Mary

[Rising_Suns]

. . . she is our Mother in the order of grace

967 By her complete adherence to the Father's will, to his Son's redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church's model of faith and charity. Thus she is a "preeminent and . . . wholly unique member of the Church"; indeed, she is the "exemplary realization" (typus) 510 of the Church.

968 Her role in relation to the Church and to all humanity goes still further. "In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace." 511

969 "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfilment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation .... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix." 512 970 "Mary's function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men . . . flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it." 513 "No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source." 514

 

[Barraco]

. . . she is our Mother in the order of grace

967 By her complete adherence to the Father's will, to his Son's redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church's model of faith and charity. Thus she is a "preeminent and . . . wholly unique member of the Church"; indeed, she is the "exemplary realization" (typus) 510 of the Church.

968 Her role in relation to the Church and to all humanity goes still further. "In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace." 511

969 "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfilment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation .... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix." 512 970 "Mary's function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men . . . flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it." 513 "No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source." 514

Indeed, no servant is above his/her Master. This being said, which was Mary, the servant of God or the mother of God? Not to disuade you of spiritual significance, but help you realize who is worthy of glory and praise and power.
If Mary is the HELPER, then what is the Holy Spirit. I say, truly the Holy Spirit is much greater than Mary. So, would I call on Mary or pray for her if the Holy Spirit is my HELPER. I just want to clarify that God is Almighty and Powerful and doesn't need Mary to pray for us, for we have One who is greater to intercede for us on account of our sins. Jesus Christ, the Highest Priest, makes reconciliation for our sins.

Again, I do not aim to divide, but to clarify. If I have missed anything I will accept your rebuke, brother, with joy. For I desire the truth more than my own pride. God Bless

 

[lorraine126]

Great post on Mary! Good info from the Catechism.

 

[Dream]

Indeed, no servant is above his/her Master. This being said, which was Mary, the servant of God or the mother of God?

Mary is both. She is a humble servant of God, Scripture makes this very clear. She is also the mother of God. Jesus is God. Mary is His mother. Thus, Mary is the mother of God.

If Mary is the HELPER, then what is the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit isn't a helper, the Holy Spirit is God.

I say, truly the Holy Spirit is much greater than Mary.

Of course. Nothing is greater than God.

So, would I call on Mary or pray for her if the Holy Spirit is my HELPER.

The Holy Spirit is God, not merely a helper.

I just want to clarify that God is Almighty and Powerful and doesn't need Mary to pray for us, for we have One who is greater to intercede for us on account of our sins. Jesus Christ, the Highest Priest, makes reconciliation for our sins.

We never need Mary to pray for us. We can always go straight to God. Praying to Mary would be the same if you were to ask your friend to say a prayer for you. The only difference is that Mary is already in Heaven and has many graces that your friend doesn't have.

Also, prayer to Mary is never a substitution for prayer to God, but rather in addition to. We merely ask Mary to join us in prayer to God. A lot of Protestants have this mentality that it has to be either/or, when in fact it can be both.

Again, I do not aim to divide, but to clarify. If I have missed anything I will accept your rebuke, brother, with joy. For I desire the truth more than my own pride. God Bless

Indeed. We must always seek the Truth no matter how difficult it can be.

 

[Rising_Suns]

I just want to clarify that God is Almighty and Powerful and doesn't need Mary to pray for us, for we have One who is greater to intercede for us on account of our sins. Jesus Christ, the Highest Priest, makes reconciliation for our sins

Then it is pointless to request prayers from other people, or to pray for other people, because, with your logic, they can just pray directly to God and we don't need prayers from others.

Do you not see the fallacy in this?

As DT said, it is not "either/or". We do not give any less credit to Jesus by asking others to pray for us, or asking Mary to pray for us. We are all the body of Christ; we are not individuals alone on our separate journeys, but deeply connected as one great family; a family that prays for each other for their good will.

And within this family, our true mother is Mary; she is a great channel of God's graces and by ignoring her you rob yourself of these special graces.
.
.
.
.

15. Why honor Mary?

Sacred Scripture tells us that Mary was distinctly set apart from all women; “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” [Luke 1:28], “most blessed are you among women, and blessed in the fruit of your womb.” [Luke 1:42]. These words alone are a powerful testimony to the degree of holiness Mary had. To be full of God’s grace is to be living completely in the spirit and not of the flesh; it is to be living without the tarnish of sin. The Church also affirms that Mary remained a virgin throughout her life; “Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin The angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you" [Luke 1:34].

Not only does Scripture confirm Mary’s sinlessness and virginity, but it also forshadows the wonderous graces God bestowed upon her when He spoke to the serpent, saying; “I will put enmities between thee and the woman and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” [Gen 3:15] And further; "And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" [ Rev 12:1] Mary said; “From now on all generations will call me blessed.” [Luke 1:48]

It only makes sense that God would choose and bless such a person to bear His Son. She gave birth to the second person of the Holy Trinity in His fullness; God the Son. Thus, since we know that Jesus is God, we rightly call Mary, Mother of God. It is in this way that Catholics venerate (honor) Mary, but in no way do we worship her, and in no way do we elevate her to a fourth person of the Holy Trinity. She is not divine by nature like Christ is, yet she is God’s most perfect created creature; she is queen of heaven and spouse of the Holy Spirit through the grace of God.

