Veneration
Of The Blessed Virgin Mary...

"Why do Catholics worship Mary? After all, she is just a mother like any other mother."
This is a question I have received many times from non-Catholics.

A quick answer to that question is,
"Yes, she is a mother like any other mother, but what a difference between the Sons."

Name another mother where the word "son" for her offspring is always capitalized?
A longer, and more comprehensive answer is to point to several errors in that one query alone.
First, Catholics do not "worship" Blessed Mary, but we do take great pride in venerating her.
I always ask the person who makes this charge to show me a genuine official Catholic document which instructs Catholics to "worship" Mary.
Strangely, or maybe not so strangely, not one person who has been asked, has been able to provide such a document. Have you noticed that those who make false charges against the Catholic Church never have documented proof, taken in context, of what they charge?
Second, she is not "just a mother like any other mother", as the critic suggested.
Name another mother who was addressed by a messenger from GOD, the Angel named Gabriel, who asked that she consent to be the Mother of GOD?
The words given to Gabriel by the Father:
"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women." Luke 1:28.
Mary is the only person in the entire Bible to be called "Blessed art thou among women".
Did you notice that the first person to begin praising Mary is GOD?
Name another mother who was chosen, or even asked, by GOD to carry His only begotten Son?
She was chosen by GOD, as GOD had chosen Abraham, and Moses, and many prophets before her.

Name another mother who was called,
"the Mother of my Lord (which means the mother of my GOD)", by the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth? Luke 1:41-43
"In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." Luke 1:39-45

Since Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, then it was the Spirit, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, who supplied the words with which Elizabeth spoke. Consequently it was the Holy Spirit who really called Blessed Mary, the Mother of GOD.
Mary had now been called "Blessed" by GOD the Father, the First Person, and by the Holy Spirit, the Third Person, as she carried the Second Person in her womb.
The Holy Trinity was well represented in these verses.

Name another woman who conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit? Luke 1:35-38

Name another mother who carried the Divine Person of GOD in her womb for nine months?

Name another mother, whose child she carried, was the cause of a child in another mothers womb to leap for joy? Luke 1:44

Name another mother who gave birth to a person with two natures, one human and one divine?

Name another mother from whom Jesus Christ received all of His genes?

Name another mother from whom Jesus Christ received His flesh, blood, and bone?
He is bone of her bone and flesh of her flesh.

Name another mother from whom He received His eyes with which to see, His ears with which to hear, and His mouth with which to speak to us?

Name another mother who gave us our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ? Without her we would have no Savior and no Gospel, just as without your mother there would be no you reading this now.

Name another mother who retained her perpetual virginity from conception to the birth of her child, and then forever after?

Name another mother who is so calumnized by non-Catholics who insist that she had other children besides the Lord Jesus Christ, when in fact she did not?

Name another mother who could look down upon the infant Creator of the universe as she held him in her arms? All other mothers have looked up to GOD, not down.

Name another mother in which the Creator of the universe was subject to her for many years?
Luke 2:51

Name another mother who nursed the Creator of the universe and bathed Him?

Name another mother who tucked in the Second Person of the Holy Trinity every night for years?

Name another mother who taught the Creator of the universe the same things that all mothers teach their children? Luke 2:51-52

Name another mother who, for thirty years, told the creator of the universe what to do?

Name another mother who served the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, three meals a day?

Name another mother who sat across the table from the Holy Trinity every day for years at each meal? Think about it? Can the three persons of the Holy Trinity be separated? Are they three separate persons or are they three inseparable persons in one GOD? Since we all know that they are distinct but not separate, then all three persons are present wherever one is.

Name another mother who lived with the Second Person of the Holy Trinity for 30 years?
Just imagine, Jesus taught His disciples for only 3 years, but He taught His mother for many more.

Name another mother who started the Creator of the universe on His ministry? John 2:3-11

Name another mother who was assumed into Heaven body and soul?

After all of this, how could anyone ever say, Mary is just a mother like any other mother?
Now I will ask those detractors, "Do you still think she was a mother just like any other mother?"
Now do you still wish to ask why Catholics venerate the Mother of GOD ?
Third, did you notice that the first part of the question that non-Catholics ask only contains five words, "Why do Catholics worship Mary"?
The question should have at lease one more word in it, for Holy Scripture demands it...
Here are four applicable verses from "The Magnificat", the Canticle of Mary, from Luke 1:46-55...

And Mary said,
"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and Holy is His name." Luke 1:46-49

Mary is the only person in the entire Bible to say "All generations will call me blessed".
There! Did you find the missing word?

Now check your dictionary:
"Behold", means to perceive visually and mentally, to comprehend, to understand what follows.
"Henceforth", means from the time she said it until the end of time in an unbroken continuity. It does not mean, "some indefinite time in the future", as I have been told.
"All generations", means just that, all generations, yours, mine, and every generation for the last 2000 years and all of those future generations as well. Not one person is exempted.
"Will", denotes a command and not a suggestion.
"Call me blessed".
So far we have seen that Mary was called "Blessed" by the Father in Luke 1:28, and she was twice called "Blessed" by Elizabeth, being filled with the Holy Spirit, in Luke 1:42 and 45. Two persons of the Holy Trinity had already called Mary "Blessed", and we are commanded to do likewise in Luke 1:48. When GOD called Mary "Blessed", He venerated her. Since Holy Scripture was inspired by GOD, then aren't Mary's words here also inspired by GOD?
Would any one of us dare to do less?
As you can readily see, the Blessed Virgin Mary is closely intertwined with all three persons of the Holy Trinity. She is the daughter of the Father. She is the spouse of the Holy Spirit, and she is the mother of the Second Person, Jesus Christ.

Name another mother with such impressive Trinitarian affirmation?

Did the persons who posed the question, "Why do Catholics worship Mary", call her "blessed"?
No, they did not. The word, "Blessed", was always the "missing" word.
Out of the scores of times I have been asked that question, not one single non-Catholic has ever called her "Blessed Mary".
What message do we get from all of this? It tells me that many of those who claim that they follow the Bible, in fact really do not. They pick parts of it (out of context) and then reject what they seem to think goes against their personal "feelings".
A persons personal feelings have no bearing whatsoever on doctrinal truth.
Personal "feelings" cannot be used as an excuse to reject parts of Holy Scripture.
Either you accept it all, or you reject it all.

Jesus Christ was the only person ever who was able to choose His own mother.
Why then did He choose Mary?
Why then do you, who posed the question at the beginning of this file, dare to reject her?
I have given you the Scriptural authority as why we should venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Now I ask that someone show me the Scriptural authority which says we should not venerate her?
If you cannot find such a verse then you will have to admit that Catholics are correct to venerate her.

No Mary, no Jesus. It is as simple as that.
"Let no one presume to hope for the mercy of GOD, who dares to slight or offend GOD's mother."
Saint Louis de Montfort, "True Devotion to Mary"
©
Written by Bob Stanley, November 30, 2001
Updated October 27, 2002

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