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Mary Leads Us to Jesus: Defense For The Virgin

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Mary is highly venerated in the Catholic tradition, giving her much love and praise, though only because of her work and love for our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Mary is not needed for salvation, but she certainly has a role in helping the Body of Christ: in fact, she represents the New Eve, and even the Church.  She played an important part in the life of Christ on earth and remains active in the Body of Christ today.  Still, Protestants of some denominations say that venerating Mary is unbiblical, and even pagan, mistaking her due honor as the Mother of God as a worship of a goddess.  They claim there is no reason to believe Mary is "special", and was a sinner just like us.  

However, the early Church was not blindly venerating Mary out of an idolatrous fervor, but because they acknowledged her special role in Jesus's life and in God's creation.  There are even biblical and logical reasons to support such a belief.  Consider the following: 

-When being visited by Gabriel, an archangel of the Lord, he said, "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you."  This sort of greeting isn't given out lightly, and it shows Mary's holiness as seen by God.  Being full of grace (grace defined as an invisible, gratuitous gift that comes directly from God as a form of salvation) and being specially chosen to raise Jesus, Mary must of been very holy, favored, and blessed indeed!  Mary fully accepted to carry and give birth to God, which shows more of her holiness and willingness to serve God.  She is even the first Christian, the first person to accept Christ, her Son, as messiah.  Out of pure, perfect faith, she accepted that role without hesitation and question.

-Mary was, indeed, conceived immaculately: meaning she was born without the stain of Original Sin.  Because Jesus was the New Adam, Mary was given the unique and special gift and opportunity to be the New Eve.  This does not mean she does not need a savior (Jesus), or that she is not dependent on God.  Rather, it means that she was saved from sin differently then the rest of humanity; we are saved from sin by redemption from Jesus, and Mary was saved from sin by being graced especially by God and by bearing Jesus.  We are given the medicine to treat our illness, and Mary was given the vaccine to prevent it from occurring in the first place.  She did not gain the vaccine herself, but she received it by grace from the Creator Himself.  Even when sinless, Mary is not "independent" from God: she is merely pointing back to His wondrous miracles.

-She raised Jesus too, from breastfeeding to diaper changing to teaching him, with help from Joseph, about their Jewish faith and about God.  She was closer to Jesus than any other person in this world could ever hope to be.  This does not demean anyone's personal relationship with Christ, but it shows us how close we can get, if we make Mary our standard and our guide.

-At the Wedding in Cana, Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus would ask of them when they needed more wine.  This shows how she can lead us to Christ when we need help, or are lost on what to do or how to ask for help.  It also shows her desire to lead us to her Son, our Savior.  She is similar to evangelists in that she helps people see the light of Jesus, but different in that she has a special role within creation and heaven as the Mother of God, and give us graces from God to do just that.  Also, when Jesus said to her, "O Woman, what have you to do with me?  My hour has not yet come", he was telling her the moment he began his ministry, she would be more than just his mother: she would be the universal mother.  When she told the servants right after to do as he told them, she accepted that role.

-Mary was there to suffer with her Son when he died at the cross.  Although she was not crucified herself or died for our sins, she was there to suffer with him as predicted by the prophet Simeon at the presentation of Jesus at the temple.  Not only was her Savior being tortured and killed, but her precious Son was being horribly hurt and she could do nothing for it.  All she could do was watch it happen first hand and suffer with him.  All Christians are called to share their suffering with Christ, and Mary is the perfect example of how it's done, especially since she was much closer to Christ in her life than we are.

-Through out her life, Mary remained a virgin, practicing celibacy as a holy woman of God. Unlike Protestant beliefs that state Mary had other children with Joseph, Mary is believed by Catholics to have been a vestal virgin - sort of like a nun - and Joseph was an old widower, who was to guard and care for her as her celibate husband.  Because she would have been disgraced to be a vestal virgin and be found pregnant, Joseph preferred to break ties with her peacefully instead of stoning her for her "sins".  The "brothers", or "brethren", mentioned in the Bible as Jesus's family, were more than likely cousins or other family members; it was not uncommon to call a husband, cousin, or other close kin a brother.  She was also given to the care of John by Jesus as he suffered on the cross; if she were married to a younger Joseph, and had other sons, why would Jesus give a non-related man the responsibility to care for his beloved mother?  Mary was a virgin and remained one because she was saved to birth a sinless person: Jesus. 

