Blessed Virgin Mary
BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
BASIC R.C. BELIEF The title given to Mary, the mother of Jesus – she is called Our Lady (Madonna). There have been great theological debates concerning Mary; the first concerned her Immaculate Conception and raged for hundreds of years. In 1854, Pope Pius IX declared that “by a singular grace of God, Mary was preserved sinless from the moment of her conception.” This is the Immaculate Conception.
Roman Catholics also believe in Mary’s complete sinlessness and perpetual virginity. In 1950 Pope Pius XII decreed her Assumption. An ancient thought of her role as Co-Redemptress is being revived.
There have been great excesses in the position given to Mary, especially as a result of THE GLORIES OF MARY by St. Alphonsus Liguori. Great devotion is also given to her at shrines depicting her apparition at Lourdes and Fatima, as well as the house that she, Jesus and Joseph lived in wherein she is venerated as “Our Lady of Loreto.” She was proclaimed patroness of aviators because her house (Loreto) was flown by angels to Italy so it wouldn’t be desecrated by the Turks.
In 1890, Pope Leo XIII said, “As no man can come to the Most High Father except through the Son, so, generally, no man can come to Christ except through Mary.”
On March 22, 1918, Pope Benedict XV said, “She suffered so much for us, almost to the point of dying with her suffering and dying Son. Therefore we may rightfully say that she has, with Christ, redeemed the human race.”
In 1954, Pope Pius XII said, “Mary is indeed worthy to receive honor and might and glory. She is exalted to hypostatic union with the Blessed Trinity.”
Louis de Montford, TRUE DEVOTION TO MARY, commenting upon Genesis 3:15, “God has never made and formed but one emnity; but it is an irreconcilable one. It is between Mary, His worthy Mother and the devil. He has inspired her with so much hatred against that cursed enemy of God, with so much power to crush that proud and impious rebel that he fears her, in a sense, more than God Himself.”
From DEVOTIONS FOR THE HOLY SOULS, Catholic Truth Society of Ireland, Imp. Colmanus a Doineraile, page 32. “Be to me, O Virgin, nigh. Lest in flames I burn and die in His awful judgment day.”
POST VATICAN II Besides agreeing with all the major statements of earlier popes and councils, a Vatican II document came close to establishing her as CoRedemptress. “Just as a woman had a share in bringing about death, so also a woman should contribute to life” (LUMEN GENTIUM, 11/21/64, Ch. VIII, Sec. II). This document also repeats the old saying, “Death through Eve, life through Mary.” While the document deplores excesses and advises Roman Catholics to refrain “from all false exaggeration”, it discreetly promotes Mary as “sign of true hope and comfort for the pilgrim people of God” and speaks of “the glory which she possesses in Heaven as the image of the Church as it is to be perfected.”
Mary is seen by some as an ecumenical figure, drawing love from the Protestants. A shrine is erected to Mary by the Church of England in Walsingham, England, is used as an ecumenical bridge and strongly promotes pagan worship of the Queen of Heaven.
We were told, at the Rosary for Peace Rally, Dayton, Ohio, 10/28/84 that Mary is venerated by 1600 different names in Roman Catholicism.
On St. Stanislaus’ Roman Catholic Church, 524 W Mitchell St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin: “Ascend mortals to this mountain top for here through Mary all shall receive salvation.
From WOMAN CROWNED WITH STARS by Michael Malone (Imp: Bishop Sullivan, Baton Rouge, 1981), page 3. “Our Blessed Mother’s Rosary concludes with the Mystery of the Coronation of the Immaculate Virgin Mary as Queen of all creation; however, the crowning of Our Lady is not the culmination, but the actual commencement, of all that has even happened from the very beginning of time. … “Psalm 84 presents graphically for us this incarnational union between God and man – heaven and earth, grace and nature – in the precious palace of the Virgin Mary’s womb: Mercy and truth have met each other (heaven and earth); Justice and peace have kissed (grace and nature); Truth is sprung out of the earth (that’s Mary!); And justice hath looked down from heaven (that’s Jesus!); For the Lord (God the Father) will give goodness (God the Son) and the earth (the Blessed Virgin Mary) shall yield her fruit.”
