Why we must “go through Mary” and cannot just (only) go “directly to Jesus.”

[John_Hiner]

Why must we “go through Mary;” why can’t we *just *go “directly to Jesus?"

I have heard this question asked several times in these or similar words. This is usually done in the context of challenging the cults of Mary and the Saints. I would like to propose an answer.

We must pray to, honor, and interact with Mary because the direct commands of the Lord Jesus require it. Let me try to clarify.

True religion is about right belief and right action; “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves,” (James (NAB) 1:22). Hence, much of the Church’s effort is directed to nurturing, instructing, and strengthening people so that we can do the very demanding things which the Lord commands us to do. It takes time to build the strength of character and self-discipline to take up one’s cross and it takes encouragement to keep doing it once one has begun; it takes focus and careful attention to understand that there is one God in Three Persons and it takes constant reminders to keep this idea clearly in mind once it is grasped; etc.

Some of the requirements of the Faith are so demanding, given our fallen human nature, that they have to be refreshed and strengthened every day. Consider the struggle against pride, greed, anger, etc. Many of the challenges in the practice of Christ’s religion are very demanding.

Given all of this, I submit that the cult of Mary and the cults of the Saints are necessary to the daily practice of the Faith. We must honor and pray to Mary and to the Saints daily, because these are the key to meeting one of the primary demands placed on us by the Lord’s direct commands. The Lord specifically imposed on us the two Great Commandments of the old law:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew (RSV) 22:37-40; and Mark 12:28-31).

On consideration, these commands may seem to be contradictory. After all, if one loves the Lord with all of one’s heart, soul, [strength], and mind, what does one have “left over” with which to love one’s self or any neighbor? After all, ““no one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other,” (Matthew (RSV) 6:24; see also Luke 16:13). (In fact, one hears an echo of this truth about human nature when people say that the ‘worship’ of Mary “takes away” from the worship of God.) So, how can one love both a personal God and particular men?

This quandary is made even more extreme, when one considers that Christ perfected these commands of the old law by making the love of other people even more demanding: “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another,” (John (NAB) 13:34).

These questions arise: Does Jesus love and honor me? Does He ask me to pray to God that the Kingdom’s work might be done? Does He ask me to assist Him in doing His work?

Ultimately, one must ask: How can I love others as Jesus loved them and still love God with everything I have?

The answer is: one must love and worship God through others. No other solution is possible, if all of Jesus’ commands are to be obeyed.

Hence, the cult of Mary is necessary, because it teaches us the discipline and habit of loving God through honoring, loving, and interacting with another human person. The love of Mary is the archetype of this discipline, because Mary is the easiest case and therefore the clearest experience of what is needed. Mary points entirely to God. Her life and intentions, all of her actions and words, point to love of God. Hence, by constantly offering loving devotion to her, we learn the attitudes needed to authentically love her as a human being, as Jesus loved us, while at the same time directing and giving all of that very same love and devotion to the love of God Himself. This is the solution to the quandary of obeying both the greatest commandments and the new commandment of love.

The cults of the Saints then continue our education and discipline. Though perfected in heaven, the Saints do not offer us so clear and translucent a task as Mary. It takes more sophistication and work to properly orient our minds and hearts to love an individual Saint as Jesus taught us to love, and simultaneously to direct that love toward God. The other Saints, after all, are not as perfect or pure in pointing only toward God as is Mary. By learning to give loving devotion to a “lesser” saint, we strengthen the skills and fix the discipline learned in the cult of Mary.

The development of these skills and attitudes, and their constant strengthening and maintenance, are necessary, because they are the skills that make it possible for us to properly love the much more fallible people whom God has given us as neighbors. The skills developed and honed in love and devotion to the Virgin Mary and to the other Saints make it possible for us to fully and authentically love our friends, families, neighbors, and our enemies, as Jesus did, while simultaneously – with the very same love and efforts – loving the Lord God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength (see Mark 12:28f).

When all is said and done, we must “go through Mary” (and others) and not *only *go “directly to Jesus,” because that is the only way to do what Christ commanded us to do.

Does this seem a helpful approach to this apologetic challenge?

Spiritus Sapientiae nobiscum.

John Hiner

 

[CuriousInIL]

Why must we “go through Mary;” why can’t we *just *go “directly to Jesus?"

There is no teaching that this is true. Nor does your post support the idea IMO.

