Why Roman Catholics love Mary
"This will put the Ecumenical Movement back ten years". These were the words of a German bishop Karl Rainer at the opening session of the Second Vatican Council. There was to be a discussion with a concluding document on the place of Mary in the Catholic Church but the majority of Bishops did not know they were facing something new in the Church - manipulation, as we have seen recently at the Synod on the Family, and open dishonesty. They were no match for the cunning and power of these so called 'progressives' At least at the Synod of the Family many had come prepared and were ready with their opposition, but at the Vatican Council this was not the case.
I heard at that time a tape of a talk given by Cardinal Heenan to the priests of the Westminster Diocese where he spoke about this opposition. He told them that a lessening of devotion to Mary would lead to a lessening of devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and we should not go down that road. But the Cardinal was already being betrayed from within his own Diocese and both Devotion to Mary and the Blessed Sacrament had almost disappeared by the end of the 1970's. A few Roman Catholics in many parishes struggled to keep the Rosary going and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on a regular basis, but their parishes had been taken over expertly by anti-catholics. Little wonder that societies like that of St Pius X sprung up from the anger and confusion within the Church. And it was a desire for power so that the Church would be no different from Protestant Churches and indeed there were apologies being made by these people for the supposed 'triumphalism' of the Church in insisting that it was following the teachings of Christ. I and many others have not apologised and never will because we remember the attitudes of Protestants.
Ecumenists can now argue that Devotion to Mary is not essential to the Catholic Faith and that only a few would have devotion to her since it has been wiped out in Catholic teaching by the more educated and mature. Not though by the Catechism and Church teaching but after all they are only rules and we can now think for ourselves and ignore the thoughts of others.
What then about Mary? Is she an obstacle to the equality of women in the far East, as I heard one 'catholic' say" Was she just a peasant girl whom the Catholic Church has raised to the state of a Goddess, as one 'prophet' has argued?
Yes, she was a peasant girl. Her early life we know little of but she was a young girl like any other girl and enjoyed the things that other girls enjoyed and looked forward probably to marriage and children like her mother before her. Then an angel came to ask her to become the Mother of God mad man - Emmanuel. This was not an order by the angel because such a task demanded whole hearted commitment, "Let it be done unto me according to your Will" was her reply. What if she had said 'no'?. Would God have ordered her to accept since she was only a small player in the history of salvation? We do not know, but her acceptance was crucial to the plan God had made for our Salvation and Mary through her acceptance had gone from being a peasant girl to being the greatest and most blessed of all women. "Behold the Handmaid of the Lord" she cried. A peasant girl had become the Handmaid of God, someone on whom God relied. All graces were poured into the world because this creature whom all nations would call blessed had accepted her role as the Mediatrix of all Graces in the plan that God Himself was putting into action. How can anyone ever after describe Mary as just a 'peasant girl'
But her role was one of a Mother. She knew that she was the mother of Jesus as God's instrument. She was to love him, guard him, and then give him up when his time had come. She had the joy of his birth and the sorrow of his death. We know she often came to hear her son preach, and when the the moment of his crucifixion came she was there beside him as he carried His Cross. As he hung on the Cross Jesus turned to Mary and gave her a new role. "Woman behold your Son, Son behold your Mother" The apostle John was with Mary at the time, John whom Jesus had said would not be executed at a later date for his role was to look after Mary. So Jesus like a good son had provided for his mother. But why the terminology? Why not just ask John to look after Mary. Jesus had assigned a new role to Mary. She was not just to be looked after by John but she was to be a Mother to him since he was her son, and indeed if he was truly a son, then all of us were to be children of Mary. But how she would fulfil that role became clear when her presence was mentioned at the Council of Jerusalem. Let us turn our attention to the gifts of the Holy Spirit - Wisdom, Understanding, Council, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. Mary as the most perfect woman, deemed worthy to be the Mother of the Saviour, had these gifts in abundance and at that Council she would have been able to guide the apostles in all their discussions. That is why the one title recognised at the Second Vatican Council, when perhaps the German Bishops were asleep, was the Mother of the Church.
I was giving a talk in a State School one day on the Rosary. It was part of their exploring Faiths curriculum. I asked one little girl of about 9 whom she thought Jesus loved most. The little girl thought for a moment but then looked up and said 'His Mother", it is sad that we have many parishes run by very learned people who would never have even thought of this answer so hard are thy in their attack on devotions. As the heart of a good child is always with his or her mother, so the heart of Jesus is always with Mary. This is what they as 'educated people' do not like about devotion to Mary, it comes from the heart rather than the faith they prefer - the one that only comes from the head. But love does not come from the head and this leads them into real danger - the one that Cardinal Heenan spoke about - the discarding of the loving heart of Mary leads them to try to rationalise about the Blessed Sacrament and the Real Presence. They start to seek to please, as bishop Rainer, to please their Protestant friends rather than their Catholic neighbours.