Ibid., page 4. God in His goodness will send His Son to become man; and our earth, the Blessed Virgin, will give us her fruit, Jesus Christ, Who was called the fruit of Mary’s womb; thus was accomplished the prophecy of Isaiah 45:8, Let the earth be opened and bud forth a Savior. (From St. Alphonsus Liguori, THE DIVINE OFFICE, Benzinger Bros., New York, 1890, pp 254-255.) No wonder St. Bruno praises Our Lady as `the uncorrupted earth which God blessed!’ But there is a sense in which you might almost dare to say that Mary came before Jesus, for no child comes before his mother.”
Ibid., page 5. “The plan of God the Father involved first the creation of a Mother for the body of that Son. Psalm 109 (KJV 110):3, `From the womb, before the Day Star, I begot thee.’ In other words, before God brought into being any of the material world – which, as we know, began with Light and comprised the creation of the Day Star – He begot His only Son, Jesus, `from the womb’ of a valiant little virgin He had in mind from all eternity, `fair as the moon and bright as the sun’ herself – Canticles (Song of Solomon) 6:9,10 (which words are applied to Mary in the Mass of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Mass of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, and in the LITTLE OFFICE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY). `Embrace Mary!’ cries out the Church in song, `for she is the very Gate of Heaven who brings you to the glorious King of new light.’ (From the antiphon of the Mass of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.)”
Ibid. “The Mass of the Immaculate Conception applies Proverbs 8:22,23,27,30,31 to Mary. These words are also found in the First Reading of the Mass of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and in the Mass of the Most Holy Rosary. Pope Leo XIII, “God chose the august Virgin Mary from all eternity to be the Mother of the Incarnate Word, and for that reason has so eminently distinguished her among all of His most beautiful works in the triple order of nature, grace and glory, that the Church justly applies to her these words: I came out of the mouth of the Most High, the firstborn before all creatures.”
Ibid, page 7. “We can hope to attain the divinity of God only in the same way He attained the humanity of man: through Mary. We must travel the identical route, and the name of that Royal Road is Mary. `For by Mary’, St. Fulgentius tells us, `God descended from Heaven into the world, so that by her men might ascend from earth to Heaven.’ We don’t need Mary to be the sons of men, but we do need Mary to become the sons of God.
Ibid., page 9. “all the faithful servants of God and children of Mary (owe) their ultimate salvation to the One Mediator and Savior, Jesus Christ
- and to His Mother, without whom He would never have been incarnated and born into the world, and without Whom (caps in original), therefore, He could never have been the Savior of anybody.”
Ibid., page 12. “Mary is the channel through which all the graces of the Head must flow down to the Body. She is the neck which alone connects all the living members with the Head. Do you see now why all true Christians proclaim Our Lady `Mediatrix of All Graces?’
Ibid., page 14. “God Himself explained to (St. Gertrude) that Jesus was indeed Mary’s first-born according to the flesh, but that all mankind was to be her second-born according to the spirit. St. Bonaventure said, “All the sons of the womb of the Church are the inheritance and fruit of the womb of Mary.”
CHRISTIAN COMMENT Mary is named 19 times in the Bible; Jesus, about 950 times. In the Rosary, the chief Roman Catholic devotion, 10 prayers are said to her for every prayer to God. The rise in devotion to her came when a backslidden church, having lost the reality of Christ, was presented with the pagan concept of a female deity and she was deemed able to mediate between them and a God Who was too far away.
Roman Catholics use the story of the marriage of Cana (John 2:1-9) to prove Mary’s power of mediation over Christ. The story actually contradicts this, for Jesus could do no miracle until His mother, who had exercised maternal control over Him (Luke 2:51), stepped out of the way and called attention to His pre-eminence (John 2:5).
Roman Catholics used to assert that Revelation 12:1 pictures Mary, but now most say it merely alludes to her. However, she is often see with a crown of twelve stars.
In evangelism, we can say that we honor her more than our Roman Catholic friends do, for we obey the only command she gave. Also, the scripture speaks of all who are truly forgiven as being blessed (Romans 4:6-8).
RELIGIOUS JOURNALS From THE HORIZON HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY, page 307. VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE: An Indian painted an image of the Virgin in the garb of the Mexican goddess Toxantizin.
SECULAR MEDIA Kathryn Watson, BBC, reports, “Young virgins began to see the Virgin Mary in the sky. They had a message from her that they must stop fornicating and must stop stealing, and that it’s because of bad behaviour that they’re being afflicted with AIDS.” (Quoted in 3/15/90 CALVARY CONTENDER)