“Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.” – St. Maximillian Kolbe
The scriptures that give insight to our love for our Mother Mary are enough for a book and this is only a small list of reasons.
Mary As Blessed.
Only Catholics seem to hold the mother our Lord Jesus Christ in high respect. Other faiths offer all sorts of reasons why they refuse to honor Mary and even accuse Catholics of worshiping Mary. One nondenominational friend even suggested that the Anti-Christ would be Christians who worship Mary instead of Christ. This is a total misconception and to a Catholic, this is utter nonsense.
From the earliest beginnings of the church, Catholics have honored Mother Mary. We pray to her, but it is not worshipping prayer. Just as I might ask you to pray for me, we ask Mary to pray for us. We always hold the greatest honor for God. We say at every high Mass, the Gloria prayer that includes the words, “For you alone are the Holy One, You alone are the Lord, You alone are the most High, Jesus Christ, in union with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.” Whereas Jesus is the son of the Living God, Mary his mother is a creation of God. Catholics [should] know the difference.
So why honor Mary? The bible is full of the reasons to honor Mary, if you look carefully at what is written about her.
In Luke 11:27, the woman cries out, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” Jesus responds with, “No, rather blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” He is not saying that his mother is not blessed, but that her blessedness is based not in her physical ability to have a baby, but in her acceptance of the will of God. For who better did such a thing as Mary when she responded, “Be it done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) It is her Fiat that reverses the sin of Eve. She becomes the new Eve.
If Jesus really was saying that his mother was not blessed, he would be negating the words of the Holy Spirit spoken three times in Luke where Mary is called blessed.
“Hail, favored one. The Lord is with you.” “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.…” (Luke 1:28 and Luke 1:30) [Said by the Archangel Gabriel.]
“Most blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” (Luke 1:42) [Said by Elizabeth]
“Behold from henceforth, all ages will call me blessed.” (Luke 1:48) [Said by Mary]
For two-thousand years, Catholics have loved and honored Mary and never once attempted to place her above Christ nor have they attempted to worship her as God. If it did not happen in all in the proceeding 2,000 years, it will never happen in the Catholic Church.
Mary As Foretold In The Old Testament.
In Genesis, God tells the snake, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers:” (Genesis 3:15). He makes a very unusual distinction to only mention the woman in this case. It opens the door to understanding, that the Christ child would be conceived by the Holy Spirit and not be man’s offspring. He would be the son of the woman.
In another instance, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)
“But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be the ruler in Israel; Whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. Therefore, the Lord will give them up until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, and the rest of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel.” (Micah 5:1-2)
Mary As The Mother Of The New Church.
Over the years, there have been number of movies created depicting the life and death of Jesus. One the more recent versions was “Son of God”, starring Roma Downey as the mother of Jesus. Where it lacked in deep cinephotographic light and dark images of Zeffirelli’s, ”Jesus of Nazareth” and the depth of violent imagery in the death of Christ in Gibson’s “The Passion of The Christ”, it managed to portray a sweeter rendition of Jesus’s life that general audiences may prefer.
It would be considered a good work of art in my own mind, if it were not for one scene. It is the scene where Mary is saying good-by to Mary Magdalen. In the movie, Mary is leaving Jerusalem by herself with her donkey loaded, abandoning the new church. No woman at the time of Christ would travel that long distance alone. Mary did not own a home in Nazareth and most likely did not own a donkey. Joseph had died. And if that is not bad enough, it contradicts scripture. It is wrong on so many levels. It’s as if, non-Catholics are so dead set in getting rid of Mary from the Gospels that they are willing to make up stuff that goes totally against scripture itself.
At the foot of the cross when Jesus gives Mary to John… “From that day on, He took her into his home.” (John 19:27). His words on the cross were bought at the price of terrible suffering and in giving Mary to John as her son and John to Mary as his mother, He not only was making arrangements for the care of his widowed mother as He was giving his mother to the church.
