Mary
Why do Catholics worship Mary as though she were a goddess, when it is clear in Scripture that she was not a supernatural being?
Catholics do not worship Mary, the Mother of Christ, as though she were a deity. Of all the misconceptions about Catholic belief and practice, this one is the most absurd. Catholics are just as aware as Protestants that Mary was a human creature, and therefore not entitled to the honors which are reserved to God alone. What many non-Catholics mistake for adoration is a very profound love and veneration, nothing more. Mary is not adored, first because God forbids it, and secondly because the Canon Law of the Catholic Church, which is based on Divine Law, forbids it. Canon Law 1255 of the 1918 Codex strictly forbids adoration of anyone other than the Holy Trinity. However, Catholics do feel that Mary is entitled to a great measure of exaltation because, in choosing her as the Mother of Redemption, God Himself exalted her, exalted her more than any other human person before or since. Catholics heap tribute and honor on Mary because they earnestly desire to be "followers of God, as a most dear children." (Eph. 5:1). Mary herself prophesied: "For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me: and holy is his name." (Luke 1:48-49). Catholics know that every bit of the glory they give to Mary redounds to the glory of her divine Son, just as Mary magnified God, not herself, when Elizabeth blessed her. (Luke 1:41-55). They know that the closer they draw to her, the closer they draw to Him who was born of her. In the year 434 St. Vincent of Lerins defended Christian devotion to Mary this way: "Therefore, may God forbid that anyone should attempt to defraud Holy Mary of her privilege of divine grace and her special glory. For by a unique favour of our Lord and God she is confessed to be the most true and most blessed Mother of God." Today 75% of all Christians still hold to this same view.
MARY
Lk 1:28, 30- angel: "full of grace, found favor with God"
Lk 1:42 - Elizabeth: "most blessed among women"
Lk 1;48 - Mary: "all generations will call me blessed"
Mother of God
Lk 1:43 - Elizabeth call her "mother of my Lord"mod
Mt 1:23 -virgin bear a son, Emmanuel = "God is with us"
Lk 1:35 - child born will be called holy, the Son of God
Gal 4:4 - God sent his Son, born of a woman
Assumption
Gn 5:24(Hb 11:5) - Enoch taken to heaven without dying
2 Kg 2:11 - Elijah assumed into heaven in fiery chariot
Mt 27:52 - many saints who had fallen asleep were raised
1 Thess 4:17 - caught up to meet the Lord in the air
1 Cor 15;52 - we shall be instantly changed at last trumpet
Rom 6:23 - for the wages of sin is death
Rev 11:19-12:1 ark in heaven = woman clothed with sun
Immaculate Conception
Lk 1:28 - hail full of grace [highly favored] Lord is with you
Lk 1:30 - you have found favor with God
Lk 1:37 - for with God nothing shall be impossible
Gn 3:15 - complete enmity between/ woman & Satan, sin
Ex 25:11-21 - ark made of purest gold for God's word
Rom 3:23 - all have sinned & are deprived of God's glory
Lk 1:47 - my spirit rejoices in God my savior
Perpetual Virginity
Lk 1:34 - how can this be, since I do not know man
Lk 2:41-5 - age 12, Jesus evidently only son of Mary
Mk 6:3 - "the son of Mary" not "a son of Mary"
Mt 13:55-56 - brothers James, Joseph, Simon & Jude
Mt 27:56 - Mary the mother of James & Joseph is also
Jn 19:25 - Mary the wife of Clopas
Jn 19:26 - entrusted Mary to John, not a younger sibling
Jn 7:34 - brothers advise like elders: "go to Judea, manifest self unthinkable for younger siblings (see next verse)
Mk 3:21 - set out to seize him, "he is out of his mind"
Mt 1:25 - Joseph knew her not until she bore first-born'
