling babe or full-grown man on the Temple steps one day all by His ownsome. But He DID choose to be born of woman, He chose to make us members of His body.

And as the members of any body work together to achieve the purposes that the head conceives, so we work together with our fellow members of the Body of Christ, chief among whom is Mary, to achieve His purposes.
 
Hi:)
We only adore God.
We don’t adore Mary. We love her, and we ask her prayers, which is no more worship than if I ask your prayers. We do honour her…and when we honour people, even sports heros, we’re not worshipping, just honouring them.

Jesus loves and values Mary.
Perhaps this love that Jesus has for Mary may help you to feel more comfortable about her place in the Church.

At the Wedding feast of Cana, Mary pointed out to Jesus that the hosts of the wedding feast were running out of wine. It wasn’t a matter of life or death, but certainly one of losing face, embaressment fot the family. Jesus at first protested at the notion of helping in this. He reminded His mother that it was not yet time for Him to begin His public mission.'My time has not yet come." Mary, woman of faith, simply told the servant to do whatever Jesus told them to…and he worked the miracle of changing water into wine anyway, ahead of planned time for public miracles, just because his mother asked Him to. ( John 1:1-12)

This show us that Jesus is happy with, and responds to, Mary’s intercession for others, for us.

One of the last things Jesus did as He hung in agony on the cross, was to provide a carer and a home for His mother. “When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home” ( John 19:26-27)

God bless you…Trishie
 
LilyM said:
‘We Catholics’? You’re not speaking for any other Catholic I know of - and what you say is nothing like Church teaching.We no more need a middle man to approach God than He needs a middle man to come to us. Look at our chief act of worship - the Mass. 99.9% of its prayers are directly addressed to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

NONE of its prayers are directly addressed to Mary apart from the final section of the Confiteor - which includes all the other angels and saints (and our earthly brethren) as well, certainly none express ‘adoration’ of her in any real way. So it’s not like it’s an inevitable part of our worship in any way.

But fact is, God CHOSE middle men all the time - Moses and the prophets in the OT. Mary and the Apostles in the NT. So we, following His example, can and do choose to approach Him through and with them. Remember, praying through Mary or a Saint means they add their prayers to ours, not that we aren’t praying directly to God ourselves!

See Christ didn’t have to be born of woman, He could’ve appeared as a foundling babe or full-grown man on the Temple steps one day all by His ownsome. But He DID choose to be born of woman, He chose to make us members of His body.

And as the members of any body work together to achieve the purposes that the head conceives, so we work together with our fellow members of the Body of Christ, chief among whom is Mary, to achieve His purposes.
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👍
 
Why aren’t you asking why Protestants do NOT venerate Our Lady? Historically all Christians venerated her until the Protestant Reformation, as Catholics and Orthodox still do. The proper question would be why they eliminated that, since it had previously been there through the centuries.
 
One of the greatest means of salvation and one of the surest signs of predestination, is unquestionably, the devotion to the Most Blessed Virgin. All the holy doctors of the Church are unanimous in saying with St. Alphonsus of Liguori: “A devout servant of Mary shall never perish.” The chief thing is to persevere faithfully till death in this devotion.
For the past month this former fundamentalist christian has made an effort to recite the rosary at least once every day. The results have been amazing. I encourage all christians to recite the rosary.
 
aball1035 said:
I’m looking for a few brief reasons on why Mary is so adored in Catholicism.

.
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can you give some examples from authentic Church teaching and practice on how Catholics “adore” Mary. Since that is not authentic Church teaching and practice I expect that will be difficult. YOu might try searching on “vernerate, honor, love” rather than on “adore” or “worship”. Thank you.

we love Mary simply because she is our mother, as scripture makes clear in John’s gospel.

do you need and excuse to love your own mother? does love for her, reliance on her, serving her, honoring her, remembering her detract in any least degree from your love of Christ and your duty to God? Does it detract in the least degree from your love and honor for your own earthly father or the rest of your family?

do you really think Christ is jealous of any honor paid to someone other than himself, particularly honor to his own mother, or the the saints who are his friends and followers?
 
I honor and respect the Blessed Mother for the role that she played in the Incarnation. What a role model for us. When God informed her, through the angel, that he wanted her to become the mother of His Son, she never hesitated but immediately said “Let it be done to me according to your word”. In addition, she endured much embarrassment through her pregnancy, the pain of childbirth, and she and Joseph nurtured and raised the Son of God. Add to all of this the pain of watching Jesus’ Passion and Death, receiving His body as it was taken down from the cross. I cannot imagine her bliss upon learning that He had been raised from the dead. The final reason, for me, is the Assumption of her body into Heaven to ensure that her body did not endure corruption. All of this proves to me that the Blessed Mother is very special to God and is deserving of my love and respect.
 
