Actually when I was saying the rosary earlier this evening I thought about the question the poster raised, about “why don’t you just go to Christ yourselves?”
And then I thought, this is one thing which shows a great difference between Protestant and Catholic.
Protestants are very ‘self’ oriented. (Not selfish, mind you, but ‘self’.) Some people call it the “me and Jesus” mindset. A lot of it is rooted in the 16th and 17th century (reformation). People were in revolt against authority, against clergy, against ‘abuses’; people were trying to be ‘simpler’; people were trying to be more egalitarian. People were setting out for “new worlds”. People were leaving all the ‘old world’ things behind. People were thinking they were going to establish ‘new Edens’, get ‘back to the roots’, go for ONLY Scripture (since with the printing press Bibles were becoming affordable and with the reform of schools etc. more were becoming literate).
Catholics are very “other” oriented. Very “universal”. Very encompassing. Catholics were very involved in tradition (big T and little t) because Catholics were ‘united’. Not only that, Catholics were more likely NOT to revolt against authority or clergy. Catholics had had more than 1500 years of thinking of themselves as members of ONE body. They had come up from persecution. They were much more likely to be humble and accepting, and if they were going out for ‘new worlds’ it was to bring to the new the faith of the old world.
So it is not surprising that in a faith tradition that goes back to the apostles that Catholics have been much more inclined to approach God TOGETHER. In a faith tradition that acknowledged that those who have died are as much a part of Christ’s body and church as the living are, it is natural that Catholics acknowledge OTHERS, especially the saints. Also, (and I do not mean to cause offense) while Protestants (especially the earlier Protestants) took pride in going “directly to God” in just the same way that they took pride in being “just as good as the next man” or “we’re all equals here”; well, Catholics have historically been much humbler, in going not only to the Father through Jesus, but even in going to JESUS through His mother Mary and the saints.
Suppose you are going to meet the President of the U.S. , or the Queen of England, or even a local dignitary at a banquet. Do you just walk right up, thrust out your hand, and pump the hands of these people–or do you want somebody (an aide, a courtier, even another good friend) to approach these people WITH YOU? Well, you KNOW you are ‘just as good’ as any of these people, so to speak–but I venture to say that MOST people would want to approach somebody ‘important’ at an important function with the courteous intercession of other people who can HELP.
Further, Catholics have a more ‘eternal’ view. Because Mary gave birth to Christ on earth, at a specific time, a lot of non Catholics act as though that was ‘then’, but ‘now’, Mary is not any less than any other ‘dead person’ but she sure as heck isn’t any more.
While Catholics know that, just as Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary and his Last Supper were not just events that happened “once” but are eternal and everlasting; that somehow they not only stretch ‘back’ to the Creation to infinite ‘back’ and forward to eternity and infinitely ‘forward’, because of this Mary is not just Christ’s earthly mother for 33 ‘earth years’; she is His Mother now, and then, and forever. We could not worship Christ fully were we not to HONOR His Mother now, then, and forever.
And by having a shrine of Mary in a church, we aren’t ‘taking away’ attention from God. Why does Mary merit attention in the first place–why yes, she is the MOTHER OF GOD. Every thought that we have about Mary is related to her being the Mother of Christ–therefore leading directly to contemplation of Christ. Just as it should be. . .