Mt 28:20 - I am with you always, until end of age
1 Tim 4:13 - until I arrive, attend to reading, teaching ...
1 Cor 15:25 - he must reign until has enemies underfoot
Lk 1:80 - John in desert until day of his manifestation
Ex 13:2; Nb 3:12 - consecrate first-born that opens womb
Ex 34:20 - first-born among your sons you shall redeem
COMMUNION OF SAINTS
Eph 1:22-23 - he is head of the church, which is his body
Eph 5:21-32 - Christ is head of church, savior of the body
Col 1:18, 24 - he is the head of the body, the church
1 Cor 12:12-27 - if 1 suffers, all suffer; if 1 honored, all rejoice
Rom 12:5 - we are 1 body in Christ, indiv. parts of one another
Eph 4:4 - one body, one Spirit, called to one hope
Col 3:15 - you were called in one body
Rom 8:35-39 - death cannot separate us from Christ
Rom 12:10 - love one another with mutual affection
1 Thess 5:11 - encourage, build up one another
Gal 6:2 - bear one another's burdens
Gal 6:10 - let us do good to all, esp. those in family of faith
Why do Catholics pray to Mary and the saints when Sacred Scripture states that there is one Mediator between God and man--Christ Jesus? (1 Tim. 2:5).
Catholics don't pray to Mary, that is a misunderstanding. They are asking for her intercession/help through prayer. Similar to when you ask a friend to pray for you. You are not bypassing Christ when you do that. When Catholics ask for prayers from Mary and the other saints in Heaven they are not bypassing Christ, whom they acknowledge as the sole Mediator between God and man. They are going to Christ through Mary and the other saints. They are asking Mary and other saints to intercede for them before the throne of Christ in Heaven. "For the continual prayer of a just man avail much." (James 5:16). How much more availing is the unceasing prayer of the sinless Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ! St. Paul asked his fellow Christians to intercede for him: "Brethren, pray for us." (2 Thess. 3:1). And again: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the charity of the Holy Ghost, that you help me in your prayers for me to God..." (Rom. 15:30). Christ must particularly He chose to come to us through her. And at Cana, He performed His first miracle after a word from His Mother. (John 2:2-11).
It is clear in Sacred Scripture that the saints in Heaven will intercede for us before the throne of Christ if they are petitioned in prayer (Apoc. Or Rev. 8:3-4), and it is clear in the records of primitive Christianity that the first Christians eagerly sought their intercession. Wrote St. John Chrysostom in the fourth century: "When thou perceives that God is chastening thee, fly not to His enemies, but to His friends, the martyrs the saints, and those who were pleasing to Him, and who have great power." If the saints have such power with God, how much more His own Mother.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER TO SAINTS
Rom 15:30 join me by your prayers to God on my behalf
Col 4:3; 1 Thess 5:25 - pray for us
2 Th 1:11 - we always pray for you
2 Th 3:1 - finally, brothers, pray for us
Eph 6:18-19 - making supplication for all the saints & for me
Tob 12:12 - angel presents Tobit & Sarah's prayer to God
Rev 5:8 - angel offers prayers of the holy ones to God
*Saints dead, prayer is necromancy (;Dt 18:10-11)
Mk 12:26-27 - he is God of the living, not of the dead
Mk 9:4 - Jesus seen conversing with Elijah and Moses
Lk 23:43 - this day you will be with me in paradise
Rev 6:9-11 - martyrs under altar want earthly vindication
Heb 12:1 - we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses
Lk 16:19-30 - departed rich man intercedes for brothers
Rev 20:4 - saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
Wis 3:1-6 - the souls of the just are in the hand of God
* 1Tim 2:5 "One mediator between God and man"
1 Tim 2:1-7 - offer prayers, petitions for all men
1 Pet 2:5 - be a holy priesthood to offer sacrifices thru Christ
Mk 10:18 - only God is good
Mt 25:23 - well done my good and faithful servant
Jn 10:11-16 - I am good shepherd; one flock, 1 shepherd
Jn 21:15-16 - feed my lambs, tend my sheep
Eph 4:11 - he gave some as apostles ... others as pastors
Heb 3:1, 7:24, 9:12-13 - Jesus eternal high priest; one sacrifice
