In Honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The great Mother of God, Mary Most Holy is a loving mother for all of us. I don't understand why my Protestant brothers and sisters do not imitate Christ and honor her as their mother too. Protestants worry that reverence for Mary somehow takes away from the Glory of Jesus and God. This is far from the truth. Mary is not quoted often in the Bible but when she is the words are strong and point not at herself but at her Son, Jesus, The Messiah. We Catholics do NOT worship Mary, she is not entitled to be worshiped as she is creature, created by God in the fire of human passion. It is true that God gave to her a special gift in that she was born without the stain of original sin. This was made possible becasue God is not limited by time or space. From God's vantage point he could see the Sacrifice that Jesus would make on the Cross that saved us. Anticipating this event, He applied the sacrifice of Jesus to her. It has been described by other as follows; Say if you were walking down the road and suddenly you fell into a pit and a person passing by drew you out of the pit and saved your life. This is what happens to us when we are baptized, we are literally pulled out of the pit of sin and saved by God. With Mary it was different in that she was rescued BEFORE falling into the pit. This was a gift from God. The devil would have no hold on Mary who was the second Eve and she would be touched by the Holy Spirit in a cosmic union that would make Mary the Mother of God.

But why should we revere Mary? What makes her so special? Others have said that Jesus followed every bit of the Law and part of that law is the commandment of God which states "Honor thy Father and thy Mother..." Jesus took this very seriously indeed and honored her like a dutiful Son. There is no more important proof as there was at Calvary. Jesus knew that he was to die. Using his last breaths he put the care of His Mother into the hands of John the Apostle as she would have no one else to take care of her once Jesus was gone. His love for his Mother shows what we are to do with our mothers; we are to love and respect and yes even revere them so that we imitate Christ in what He did for His Mother. Now there is one other point to be made here. Mary is the Mother of God and we by virtue of our Baptisim are adopted into the household of God and she is at the very least our "stepmother." As such we are called to honor her as Christ did and does.

Worship Mary? No, she would reject that. But she has a special love for the Sons and Daughters of her son. We CAN without diminishing our just Worship of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, honor Mary in the same way her son did.

Amen