nnatom:
funny one though. we honour her by loving and accepting her as the mother of our lord Jesus Christ and not as a mere vessel like many protestant will say.
for more read this.
Why do
Catholics Honor
& Love Mary ?
A1. She brought the Savior into the
World.
Mary said Yes! In Luke 1:26-35 The Angel
Gabriel appeared to the young Mary and
said that she would conceive a child and
he will be called “The Son of the Most
High.” Now Mary has free will, like all of
us, she could have said no. She could
have said find someone else, but what did
she say? In Luke 1:38 Mary answered
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord;
let it be to me according to your word.”
By her consent, by her free will Mary
united her will to the will of the Father
and brought the salvation of the human
race into the world in the person of Jesus
Christ. Think about it, without Jesus
Christ there would be no salvation for
mankind. Mary carried the God-Man, the
creator of time and space himself in her
womb. She agreed to provide him with
flesh and blood, carried him for 9 months
and nurtured him throughout his life.
A2. “Hail, full of Grace, the Lord is
with you!”
When the Angel Gabriel came to Mary
she was greeted with a royal greeting.
Luke 1:28 recounts Gabriel greeting Mary
by proclaiming “Hail, full of Grace, the
Lord is with you!” The Greek word for
Hail that is used here is a word that is
used to address royalty. Think of it, an
Angel, a being far superior to a human,
greeting a young girl with such respect
and awe; in other cases when an angel
approaches a human this is not the case.
This would imply that Mary is no normal
human being; God created her and
prepared her to carry his son, to be a
living tabernacle of the Lord.
“Full of Grace”, this is said by Gabriel to
Mary in Luke 1:38 before she even said
yes to be the Mother of God. This would
imply that she was full of Grace (God’s
own life and love) even before she had
Jesus in her womb. Like the pure and
untouchable Ark of the Covenant in the
Old Testament that held symbols of God,
Mary was made pure and full of grace in
order to hold the Word of God made
flesh, Jesus Christ
Mary was even given the grace she
needed for the encounter with the Angel
Gabriel. In Revelation 19 and 22 when an
Angel appears to John, he is confused and
mistakes him for God and begins to
worship him. When Gabriel appears to
Mary in Luke 1 something very different
happens. Mary has the grace to recognize
that this Angel isn’t God and Gabriel
acknowledges that Mary isn’t just some
ordinary girl but a girl that has been
prepared by God from her conception to
be the Mother of the God-Man, Jesus
Christ.
A3. “Blessed among women”
After the Angel Gabriel left Mary she
went to see her cousin Elizabeth who in
her old age was pregnant with John the
Baptist. In Luke 1:41 after Mary greeted
Elizabeth, Elizabeth was filled with the
Holy Spirit and John the Baptist leaped in
her womb in joy at the sound of Mary’s
voice. The Holy Spirit talking through
Elizabeth said to Mary “Blessed are you
among women, and blessed is the fruit of
your womb!” Wow, the third person of
the blessed Trinity inspired Elizabeth to
deem Mary blessed amongst all women;
Mary isn’t just some ordinary woman.
These words of the Holy Spirit talking
through Elizabeth make up the middle of
the Hail Mary “blessed are you amongst
women and blessed is the fruit of they
womb, Jesus”
A4. She is the Mother of the Lord
Jesus wasn’t created, as the Nicene Creed
proclaims “He was begotten, not made,
one in being with the Father, through
him all things were made.” So how is
Mary, a creation of God, the mother of
God? This answer is intertwined with the
mystery of the Trinity and the
Incarnation. The Father, Son and Holy
Spirit are of the same substance but are
unique. The 2nd person of the trinity,
Jesus Christ, entered time and space and
took on Mary’s flesh in the incarnation;
when this happened Mary became the
mother of Jesus. Since Mary is the mother
of Jesus that makes her the mother of
God. Mary is not the mother of the
trinity, she did not exist before the
trinity; she is the mother of the 2nd
person of the trinity in the flesh, Jesus
Christ.