Rev 1:6, 5:10 - he made us a kingdom of priests for God
VENERATION OF SAINTS
Jos 5:14 - Joshua fell prostrate in worship before angel
Dan 8:17 - Daniel fell prostrate in terror before Gabriel
Tob 12:16 - Tobiah & Tobit fall to ground before Raphael
Mt 18:10 - angels in heaven always behold face of God (we venerate angels because of their great dignity, which comes from their union with God. Saints also united with God)
1 Jn 3:2 - we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is
1 Thess 1:5-8 - you became an example to all the believers
Heb 13:7 - remember leaders, consider/imitate their faith & life
Catholics do not worship Mary, the Mother of Christ, as though she were a deity. Of all the misconceptions about Catholic belief and practice, this one is the most absurd. Catholics are just as aware as Protestants that Mary was a human creature, and therefore not entitled to the honors which are reserved to God alone. What many non-Catholics mistake for adoration is a very profound love and veneration, nothing more. Mary is not adored, first because God forbids it, and secondly because the Canon Law of the Catholic Church, which is based on Divine Law, forbids it. Canon Law 1255 of the 1918 Codex strictly forbids adoration of anyone other than the Holy Trinity. However, Catholics do feel that Mary is entitled to a great measure of exaltation because, in choosing her as the Mother of Redemption, God Himself exalted her, exalted her more than any other human person before or since. Catholics heap tribute and honor on Mary because they earnestly desire to be "followers of God, as a most dear children." (Eph. 5:1). Mary herself prophesied: "For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me: and holy is his name." (Luke 1:48-49). Catholics know that every bit of the glory they give to Mary redounds to the glory of her divine Son, just as Mary magnified God, not herself, when Elizabeth blessed her. (Luke 1:41-55). They know that the closer they draw to her, the closer they draw to Him who was born of her. In the year 434 St. Vincent of Lerins defended Christian devotion to Mary this way: "Therefore, may God forbid that anyone should attempt to defraud Holy Mary of her privilege of divine grace and her special glory. For by a unique favour of our Lord and God she is confessed to be the most true and most blessed Mother of God." Today 75% of all Christians still hold to this same view.
MARY
Lk 1:28, 30- angel: "full of grace, found favor with God"
Lk 1:42 - Elizabeth: "most blessed among women"
Lk 1;48 - Mary: "all generations will call me blessed"
Mother of God
Lk 1:43 - Elizabeth call her "mother of my Lord"mod
Mt 1:23 -virgin bear a son, Emmanuel = "God is with us"
Lk 1:35 - child born will be called holy, the Son of God
Gal 4:4 - God sent his Son, born of a woman
Assumption
Gn 5:24(Hb 11:5) - Enoch taken to heaven without dying
2 Kg 2:11 - Elijah assumed into heaven in fiery chariot
Mt 27:52 - many saints who had fallen asleep were raised
1 Thess 4:17 - caught up to meet the Lord in the air
1 Cor 15;52 - we shall be instantly changed at last trumpet
Rom 6:23 - for the wages of sin is death
Rev 11:19-12:1 ark in heaven = woman clothed with sun
Immaculate Conception
Lk 1:28 - hail full of grace [highly favored] Lord is with you
Lk 1:30 - you have found favor with God
Lk 1:37 - for with God nothing shall be impossible
Gn 3:15 - complete enmity between/ woman & Satan, sin
Ex 25:11-21 - ark made of purest gold for God's word
Rom 3:23 - all have sinned & are deprived of God's glory
Lk 1:47 - my spirit rejoices in God my savior
Perpetual Virginity
Lk 1:34 - how can this be, since I do not know man
Lk 2:41-5 - age 12, Jesus evidently only son of Mary
Mk 6:3 - "the son of Mary" not "a son of Mary"
Mt 13:55-56 - brothers James, Joseph, Simon & Jude
Mt 27:56 - Mary the mother of James & Joseph is also
Jn 19:25 - Mary the wife of Clopas
Jn 19:26 - entrusted Mary to John, not a younger sibling
Jn 7:34 - brothers advise like elders: "go to Judea, manifest self unthinkable for younger siblings (see next verse)
Mk 3:21 - set out to seize him, "he is out of his mind"
Mt 1:25 - Joseph knew her not until she bore first-born'