At the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, Mary is present. At Pentecost, Mary is there. Nowhere does it give any indication that Mary just picks up and goes back to Nazareth. Though we may not know for certain the full role Mary played in the new church, she most surely was present and her presence had to be of a nurturing mother to her children.
Revelation 12:17, also gives witness to Mary as the mother of the Church when it speaks to how the dragon (Satan), “became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus.”
Mary As ‘The New Ark of The Covenant’.
Catholics equate Mary to the New Ark of the Covenant. Like the Ark of the old Covenant which Moses had created using the specifications given by God, Mary too, would be specially created. The Old Ark was made with the finest gold and so she would be created as pure enough to contain the presence of the living God. No man could touch her and live.
“And they are to construct an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it.” (Exodus 25:10-11)
Revelation (11) explains how the heavens open and the Ark of the Covenant could be seen. Then immediately in chapter 12, the view of the Mother of God giving birth to Christ is seen.
“Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.” (Revelation 11:19)
I would hope that even non-Catholics must admit that the woman who would carry the Christ child would be exceptionally pure and rather than dismiss Mary as an empty vessel, they would understand her place in God’s design.
In another observation, I always wondered why Mary had to endure viewing her son’s violently cruel death on the cross. Then I understood from scripture the role of the Ark of the Covenant. God commands Mosses to sprinkle the Ark with the blood of the sacrifice for the Day of Atonement.
And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. (Leviticus 16:14)
Mary as the New Ark of the Covenant would need to be standing below the cross so as to be sprinkled by his blood. As Catholics we see the prediction made by Simeon in the Temple would have been actualized below the cross. The sword that would pierce Mary’s heart was a sword of sorrow. As the sword pierces the heart of Jesus the blood and water that pours from the wound would have flowed onto Mary at the foot of the cross.
“Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (Luke 2:35)
There is no indication that Mary says anything at the crucifixion. Her silence is thought as an acceptance of the will of God. Just as she accepts the will of God at the annunciation, so too the silence is a continue of her Fiat.
“Be it done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
Mary as Queen of Heaven.
In a model of Mary’s place as Queen of Heaven, Soloman who as ‘Son of David’ was the prototype of the Christ, gives his mother a throne at this right side. It is from this we get the tradition of honoring the ‘Queen Mother”.
“Bathsheba therefore went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and bowed down to her, and sat down on his throne and had a throne set for the king’s mother; so she sat at his right hand.” (1 Kings 2:19)
Verses in Revelation are incredibly rich in showing Mary as a queen of heaven as she wears a crown with twelve stars. She is clothed with the sun and the moon is under her feet suggesting a place of great honor.
“A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown with twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.” (Revelations 12:1-2)
“But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly to her place in the desert.” (Revelations 12:14). The eagle being a symbol of power and swiftness of divine help to those who ask her.
In all of the verses mention, Mary is called, “Woman”, which is the same title Jesus would call her. “Woman behold your son,” (John 19:26) “Woman, how does your concern affect me?” (John 2:4).
It is as if Jesus is associating Mary to the “woman” spoken about to the serpent in the Garden – “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers:” (Genesis 3:15). Never is it seen as a demeaning term to disassociate from mother to woman, but rather a distinction of being the new Eve from whom her offspring will strike at the serpent’s head.
“He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heal.” (Genesis 3:15)
Mary as Our Mother.
Jesus told Mary Magdala at the empty tomb, “I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” (John 20:17). From this we know we are in the family of God. Jesus is our brother and God the Father our Father. What an incredible gift from God to be so. But as adopted brother and sisters of Jesus, we are also sons and daughters of Mary.
“[Satan] became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus.” (Revelations 12:17).
As a good Jewish son, Jesus would have kept the ten commandments. He would not only have honored his Father God in heaven, but also his foster father Joseph and his mother, Mary. If we are to be like Jesus in all things, then we need to honor Mary as her adopted children. Love her as your mother. The good mother will never try to steal the greatness of her son, Jesus. She would never try to take his place in our hearts. Nor would she try to take away glory and honor from her God and our God. That is never the roll of Mother Mary. Her words at Cana are the same today, “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5)
Catholic in Their Midst 