 

[teachccd]

If we have an itch on our arm it is our brain that initially senses this sensation. However we use our fingertips to scratch that itch in order that the brain no longer picks up that sensation. We don’t just say,“Hey brain quit making my arm itch.”

We are the Body of Christ made up of many parts. Saint Paul exhorts us to acknowledge that we all have necessary roles and that the hand cannot be the foot. Sure, we could go directly to Jesus. There is no doubt about that. But now that we are united in Him by our baptism we become one body in the one Lord. So Mary being the model of the Church and Jesus’ first and best disciple would be the most fitting instrument that Jesus would want us to use within His body to move to the Head.

So many non-Catholic Christians challenge us with this question and yet hurry off to their prayer groups. Why should we pray for each other? Can not we go directly to Jesus? In James chapter 5 verse 16 he states"…The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful." Now while many here might be righteous, I cannot think of a person more righteous than Mary who consented to bearing the living Word of God for the salvation of the world.

The servants at the wedding feast of Cana went “through” Mary for their miracle. Sure we can go directly to Jesus but we have a Communion of Saints and that is one big worshiping prayer group…teachccd

 

[John_Hiner]

There is no teaching that this is true. Nor does your post support the idea IMO.

Laudatur Iesus Christus.

Dear CuriousInIL:

I am not sure I understand your meaning, but I will respond as best I can.

*There is no teaching that this is true. *

If you are asserting that there is no teaching that one must “go through Mary,” I submit:

The Confiteor, which is part of the Ordinary of the Mass on all Sundays and other Solemnities: “And I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters **to pray for me **to the Lord our God.”

Eucharist Prayer I: “In union with the whole Church **we honor Mary, the ever-virgin mother of Jesus Christ **our Lord and God. We honor Joseph, her husband, the apostles and martyrs Peter and Paul, Andrew, (James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude; we honor Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian) and all the saints. May their merits and prayers grant us your constant help and protection.”

And, if one purports to be able to avoid these “optional” parts of the Ordinary of the Mass, there are the three Holy Days of Obligation dedicated to Mary’s honor and which include prayers for her honor and intercession.

For example, on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (15 August), the prayer over the gifts for the Mass during the day says, “Lord, receive this offering of our service. **You raised the Virgin Mary to the glory of heaven. By her prayers, help us to seek you and to live in your love. ** Grant this through Christ our Lord.”

These are only a few examples of the elements of the Liturgy which are required and which include invocations and praise of Mary. But the teaching of the Church includes additional strong recommendations of the cult of the Virgin Mary in addition to these. For example, the Holy Spirit and the Conciliar Fathers of Vatican II taught:

Hence after the Synod of Ephesus the cult of the people of God toward Mary wonderfully increased in veneration and love, in invocation and imitation, according to her own prophetic words: “All generations shall call me blessed, because He that is mighty hath done great things to me”. This cult, as it always existed, although it is altogether singular, differs essentially from the cult of adoration which is offered to the Incarnate Word, as well to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and it is most favorable to it. The various forms of piety toward the Mother of God, which the Church within the limits of sound and orthodox doctrine, according to the conditions of time and place, and the nature and ingenuity of the faithful has approved, bring it about that while the Mother is honored, the Son, through whom all things have their being and in whom it has pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell, is rightly known, loved and glorified and that all His commands are observed.

This most Holy Synod deliberately teaches this Catholic doctrine and at the same time admonishes all the sons of the Church that the cult, especially the liturgical cult, of the Blessed Virgin, be generously fostered, and the practices and exercises of piety, recommended by the magisterium of the Church toward her in the course of centuries be made of great moment, and those decrees, which have been given in the early days regarding the cult of images of Christ, the Blessed Virgin and the saints, be religiously observed. (Lumen Gentium 66-67.)

The last sentence of the first paragraph quoted above seems consistent with the argument that I made in the opening post. Without its parenthetical phrases, the sentence reads:

The various forms of piety toward the Mother of God . . . bring it about that . . . the Son . . . is rightly known, loved and glorified and that all His commands are observed.

Nor does your post support the idea IMO.

What weakness do you see in the argument? What other solution to the problem of loving God with all of one’s resources to love, and then still being required to love others as Christ loved them – totally? What other solution can there be, besides the tailoring of love so that the parts of one’s effort given to loving others must also and entirely be part of the love which one gives to God? Unless the two overlap entirely, how can the two commandments be reconciled and both be obeyed? This is the gist of the argument that I was trying to make.