Mt 28:20 - I am with you always, until end of age
1 Tim 4:13 - until I arrive, attend to reading, teaching ...
1 Cor 15:25 - he must reign until has enemies underfoot
Lk 1:80 - John in desert until day of his manifestation
Ex 13:2; Nb 3:12 - consecrate first-born that opens womb
Ex 34:20 - first-born among your sons you shall redeem
COMMUNION OF SAINTS
Eph 1:22-23 - he is head of the church, which is his body
Eph 5:21-32 - Christ is head of church, savior of the body
Col 1:18, 24 - he is the head of the body, the church
1 Cor 12:12-27 - if 1 suffers, all suffer; if 1 honored, all rejoice
Rom 12:5 - we are 1 body in Christ, indiv. parts of one another
Eph 4:4 - one body, one Spirit, called to one hope
Col 3:15 - you were called in one body
Rom 8:35-39 - death cannot separate us from Christ
Rom 12:10 - love one another with mutual affection
1 Thess 5:11 - encourage, build up one another
Gal 6:2 - bear one another's burdens
Gal 6:10 - let us do good to all, esp. those in family of faith
Why do Catholics pray to Mary and the saints when Sacred Scripture states that there is one Mediator between God and man--Christ Jesus? (1 Tim. 2:5).
Catholics don't pray to Mary, that is a misunderstanding. They are asking for her intercession/help through prayer. Similar to when you ask a friend to pray for you. You are not bypassing Christ when you do that. When Catholics ask for prayers from Mary and the other saints in Heaven they are not bypassing Christ, whom they acknowledge as the sole Mediator between God and man. They are going to Christ through Mary and the other saints. They are asking Mary and other saints to intercede for them before the throne of Christ in Heaven. "For the continual prayer of a just man avail much." (James 5:16). How much more availing is the unceasing prayer of the sinless Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ! St. Paul asked his fellow Christians to intercede for him: "Brethren, pray for us." (2 Thess. 3:1). And again: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the charity of the Holy Ghost, that you help me in your prayers for me to God..." (Rom. 15:30). Christ must particularly He chose to come to us through her. And at Cana, He performed His first miracle after a word from His Mother. (John 2:2-11).
It is clear in Sacred Scripture that the saints in Heaven will intercede for us before the throne of Christ if they are petitioned in prayer (Apoc. Or Rev. 8:3-4), and it is clear in the records of primitive Christianity that the first Christians eagerly sought their intercession. Wrote St. John Chrysostom in the fourth century: "When thou perceives that God is chastening thee, fly not to His enemies, but to His friends, the martyrs the saints, and those who were pleasing to Him, and who have great power." If the saints have such power with God, how much more His own Mother.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER TO SAINTS
Rom 15:30 join me by your prayers to God on my behalf
Col 4:3; 1 Thess 5:25 - pray for us
2 Th 1:11 - we always pray for you
2 Th 3:1 - finally, brothers, pray for us
Eph 6:18-19 - making supplication for all the saints & for me
Tob 12:12 - angel presents Tobit & Sarah's prayer to God
Rev 5:8 - angel offers prayers of the holy ones to God
*Saints dead, prayer is necromancy (;Dt 18:10-11)
Mk 12:26-27 - he is God of the living, not of the dead
Mk 9:4 - Jesus seen conversing with Elijah and Moses
Lk 23:43 - this day you will be with me in paradise
Rev 6:9-11 - martyrs under altar want earthly vindication
Heb 12:1 - we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses
Lk 16:19-30 - departed rich man intercedes for brothers
Rev 20:4 - saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
Wis 3:1-6 - the souls of the just are in the hand of God
* 1Tim 2:5 "One mediator between God and man"
1 Tim 2:1-7 - offer prayers, petitions for all men
1 Pet 2:5 - be a holy priesthood to offer sacrifices thru Christ
Mk 10:18 - only God is good
Mt 25:23 - well done my good and faithful servant
Jn 10:11-16 - I am good shepherd; one flock, 1 shepherd
Jn 21:15-16 - feed my lambs, tend my sheep
Eph 4:11 - he gave some as apostles ... others as pastors
Heb 3:1, 7:24, 9:12-13 - Jesus eternal high priest; one sacrifice
Rev 1:6, 5:10 - he made us a kingdom of priests for God
VENERATION OF SAINTS
Jos 5:14 - Joshua fell prostrate in worship before angel
Dan 8:17 - Daniel fell prostrate in terror before Gabriel
Tob 12:16 - Tobiah & Tobit fall to ground before Raphael
Mt 18:10 - angels in heaven always behold face of God (we venerate angels because of their great dignity, which comes from their union with God. Saints also united with God)
1 Jn 3:2 - we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is
1 Thess 1:5-8 - you became an example to all the believers
Heb 13:7 - remember leaders, consider/imitate their faith & life
