The month of October is dedicated to Our Blessed Mother. Out of love for her
I write the following:
On occasion I receive a nasty e-mail from a Protestant brother or sister who
is very blaming with regard to Catholics and their “worship” of Mary. Unfortunately, many of our
Protestant accusers are very misinformed with regard to our relationship with Our Blessed Mother. It
is not all their fault because they have been deceived by someone else and in good will have believed
their instructors. The truth is that Catholics do NOT worship Mary, but we DO honor her for the
simple reason that Jesus did.
Jesus, we know, kept the Ten Commandments perfectly and the Fourth
Commandment is: “Honor your father and your mother.” If Jesus did NOT keep the Fourth Commandment,
He would have offended His Father Who had given all Ten Commandments to be obeyed. If Jesus
then DID keep the Fourth Commandment, and we are to imitate Jesus, then who are we NOT to honor
Mary. I said “honor” not “adore” or “worship,” which Catholic teaching clearly proposes
belongs to God alone.
Catholics believe that Mary is a creature of God, therefore NOT EQUAL to God.
However, she was and is a very specially chosen one of God, because she was chosen for the
great honor of bringing Jesus into the world. No other human woman can claim this.
The Bible says that when the angel appeared to Mary, she was instructed that
the Holy Spirit would overshadow her. How can anyone treat with contempt this chosen woman
who had such an experience?
Many of our good Protestant brothers and sisters seem to overlook the Gospel
passage where Mary, when visiting her cousin, Elizabeth, proclaimed: “All generations will
call me blessed, for He Who is mighty has done great things for me.”
Anyone who does NOT call Mary “blessed,” is not keeping the Word of God and
living out that above passage.
Catholics DO live out that passage for we DO HONOR Our Lady, love and respect
her and treat her with special regard. But we do NOT place her EQUAL to God nor do we adore
her. That would be idolatry.
Dear Protestant brethren! Please be lovingly reminded that the Eighth
Commandment is: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” When you accuse
Catholics of worshipping Mary, you are offending against that Commandment because you ARE falsely accusing.
Furthermore I’d like to ask: Did anyone ever ask you to say a prayer for them? If they did, and you
consented to pray for them, you were acting as an intercessor.
The CATHOLIC CATECHISM (paragraph 969) states: “This motherhood of Mary in
the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally
gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal
fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to Heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her
manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation ... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is
invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.”
Happy month of October - Our Lady's month - and God bless you!