Greetings Alex:wave:
To clear up a bit of difficulty here I’m going to explain a theological technical difficulty with English. The choice of adore in reference to Mary is an easy mistake ie. a lover in an excess of devotion talks about adoring and even worshipping their beloved which is hopefully only a metaphor else it is idolatry. The greek term latria meaning what we would talk of worship is reserved for God (the Trinity) and Him alone, The act of the Mass is latria. What we have for Mary is covered by the greek term hyperdulia or great love and honor as opposed to dulia or gereral honor given to angels and saints. Please note the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church p.66 p 421. We give honor and reverence to Mary because scripture tells us to first of all in Luke 1:48 and she has held a primary place of honor as Queen Mother which even the early reformers refused to destroy. The sub tuum preasidium-we fly to thy patronage prayer is possibly the oldest prayer existant and is found on the walls of the catacombs and is addressed to Mary. It is only a later notion that samehow Mary is in competition with her Son and takes His glory and honor away from Him. This is absolute non-sense. Jesus honored his mother and so did the early church until the reformation. Mary being the humble servant of the Lord passes on the glory to Her Son as His perfect worshipper. She is the neck in the Body of Christ and Jesus is the head. It’s from one of the saints but, I don’t remember who now at the moment. Even the secular and transcendentlist poet Emerson called Mary the “finest honor of our race.”
 
We probably have a problem of the meaning of words here. I have read that, lacking the Eucharist and the Mass, many Protestants lack knowledge of what Catholics mean by adoration. Their adoration does not extend beyond what Catholics term veneration.

Note that in both Catholicism and Judaism, adoration/worship requires sacrifice, which requires a priesthood. This was lost in the Reformation. I think this may have been discussed in a papal document a few years back which noted that “Church” applies to Catholic and Orthodox worship. The others lack sacrifice; so are ecclesial (sp?) communities.
 
LilyM said:
‘We Catholics’? You’re not speaking for any other Catholic I know of - and what you say is nothing like Church teaching.We no more need a middle man to approach God than He needs a middle man to come to us. Look at our chief act of worship - the Mass. 99.9% of its prayers are directly addressed to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

NONE of its prayers are directly addressed to Mary apart from the final section of the Confiteor - which includes all the other angels and saints (and our earthly brethren) as well, certainly none express ‘adoration’ of her in any real way. So it’s not like it’s an inevitable part of our worship in any way.

But fact is, God CHOSE middle men all the time - Moses and the prophets in the OT. Mary and the Apostles in the NT. So we, following His example, can and do choose to approach Him through and with them. Remember, praying through Mary or a Saint means they add their prayers to ours, not that we aren’t praying directly to God ourselves!

See Christ didn’t have to be born of woman, He could’ve appeared as a foundling babe or full-grown man on the Temple steps one day all by His ownsome. But He DID choose to be born of woman, He chose to make us members of His body.

And as the members of any body work together to achieve the purposes that the head conceives, so we work together with our fellow members of the Body of Christ, chief among whom is Mary, to achieve His purposes.
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To clear some things up, maybe ‘adore’ was the wrong word. I meant ‘honor’. And when I said we should have a ‘middle man’, it’s because we aren’t holy enough to realize just how holy God is, so that’s one of the reasons we need a mediator. He however, knowing everything about us doesn’t need to have a mediator to come to us.

LilyM you say “You’re not speaking for any other Catholic I know of - and what you say is nothing like Church teaching”. Well for one St. Louis de Montfort writes in* True Devotion to Mary* "It is more perfect, because it is more humble, not to approach God by ourselves, without taking a mediator…if we rely on our own works, skills and preparation to reach God and to please Him, it is certain that all of our rightous works will be sullied or of little weight before God, in urging Him to unite Himself to us and to hear us and answer us… we have need of a mediator before the mediator (Jesus) Himself, and that the divine Mary is the one who is the most capable of fulfilling this charitable office.
-4th Truth in Chapter 3
 
I ask the OP a second time: Why aren’t you asking why Protestants do NOT venerate Our Lady? Historically all Christians venerated her until the Protestant Reformation, as Catholics and Orthodox still do. The proper question would be why they eliminated that, since it had previously been there through the centuries.
 
Chatter163 said:
I ask the OP a second time: Why aren’t you asking why Protestants do NOT venerate Our Lady? Historically all Christians venerated her until the Protestant Reformation, as Catholics and Orthodox still do. The proper question would be why they eliminated that, since it had previously been there through the centuries.
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The burden of proof is on you all, not me since I’m the one asking the question. I don’t know the answers, hence the questions.
 
aball1035 said:
I’m looking for a few brief reasons on why Mary is so adored in Catholicism.

i can certainly see your issue, i cannot find any “good” reason why anyone would not fall at the feet of the Mother of God. Let me think about this for a moment. The Vessel that God the Father found worthly to nourish his only begotten Son. God himself. Yep, I certainly hope someone can find a good reason NOT to adore, venerate, or kiss the ground she trods upon. Also follow her admonitions to worship and follow her son for through her intercession he will bring us to his Father.
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aball1035 said:
To clear some things up, maybe ‘adore’ was the wrong word. I meant ‘honor’. And when I said we should have a ‘middle man’, it’s because we aren’t holy enough to realize just how holy God is, so that’s one of the reasons we need a mediator. He however, knowing everything about us doesn’t need to have a mediator to come to us.

