Why Mother Angelica's Scaring Me Away:

[Carlan]

Catholicism has a strong concept of holiness which people will possess in greater or lesser degrees in so far as they correspond with God’s will. The greater the holiness, ie sanctity of an individual, the more God will answer their requests. that is why we pray to the saints, because they are more worthy than we are.

*Titles given to Mary refer to her intercessory power, not to worship. As the Mother of the Redeemer she is the greatest of saints, and when people talk of consecration to her they really mean to her prayers, and of course her will is identical to that of her Son’s.

This understanding of Mary’s role is very ancient and is found in prayers in the cataco*mbs.

Yes, and Mr Zetterlund in time will come to accept and realize it as so many do. Peace, Carlan

 

[Crumpy]

I think the catacombs are interesting, but again my Church does not declare that they are inspired.

When Jesus had ascended into heaven, I’m sure that Mary became very popular – she was a biblical celebrity. When she was gone, and when the apostles were all gone, the survivors must have been very lonely. They must have felt that the glory was in the past.

 

[inkaneer]

I think the catacombs are interesting, but again my Church does not declare that they are inspired.

When Jesus had ascended into heaven, I’m sure that Mary became very popular – she was a biblical celebrity. When she was gone, and when the apostles were all gone, the survivors must have been very lonely. They must have felt that the glory was in the past.

They had the Eucharist didn’t they? The glory is still with us.

 

[lisaberry100]

I’ve already mentioned how much a stumbling block Mary was for us in our conversion from Baptist church. The ah-ha moment came for me when someone told me, "If I was going to marry a perfect, amazing man, and commit to be faithful to him and be his forever, how would he take it if I said, “I don’t want a relationship with your mother. I don’t even want to try to get to know her. All I need is you. Just you and me and no one else.” How do you think your fiancee would feel? He might decide he doesn’t want to marry you because he loves his mother and wants a wife who will love her like he does. Especially in Biblical times I guarantee you the mother-in-law was a very important figure.

Now, am I saying Jesus wants nothing to do with you if you don’t love his mother with all your heart and woul? No, I am just giving you an analogy. This made the most sense to me and I hope it helps you. I realize you haven’t broken through the anti-Mary fog yet. It is really nice and sunny over here where we realize that all the Saints are alive and are truly “a great cloud of witness” that surround us even now as we communicate via the world wide web. If you close your eyes and simply ponder this it is mind blowing.

We are finite, and very simple minded no matter how great we think we are and have no idea what is going on spiritually all around us. The Saints do not want our worship, but they do care for us and their prayers are carried to God by the angels and the elders, as it says in Revelation, 5:8 and 8:3.

Another very mind blowing verse for me (I am a former me and my bible fundamentalist anti-catholic, Mary hater) Here it is:
Heb. 12:22
No, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering,
23
and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, and God the judge of all, and the spirits of the just made perfect

This very clearly states we have approached not only God, but the angels as well as the spirits of the just made perfect

It doesn’t get much more clear. I almost fell out of my chair when I heard this one.
We can actually approach the spirits of the just made perfect.

Protestants really know how to skip over verses, at least my teachers, pastors always did.

I hope this helps
Lisa