Many protestant Christians today say that
Mary was not the mother of God but just
the mother of Jesus. If Mary is not the
mother of God but just the mother of
Jesus then this assumes that Jesus is not
God. This ideology reapeats a 1600 year
old heresy that was disputed and resolved
at the Council of Ephesus in 431AD. The
heretic Nestorius claimed that Jesus Christ
wasn’t divine and that Mary should be
called the Christotokos (Christ bearer)
instead of the Theotokos (God-bearer)
since Jesus isn’t God. The Church at this
council reaffirmed that Jesus is divine
and since he is divine that makes Mary
the Mother of God so rightfully so she
was to be called the Theotokos, God-
bearer.
A5. My soul magnifies the Lord, my
spirit rejoices in God my Savior”
After Elizabeth declares that Mary is
blessed amongst women, Mary sings what
is known as the Canticle of Mary (Luke
1:46-55). In verse 46 Mary sings that her
soul magnifies the Lord. Think about
that. The beauty and purity of Mary’s
soul magnifies or intensifies the presence
of the Lord. It has been said that Jesus is
like the sun; the source of light and Mary
is like the moon, reflecting that light of
God. Mary is not just a vessel that held
Christ, Mary’s body and soul was created
particularly by God to be a living
tabernacle of the Word of God, Jesus
Christ. To say that Mary was just a mere
vessel is undermining that majesty of God
by undermining the greatness of his
creation.
Mary then says in verse 47 that her
“spirit rejoices in God my savior” Mary is
rejoicing in God because he has created
her and destined her to the Mother of his
Son. God has granted Mary particular
graces that no other human has….the
graces needed to be the Mother of God.
The Catholic’s honor and love for Mary
reflects the deep love of God who made
her who she is.
A6. The Blessed Mother
In Luke 1:48 Mary proclaims that “All
generations will call me blessed..” God
created Mary as such a pure, graced filled
creation that from then on until all
eternity she will be called blessed. This is
where Catholics get the title of “The
Blessed Mother”; it’s straight out of the
Bible.
A7. She is the Mother of Humanity
Mary was chosen to be the mother of
Jesus but she is also our Mother. In John
19:26-27 when Jesus is on the Cross he
looks at his mother and says “Woman,
behold your son!” and then he looks at
John and says “Behold, your mother!”
Since early in the history of the Church
this has been interpreted as Jesus
extending Mary’s motherhood to all of
humanity. This can be better understood
in relation to the Father and the Son.
God the Father has one son, Jesus Christ,
but by extension of our baptism Jesus’
son ship is extended to all Christians so
we truly become sons and daughters of
God. In a similar yet different situation
by Jesus’ words on the cross Mary’s
Motherhood is extended to all of us.
Although Mary is human and the Father
is divine we have a mother in heaven
who loves and prays for us.
A8. She suffered with Christ
Mary suffered with Jesus as only a
mother could when seeing her child being
mocked, humiliated, beaten and put to
death in the most demeaning form of the
day. Mary’s suffering was foreshadowed
by Simeon when he said to her after she
presented the baby Jesus in the temple
“Behold, this child is destined for the fall
and rise of many in Israel, and to be a
sign that will be contradicted (and you
yourself a sword will pierce) so that the
thoughts of many hearts may be
revealed.” (Luke 1:34-35).
Mary is considered a co-redeemer with
Christ due to the most personal role she
played in salvation history by saying yes
to taking on the role of the Mother of
God and accepting all the joy and
suffering which came with that. In fact
every baptized Christian is called to offer
up their suffering with that of Christ for
the salvation of souls. Paul supports this
in Colossians 1:24 where he writes “Now
I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,
and in my flesh I am filling up what is
lacking in the afflictions of Christ on
behalf of his body, which is the church.”
Since we are members of the Body of
Christ we share in the life and mission of
Christ. Mary has a particularly important
share in this due to her unique and
intimate role as the Mother of God.
blessedjp2.com/totus-tuus/why-do-catholics-honor-love-mary/ may God bless u |
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