It is through the continual revelation of Christ’s Church that we know God has given Mary special graces which she pours out to others through her prayers for us. Since Mary is most blessed above of all people, her petitions carry more weight than all the angels and saints in heaven. She has brought billions of people to know Christ more profoundly, and she will continue doing so as only the mother of God could. It is in this way, that as our love of Christ grows, so too should our devotion to Mary. Even the original Protestant reformers were all in agreement on this point.



"Is Christ only to be adored? Or is the holy Mother of God rather not to be honored? This is the woman who crushed the Serpent's head. Hear us. For your Son denies you nothing." [Martin Luther, last sermon in 1546]



"The more the honor and love of Christ increases among men, so much the esteem and honor given to Mary should grow." [Ulrich Zwingli]



"It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son, granted her the highest honor." [John Calvin]





16. Isn’t praying to Mary like worship her?

No. Let me first clarify that, as a Catholic, we understand “pray” to merely mean “communicate”. Now, let us first look at what we say to Mary when we pray to her. In the beginning and throughout most of the Hail Mary prayer, all we do is repeat what is already directly stated in the Bible at the Annunciation (Luke 1:28, 42). The only request we make to Mary is in the final words of the prayer; “pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

So you see, when we pray to Mary, all we are doing is asking her to pray for us. We know that through her motherly love, she will undoubtedly petition to God on our behalf. This is all the Hail Mary prayer is; a request for Mary’s prayers. It is really no different than asking our friends and family to pray for us, except unlike people on earth, Mary is now in heaven. And unlike those in heaven, Mary is the one person blessed beyond all other created beings; blessed with the highest honor of bringing our savior into the world.



"The fervent prayer of the righteous is very powerful." [Jer 17:9]



“Mary hardly appeared at all in the first coming of Jesus Christ, in order that men, as yet but little instructed and enlightened on the Person of her Son, should not remove themselves from Him in attaching themselves to strongly and too grossly to her. This would have apparently taken place if she had been known, because of the admirable charms which the Most High had bestowed, even upon her exterior. This is so true that St. Denis the Areopagite tells us in his writings that when he saw our Blessed Lady he would have taken her for a divinity, because of her secret charms and incomparable beauty, had not the faith in which he was well established taught him contrary. But in the second coming of Christ, Mary has to be made known and revealed by the Holy Ghost in order that, through her, Jesus Christ may be known, loved and served.” [St. Louis De Montfort, True Devotion to Mary]





17. Why can’t I just pray directly to God?

We do pray directly to God: When we pray to Mary we are really praying through her, to God. Everything that Mary is and everything that Mary does, points to her Son Jesus Christ. One may ask why this is beneficial as compared to praying to God alone. To answer this, one must truly understand the profound power prayer in order to understand why we ask for the petitions from others. We must remember that we are all part of the body of Christ, and so by praying for the good of others, we are essentially praying for the good of the entire Body of Christ. It is so natural and so essential to the spiritual well being of us all. And if we find such value the prayers of other people on earth, imagine the value in the prayers of the one person in heaven who is such a perfect channel of God’s graces that she brought His Son into the world! What powerful and profound spiritual family to have, is it not?



“By her complete adherence to the Father's will, to his Son's redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church's model of faith and charity. Thus she is a ‘preeminent and wholly unique member of the Church’; indeed, she is the ‘exemplary realization’ of the Church….Her role in relation to the Church and to all humanity goes still further. "In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace.’” [Catechism of the Catholic Church, 968]



"This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly…Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of her Son’s eternal salvation .... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.’” [Catechism of the Catholic Church, 969]

 

[Jamza]

Good post.

 

[TheCub]

Yup.....she is the daughter of the Father, the mother of the Son, and the spouse of the Holy Spirit. No other creature has the relationship with the Holy Trinity that the Blessed Mother has.

Hail Mary! Full of Grace. Pray for us!

 

[banish'd]

Hello Dream,

I noticed in your avatar that you are a "Seeker". Here is my favorite YouTube "Ave Maria" that I listen to every morning. Sometimes I play it over and over. You will be blessed.

YouTube - Helene Fischer - Ave Maria

 

[ScottsWife]

I don't know what a single word of this song meant...sounded German to me. But it was beautiful and it made me weep. It really seemed to touch my soul (which is scary because I did not understand the words). I'm kind of emotional anyways today because a teacher who impacted my youth passed on, and I found out today. Thanks for the great song...I listened to it over-and-over, and stuck the link on my blog lol.

 

[WisdomTree]

I don't know what a single word of this song meant...sounded German to me. But it was beautiful and it made me weep. It really seemed to touch my soul (which is scary because I did not understand the words). I'm kind of emotional anyways today because a teacher who impacted my youth passed on, and I found out today. Thanks for the great song...I listened to it over-and-over, and stuck the link on my blog lol.

Ave Maria is Latin, lol.