Things Protestants Don't Understand About the Catholic Church - Worshipping Mary

C A T H O L I C S   D O   N OT   W O R S H I PM A R Y 

W E   N E V E R   H A V E   A N D   W E   N E V E R  W I L L 

I wanted to get the main point of this post out of the way very early on, and in a very clear manner, so that even those of the most limited attention span would have time to grasp what this post is all about.  To reprise, Catholics do not worship Mary.  This would be offensive to God, to Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit.  It would be offensive to Mary herself and so we do not do it.  Mary is a created creature, like ourselves, except in one very important aspect which is discussed below. 

Mary was a very pious young lady in an age where piety reigned.  To look at her you would see nothing special.  She was a normal person, perhaps just a bit happier than most but her

outward appearance was normal. 

Inwardly, Mary was very special indeed. She had been chosen from all creation to be the Mother of God.  She had been chosen by God as early as in the Garden of Eden when God Himself set her and her offspring as enemies of evil.  

To understand what made Mary different from any other created creature on earth we have to understand a little bit about the very nature of God.  God is all good, all loving, all knowing. God is not surprised by anything.  He does not live in time.  He sees and is present in what we consider the past, the present, and the future all at the same time.  He is all powerful. I believe He COULD create a rock that he could not move simply because he would will it so.  He would then, of course, will it out of existence because it would be a nuisance in his living room!  I do not think that any of my Protestant friends would disagree so far with my very brief description of the attributes of God.  Let's add Mary to the mix. 

Mary was a created creature. She was different from you and me because the stain of original sin never touched her soul.  She was immaculately conceived in the womb as a special gift of God to her.  Please understand that Mary, as a human, needed a savior.  As she was going to be the mother of Jesus, she was saved by Jesus in a very special and wonderful way.  God, in his mercy, applied the merits of the Cross to her before she was born so that the devil had no hold what-so-ever on her.  I can hear you asking how can this be?  Well, God, who is all-knowing and is not hampered by time saw the obedience of His Son and acted accordingly.  Here is an example of what was done.  For you and me, when we were born, we had the sin of Adam and Eve on our soul.  We were an enemy of God.  We were cast into a pit and Jesus came and drew us out of the pit by his saving death on the cross.  Mary too was saved by Christ.  In her case, she was carried over the pit and her soul never was touched by the original sin of Adam and Eve.  This special favor is what is called The Immaculate Conception of Mary.  She was born in the furnace of human love between her mother and father and was saved from original sin by the merits of Jesus.  Just for the record, Martin Luther believed in the Immaculate Conception and perpetual virginity of Mary.  

Mary in the Gospels does not speak often but when she does she says a whole lot in just a few words.  Can you remember the wedding feast at Cana?  Wedding feasts went on for days back then.  The feasting and drinking often went on for days as the community celebrated the birth of a new family.  The couple in this case either did not buy enough wine or the guests were making merry at a much higher rate than was expected for they ran out of wine.  This was a disaster for the young couple and there was not much that they could do about it.  Mary felt their pain and called to her Son and told Him the tail of woe.  He said to her that it wasn't time for Him to start his ministry yet. Mary looked deeply into His eyes and turned to the head waiter and told him to "Do whatever He tells you."  He had some stone vessels filled to the brim and told the servants to bring a ladle full to the head waiter.  When the head waiter tasted it he realized that this was the most magnificent wine that he had ever tasted.  He sent his staff out to fill the cups of the thirsty revelers and approached the bridegroom.  He asked him why he had saved the good wine for last?  Because he knew that at most parties the best wine was served first because the guests would enjoy it more and then when their pallets were dulled by the alcohol they would not notice that a lesser vintage was being served.   The point here is that Mary, all through scripture, never points to herself.  She always points to Jesus.  She knew who her Son was. 

Catholics do not worship Mary, as good as she is, as sinless as she is, she is but a creature.  We do venerate her.  She has a very special place in salvation history.  She is the mother of Jesus.  Jesus made special provision for her when he was dying on the Cross because he knew that a woman without a man to take care of her would be in desperate straits.  From the Cross he told John, "Here is your mother" and to His mother, He said,"Mother, here is your son."  The Bible tells us from that moment on John took her into his house and cared for her.  Jesus was not only giving Mary to John, he was giving her to us to be our spiritual mother. 

I think we all can agree that Jesus led a perfect life.  He fulfilled the Law without any of slips that we call sin.  His life was perfection indeed.  The ten commandments were followed perfectly by Him.  One of the commandments tells us to "Honor our Father and Mother."  Jesus did this perfectly throughout his whole life.  He committed no sin. So, if Jesus did this and we are to imitate his life in what we do then we too as adopted sons and daughters of God should honor our Mother in heaven.  It would not offend God that we honor the new Eve, the new Ark of the Covenant.  Catholics do just that.  We honor our mother.  

We honor Mary in various ways.  As the greatest saint in heaven, we pray to her and ask her to pray to Jesus for us.  Remember please, for a Christian, life is changed and not ended when we die so Mary can pray for us and is pleased to do so.  

But Jesus is the mediator between God and man.  Does praying to Mary asking for her intercession mean she is taking the place of Jesus and as such is forbidden?  No, not at all.  We are told in scripture to pray for one another.  We pray for our friends that the surgery goes well, or that the problems in their marriage heal.  When we pray for another we are acting as an intercessor for them and yet scripture commands us to pray for one another so it cannot be wrong.  So, if for a Christian life is not ended but changed then the saints in heaven, of which Mary is the greatest, can pray for us just like your best friend can here on earth. 

I want to touch on the apparitions of Mary on Earth.  It is widely believed that Mary has appeared in certain places at certain times.  The Catholic Church believes that public revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle.  All of the apparitions, both those that are approved by the Church, such as Fatima and Guadalupe and unapproved ones fall into the category of private revelation.  The approval of the Church does not certify the apparition as a dogma of the Church, it only certifies that Christians are free to believe in the apparition or not as their conscience dictates as there is nothing contrary to the faith being taught.  The amazing thing about all of the approved apparitions is that in none of them is Mary commanding anything for herself.  She is always pointing to her Son and recommending prayer and repentance.  

Mary is revered by Catholics.  No Catholic who is knowledgeable about their faith would consider worshipping Mary.  Have there been excesses? Yes, I would say that there have been.  Some Catholics in ignorance can go off half cocked when it comes to Mary.  But, the mainstream Catholic knows who Mary is and knows how she wants to be considered by her adopted children. 

This is a very complicated subject and the Catechism of the Catholic Church which is available online for free treats this subject much better than I can.  If you are going to criticize the Catholic Church, I would recommend you do so from a position of strength using her official teachings which can be found easily online.  The funny thing is that once you read the real teachings of the Church and see the Biblical origins you might have to take writers such as Bittner and Jack Chic to task as to why they spend so much of their time lying about the Church and what she believes.  Ignorance is a curable disease.  God bless you.