Why should I care about the Marian doctrines?

[phatcatholic]

I think that when you are doing street evangelization, or when you are explaining the Marian doctrines to someone in really any setting, you should be able to answer the question, “Why should I care?” In other words, “What does this mean for me? How can this change my life? Why isn’t it enough to simply take it or leave it?”

With some of the Marian doctrines this is easy for me to answer. For the doctrine of Mary as the Mother of God, I should care because this means that I have a mother who cares for me. For the doctrine of the Assumption, I should care because in her I have the guarantee of the resurrection that I too will experience if I persevere in grace. For the doctrine of Mary as Mediatrix, I should care because this doctrine means that, if Mary, a mere creature (although a highly exalted one) can cooperate in Christ’s saving work, then so can I. It means I have a role to play in bringing about the subjective redemption in the lives of people.

But, why should I care that Mary was conceived without sin? Why should I care that she was a perpetual virgin? I’m drawing a blank on these two. I realize that ultimately, I should care because these doctrines are true, and I should want to believe whatever is true. But, I want to be able to give people something more than that.

Thanks guys!

 

[CarmelJerome]

Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception and her perpetual virginity are entirely centered on Christ and the life of the Holy Trinity: and the two doctrines elevate our understanding of divine grace past the sort of limitations we tend to impose on grace, as if the sole end of grace were keeping us out of Hell instead of becoming fitted for the life of Heaven
Her Immaculate Conception gave her the power to have continual conversation with God undeformed by any sin. This also enabled her, then, to give her true and unconditional assent to bearing the Word of God, Whom she would have seen in an earthly Beatific Vision. To truly be the Mother of God required the whole embrace of the Word in such a vision.
Since she truly saw God and could be said to have been elevated to the highest Heaven, then she could not have descended to any place of natural desire; she could never receive into her womb anything less or other than the Word.
For us, we should desire to acquire the grace that leads us to live each moment more and more in the presence of the Holy Trinity: to have no room for what is indifferent or opposed to our Incarnate Lord and His sacrifice. We must look to our baptist and to our desire for perseverance in grace as the imperfect images of her Conception and her Virginity and try to comport ourselves with her love and her innocence.

 

[Ad_Orientem]

To the beautiful post above, I’d just add the following.

The chalice and paten at Mass are typically made of precious metal, and not of plastic or glass, because it is fitting for those things which contain God himself to be of the most excellent quality. Similarly, it is fitting that God’s Mother should be, after the Sacred Humanity of our Lord, the most excellent a rational creature can be.* This also raises the bar for achieving a kind of excellence ourselves, though of course we will never achieve the same level.

As to why consecrated virginity is more excellent than the married state, see this page for quotations of Magisterial teaching, Doctors of the Church, and various Saints.