Or, is your objection to the idea that the cult of the Virgin Mary is the necessary training for this meticulous love of God through and in others?

Pax Christi nobiscum.

John Hiner

 

[John_Hiner]

Laudatur Iesus Christus.

Dear teachccd:

Thank you for your comments. I agree. It is important to note that we can and must also go “directly to Jesus.” My point is that it is also necessary, at least sometimes, to honor and invoke the Blessed Mother and the other Saints.

What do you think of the idea that the cult of Mary is a necessary forum for learning and practicing the proper way to love other people, as Christ has commanded? That is, what do you think of the argument that we must learn to love God through others, that we cannot love anyone outside of our love for God, and that the cults of Mary and the Saints provide the training and practice needed for this?

Spiritus Sapientiae nobiscum.

John Hiner

 

[iaskquestions]

Why must we “go through Mary;” why can’t we *just *go “directly to Jesus?"

I don’t think the Catholic Church has ever said that we “must” go through Mary. We may go through Mary. We can also go directly to Jesus.

 

[John_Hiner]

I don’t think the Catholic Church has ever said that we “must” go through Mary. We may go through Mary. We can also go directly to Jesus.

Laudatur Iesus Christus.

Dear iaskquestions:

What do you think of the arguments from the Liturgy in post no. 4?

Pax Christi nobiscum.

John Hiner

 

[teachccd]

Laudatur Iesus Christus.

Dear teachccd:

Thank you for your comments. I agree. It is important to note that we can and must also go “directly to Jesus.” My point is that it is also necessary, at least sometimes, to honor and invoke the Blessed Mother and the other Saints.

What do you think of the idea that the cult of Mary is a necessary forum for learning and practicing the proper way to love other people, as Christ has commanded? That is, what do you think of the argument that we must learn to love God through others, that we cannot love anyone outside of our love for God, and that the cults of Mary and the Saints provide the training and practice needed for this?

Spiritus Sapientiae nobiscum.

John Hiner

We must all examine the life of Mary and the saints for our own encouragement. Mary led an exemplary life which is the ultimate example in our hope for holiness. The saints also provide us with an understanding that holiness is, by the grace of God, available to all who attain it. I do believe that God allows such holy people to be an example for us since our own weaknesses may veil any possibility to realize our holiness. So in that aspect I would agree that we come to love like Christ by imitating those who achieved that level of selfless love.

So I stand that while we can and should go directly to the Father through the Son in the Spirit, we may also reflect on the lives of the saints and the selfless love of our Lady and incorporate them into our prayer for a deeper understanding of God. They are our ultimate prayer group within the beatific vision and we should join our prayers with theirs whenever possible.

Just as we receive grace through the Sacraments which are tangible objects (and that is an encounter with no less than Christ Himself) we receive grace through the intercession of Mary and the Saints to again bring us directly to Christ. What beautiful gifts the Lord has left for us…teachccd

 

[prodigal-sun]

Laudatur Iesus Christus.

Dear iaskquestions:

What do you think of the arguments from the Liturgy in post no. 4?

Pax Christi nobiscum.

John Hiner

**"The Confiteor, which is part of the Ordinary of the Mass on all Sundays and other Solemnities: “And I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters to pray for me to the Lord our God.” **

We ask the Virgin Mary to pray for us just as we do in many prayers to her. There is no reference here that says we have to pray to her and not to Jesus.

Eucharist Prayer I: “In union with the whole Church we honor Mary, the ever-virgin mother of Jesus Christ our Lord and God. We honor Joseph, her husband, the apostles and martyrs Peter and Paul, Andrew, (James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude; we honor Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian) and all the saints. May their merits and prayers grant us your constant help and protection.”

Here we are just letting everyone know that we honor God, the angels & all the saints. Tere are various saint mentioned why in your opinion does it mean we have to only go through Mary. Why not all the other saints & angels too. Not to mention God himself is mentioned here so I guess we can go directtly to him if the criteria you set out is to have recognition in the liturgy. Not to mention there is nothing here that shows explicitly or implicitly that we have to go through Mary to get to Jesus.

WHat about the “Our Father” We pray directly to God here during mass no less.

I personally pray directly to Jesus as well as the Father & of course THe Holy Spirit. I worship them and Adore them and Thank them & Love them.

I Ask for Mary, my Guardian Angel, St. Michael, St. Jude, St. Anthony, St. Therese, & St. Joesph and a very regular basis to help me and pray to God for my intentions.

PEace!