Mary, Mother of God*

October 28, 2024

Mary is arguably the most important woman who has ever lived simply because of the role she played (and continues to play) in the redemption of the human race.  This 'redemption', or salvation, of our eternal souls is the singularly most important thing in our existence!  Nothing else even comes close,  Nothing Else Matters!!!  I cannot stress this enough.  My soul, your soul, our souls, will exist forever, not in these earthly human bodies but in the immortal bodies we will receive at the final resurrection.  We need to find God during this life that we have been gifted.  We need to find Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life,  the path to eternal life!

Having said that, anyone on the planet Earth who is even remotely capable of love, should love Jesus' mother.  It follows that we should also have a deep and abiding respect for her.  Out of this mutual love and respect a relationship will form where we listen and speak to each other with kindness and gentleness.  

No one worships Mary, no Catholics, no human beings, no angels, no one.  Mary doesn't want or demand worship from us.  We love her because she is Jesus' mother.  We appreciate her for taking part in our redemption.  And of course we thank her for accepting God's request to be the human mother of His incarnate, only begotten Son.

Have you ever asked someone to pray for you for a specific reason?  Or maybe you just asked them to keep you in their regular, daily prayers.  It's normal for people to do this right?  As Catholics, we might ask family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances, or even colleagues to pray for us and certainly we would ask priests, ministers, deacons or other religious to do the same.

Why is it so hard for our Protestant brethren to understand that as Catholics,  when we speak to Mary in prayer, we are simply asking her to pray for us?  That's all we're doing.  There is no worship directed towards Mary.  The only worship Catholics do is aimed solely at the one, triune God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Here are a couple of questions for you.  As His earthly mother, could Mary be any closer to Jesus?  Is there a more appropriate advocate in existence for us to reach out to in our time of need?

There is confusion out there, even amongst some Catholics, about what the Immaculate Conception actually is.  Confusion because there are those who think it is related to Mary’s conception of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.  This is not the case.  

Catholics believe in the Immaculate Conception of Mary.  St. Joachim and St. Anne are the parents of Mary.

Mary was “redeemed in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son” (CCC 492). She has more reason to call God her Savior than we do, because he saved her in an even more glorious manner.

Catholics believe Mary is 'ever virgin' or a perpetual virgin and that the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as the virgin birth, are both miracles that God Himself wrought to preserve Mary's purity.  To deny either is to deny God's omnipotence. 

The Hail Mary is the main prayer of the rosary and is likely recited millions of times each and every day.

Catholics believe in the Assumption of Mary.

God Himself has elevated Mary to be the Queen of Heaven.  Any Christian should certainly recognize this as fact.  Even non-Christians should, at the most basic level, consider this to be true.  There is no one in all of God's creation, not even the angels, who can lay claim to the importance of Mary to the human race.

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I welcome any comments as long as they are respectful.  I can handle criticism and opposing viewpoints, in fact I encourage them.  Join the discussion on any of my web pages.  Polite, courteous, or neutral comments will be published for everyone else to see.  Comments that are deemed rude, inappropriate, vulgar, hurtful, racist, misogynistic, violent, or sexual (among others) will not be published.  Remember, we can all agree to disagree and still be respectful!