Catholics Honor
Mary,
and Rightfully So
Like many Catholics I have been told over the years by non-Catholic Christians that
Catholics worship Mary. Then they proceed to tell me how the Ten Commandments explicitly
forbid this. To make matters worse they always quote a Catholic that they know that
confirmed that this practice is correct. Unfortunately this can not be further from the
truth. One must look at the term worship. It may be more appropriate to use the term
honor. Catholics honor Mary and rightfully so. And those Catholics that think we do
worship Mary like we worship God need to check with their priest or consult the
Catechism of the Catholic Church.
In Luke 1:28 the Archangel Gabriel, who was sent by God, called Mary
"Blessed." Gabriel did not act on his own, he was sent by God, so it was God's
message that Gabriel delivered. God honored Mary by calling her Blessed, so then why
should we not honor her. See also Luke 1:42 when Elizabeth called her Blessed; Luke 11:27
where a "woman in the crowd' honored her; Luke 1:48 where Mary herself said, ".
. . All generations shall call me blessed." What does Blessed mean? In the dictionary
it says 'Holy'; held in 'Veneration'; 'Revered'. Therefore God is telling us that Mary is
Holy, and she should be venerated and revered. Who can then say it is incorrect to Honor
Mary. No-one has the right to refute the Word of God.
God needed Mary in order to fulfill the scriptures that the Savior would come from the
house of David. She is the birth mother of the human form of God, Jesus Christ. She
was without sin. She had to be. In Ex 25:8-40 God gave the Jews the plans for the Ark of
the Covenant, the container that was to hold the Ten Commandments, His Word. He told them
it had to be perfect and without blemish. If then, the container that had to hold the
stone tablets where the Ten Commandments were written had to be perfect and without
blemish then how could Jesus Christ be contained in anything less perfect during his nine
months in the womb of Mary. How many of us then can make the claim that we are
without sin of any kind. How many of us can claim that we do not need what God
Himself needed.
The Ten Commandments tell us to honor our father and mother. Mary was honored by
her Son, our Lord. When Jesus was a child and went to Nazareth with his
parents it shows in Luke 2:51 that he obeyed his Mother and Father, "And He
went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them." Jesus also
kept the commandment of "honor thy mother and father" when he obeyed Mary by
performing His first miracle at the wedding in Cana even though he stated he was not ready
to begin his ministry (John 2:1-5). If God Himself, in the person of Jesus, honors
Mary then how can we say that she is not also deserving of our Honor.
If Jesus Christ loves His mother like any good son should then He will defend her from
all attacks against her. What will you tell her Son when you one day meet him face
to face, after you have taken your last breath, when He asks you why you have not honored
Her? Remember the God of Mercy is also the God of Justice.
Joseph Keith Abell RPh MI . |