LilyM you say “You’re not speaking for any other Catholic I know of - and what you say is nothing like Church teaching”. Well for one St. Louis de Montfort writes in* True Devotion to Mary* "It is more perfect, because it is more humble, not to approach God by ourselves, without taking a mediator…if we rely on our own works, skills and preparation to reach God and to please Him, it is certain that all of our rightous works will be sullied or of little weight before God, in urging Him to unite Himself to us and to hear us and answer us… we have need of a mediator before the mediator (Jesus) Himself, and that the divine Mary is the one who is the most capable of fulfilling this charitable office.
-4th Truth in Chapter 3
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St. Louis de Montfort’s point of view is not that it is necessary to go through Mary simply because it must be but rather that it is how God wills to work in His Church. To put it in terms we might better understand today, the Blessed Mother is the most awesome prayer partner anyone could have. If we bring all of ourselves to the Lord, it is not that the Lord will not accept us. But in humilty we realize that what we are offering to Him isn’t perfect. But if we go to the Lord with His Mother at our side, offering her prayers of intercession for the salvation of our souls, then our prayers and offerings will be much more meritorious because we know “the prayer the righteous avails much” (James 5:16). As St. Louis de Montfort continuously points out in True Devotion, we go with and through Mary so that we might more perfectly present ourselves to the Lord Jesus and give ourselves entirely to Him. You ask why, if we go through Mary, did Jesus Himself need to come in the first place? As St. Teresa of Avila says, all is grace. Mary has no power of herself. What she has and all she can accomplish is only because of the grace won for all of us by Christ on Calvary. To go to Jesus through Mary isn’t really much of a stretch since the Father sent the one Meditor through another mediator to accomplish the work of redemption. Why didn’t Jesus just appear as a grown man on the temple steps? Because we aren’t protestants. It’s not just about ‘me and Jesus’. It’s about a covenant and relationship. We are all united in this one Mystical Body of Christ.
 
Spiritoftruth said:
i can certainly see your issue, i cannot find any “good” reason why anyone would not fall at the feet of the Mother of God. Let me think about this for a moment. The Vessel that God the Father found worthly to nourish his only begotten Son. God himself. Yep, I certainly hope someone can find a good reason NOT to adore, venerate, or kiss the ground she trods upon. Also follow her admonitions to worship and follow her son for through her intercession he will bring us to his Father.
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There is artwork perhaps as early as the third century A.D. in the Christian Catacombs showing Mary being coronated the Queen of Heaven. Contrary to overwhelming popular belief among Protestant critics, this is not something the Catholic Church made up later on.
 
The Blessed Mother is awesome. just think. God the Son wanted to be formed in her womb and be nursed from her milk.
 
RyanML said:
St. Louis de Montfort’s point of view is not that it is necessary to go through Mary simply because it must be but rather that it is how God wills to work in His Church. To put it in terms we might better understand today, the Blessed Mother is the most awesome prayer partner anyone could have. If we bring all of ourselves to the Lord, it is not that the Lord will not accept us. But in humilty we realize that what we are offering to Him isn’t perfect. But if we go to the Lord with His Mother at our side, offering her prayers of intercession for the salvation of our souls, then our prayers and offerings will be much more meritorious because we know “the prayer the righteous avails much” (James 5:16). As St. Louis de Montfort continuously points out in True Devotion, we go with and through Mary so that we might more perfectly present ourselves to the Lord Jesus and give ourselves entirely to Him. You ask why, if we go through Mary, did Jesus Himself need to come in the first place? As St. Teresa of Avila says, all is grace. Mary has no power of herself. What she has and all she can accomplish is only because of the grace won for all of us by Christ on Calvary. To go to Jesus through Mary isn’t really much of a stretch since the Father sent the one Meditor through another mediator to accomplish the work of redemption. Why didn’t Jesus just appear as a grown man on the temple steps? Because we aren’t protestants. It’s not just about ‘me and Jesus’. It’s about a covenant and relationship. We are all united in this one Mystical Body of Christ.
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I recently looked at the film “Bernadette.” and it reminded me of the way that visionaries
like Bernadette see Our Lady. Not as some grand figure, but as a gracious person, who touches out lives in a many not altogether different from the way that Bernadette herself did. Indeed, Bernardette herself became a vessel of grace. Mary cones from heaven to touch us, to reassure us, to admonish us. But we need to remember that she comes as his precursor.
 
aball1035 said:
The burden of proof is on you all, not me since I’m the one asking the question. I don’t know the answers, hence the questions.
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What a completely bogus reply, one that shows that you did not come to this forum in good faith.
 
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