-In the book of Revelation, a woman is described as having the moon under her feet, and having a crown with twelve stars on her head.  She is giving birth to a male child, who is being threatened to be eaten by a seven-headed dragon.  However, the child is destined to rule all the nations and is given a place next to God's throne, and the woman is given a place to remain safe and to rest.  Here, it is Mary giving birth to the Christ child (who else has given birth to a male child destined to rule the nations?), and the signs of the moon and stars show Mary's role within creation because of her part in birthing Jesus and serving God. 

-Calling Mary the Mother of God does not mean she is "older" than God, or has a place above Him; it is simply acknowledging Christ's humanity and her role in bringing him into our world.  The blasphemy Nestorianism is rooted in the fact that Mary was not the Mother of God, but only of his human body, and thus denies Christ's human divinity and his role as our Savoir.

-Venerating is different from worship.  We hail Mary, and the saints like her, because of their holy lives and their human fulfillment, looking up to them as friends and helpers in our troubled times.  This does not devalue Jesus's role as mediator, but only shows how Jesus can work through and with others, be they humans on earth or basking in God's presence in Heaven.  Besides, if God hailed Mary through the mouth of his messenger, why shouldn't we honor her as the holy woman she is?

-Praying is not the same as worship.  Praying in itself is a form of communication that can be used for worship of God, but it has other uses as well.  We can call out to Mary, or even the saints, to ask for their intercession, as they are especially holy and are closer to God than we are.  In the end, all prayers lead to God directly or indirectly, and every prayer glorifies God immensely. Praying to Mary doesn't exclude the Trinity, but leads to Him with Mary's help and assurance.  Some people may say that praying to the dead is pagan, but we must remind them that Mary and the saints aren't dead, but very much alive: much more alive than you or I!  God is a God of the living, and the Body of Christ extends beyond this world.

Overall, denying Mary's holiness and special role in creation - especially calling her an "ordinary sinner" - is doing yourself a great disservice.  Jesus has much to offer us through her and she has much she wants to share with us about God.  Hopefully my points have made you rethink your view on her and given you a reason to look more into the subject.



56. As Mary is the fruitful Virgin everywhere, she produces in the soul wherein she dwells purity of heart and body, purity of intention and of purpose, and fruitfulness in good works.  Do not think, dear soul, that Mary, the most fruitful of all pure creatures, who has brought forth even a God, remains idle in a faithful soul.  She will cause Jesus Christ to live in that soul and the soul to live in constant union with Jesus Christ.  "My dear children, with whom I am in labor again until Christ is formed in you." (Gal. 4:19).  If Jesus Christ is the fruit of Mary in each individual soul, as well as all souls in general, He is, however, her fruit and her masterpiece more particularly in a soul in which she dwells.

~St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary,  Chapter III, Section C
Nothing much else to add here, except that I hope readers will feel encouraged to learn more about Mary. She has not distracted me from Jesus, but brought me closer to him, and has helped me broaden my faith immensely. I want others to experience this as well, so I worked on an easy to read layout that gave basic information on and defense for the Blessed Virgin.




Resources to check out:

Mary's Holiness: www.catholic.com/magazine/arti…
Mary's Virginity: www.catholic.com/tracts/mary-e…
definition of Grace: www.catholicreference.net/inde…
Intercessory Prayers: www.catholic.com/tracts/the-in…
Bishop Fulton J Sheen on Mary (The Blessed Virgin Mary - The Woman I Love) www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgQ_YQ…

Picture with apologetics: www.theworkofgod.org/Library/c…





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Mary Model of Holiness: hamundr21.deviantart.com/journ…
Obedience Restores Creation: tesm.deviantart.com/art/Obedie…





Comments are open, but I am not interested in debate. Originally the comments were closed because I was not interested in discussion or debate, and I did not have time to monitor comments that would have come in at the time. However, this deviation was asked to have open comments in order to be let in a group. With that said, feel free to speak among yourselves, though I am not interested or have the time to join in.

I did not make this to debate or discuss, but to inspire and educate; the points made are basic statements to get people interested in the subject, and therefore require more reading beyond what is said here. However, if there is anything here that contradicts Catholic doctrine, please let me know so I can fix it. If you want to learn more about Mary, please check out the links and feel free to do your own research.
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DCJBeers's avatar
Very well done!Clap Clap Clap