So where am I now. I am one who loves Mary. You see just as every child needs a natural mother and father so in spiritual matters we also need the discipline of a Father but the soft centre of a Mother. When Jesus asked us to pray 'Our Father...." I am sure He had Mary in mind as our mother for you cannot have a family with just a Father.
"Unless you become as little children you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven". God our Father look upon your child, Mary my mother speak to Jesus for me.
I heard at that time a tape of a talk given by Cardinal Heenan to the priests of the Westminster Diocese where he spoke about this opposition. He told them that a lessening of devotion to Mary would lead to a lessening of devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and we should not go down that road. But the Cardinal was already being betrayed from within his own Diocese and both Devotion to Mary and the Blessed Sacrament had almost disappeared by the end of the 1970's. A few Roman Catholics in many parishes struggled to keep the Rosary going and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on a regular basis, but their parishes had been taken over expertly by anti-catholics. Little wonder that societies like that of St Pius X sprung up from the anger and confusion within the Church. And it was a desire for power so that the Church would be no different from Protestant Churches and indeed there were apologies being made by these people for the supposed 'triumphalism' of the Church in insisting that it was following the teachings of Christ. I and many others have not apologised and never will because we remember the attitudes of Protestants.
Ecumenists can now argue that Devotion to Mary is not essential to the Catholic Faith and that only a few would have devotion to her since it has been wiped out in Catholic teaching by the more educated and mature. Not though by the Catechism and Church teaching but after all they are only rules and we can now think for ourselves and ignore the thoughts of others.
What then about Mary? Is she an obstacle to the equality of women in the far East, as I heard one 'catholic' say" Was she just a peasant girl whom the Catholic Church has raised to the state of a Goddess, as one 'prophet' has argued?
Yes, she was a peasant girl. Her early life we know little of but she was a young girl like any other girl and enjoyed the things that other girls enjoyed and looked forward probably to marriage and children like her mother before her. Then an angel came to ask her to become the Mother of God mad man - Emmanuel. This was not an order by the angel because such a task demanded whole hearted commitment, "Let it be done unto me according to your Will" was her reply. What if she had said 'no'?. Would God have ordered her to accept since she was only a small player in the history of salvation? We do not know, but her acceptance was crucial to the plan God had made for our Salvation and Mary through her acceptance had gone from being a peasant girl to being the greatest and most blessed of all women. "Behold the Handmaid of the Lord" she cried. A peasant girl had become the Handmaid of God, someone on whom God relied. All graces were poured into the world because this creature whom all nations would call blessed had accepted her role as the Mediatrix of all Graces in the plan that God Himself was putting into action. How can anyone ever after describe Mary as just a 'peasant girl'
But her role was one of a Mother. She knew that she was the mother of Jesus as God's instrument. She was to love him, guard him, and then give him up when his time had come. She had the joy of his birth and the sorrow of his death. We know she often came to hear her son preach, and when the the moment of his crucifixion came she was there beside him as he carried His Cross. As he hung on the Cross Jesus turned to Mary and gave her a new role. "Woman behold your Son, Son behold your Mother" The apostle John was with Mary at the time, John whom Jesus had said would not be executed at a later date for his role was to look after Mary. So Jesus like a good son had provided for his mother. But why the terminology? Why not just ask John to look after Mary. Jesus had assigned a new role to Mary. She was not just to be looked after by John but she was to be a Mother to him since he was her son, and indeed if he was truly a son, then all of us were to be children of Mary. But how she would fulfil that role became clear when her presence was mentioned at the Council of Jerusalem. Let us turn our attention to the gifts of the Holy Spirit - Wisdom, Understanding, Council, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. Mary as the most perfect woman, deemed worthy to be the Mother of the Saviour, had these gifts in abundance and at that Council she would have been able to guide the apostles in all their discussions. That is why the one title recognised at the Second Vatican Council, when perhaps the German Bishops were asleep, was the Mother of the Church.
I was giving a talk in a State School one day on the Rosary. It was part of their exploring Faiths curriculum. I asked one little girl of about 9 whom she thought Jesus loved most. The little girl thought for a moment but then looked up and said 'His Mother", it is sad that we have many parishes run by very learned people who would never have even thought of this answer so hard are thy in their attack on devotions. As the heart of a good child is always with his or her mother, so the heart of Jesus is always with Mary. This is what they as 'educated people' do not like about devotion to Mary, it comes from the heart rather than the faith they prefer - the one that only comes from the head. But love does not come from the head and this leads them into real danger - the one that Cardinal Heenan spoke about - the discarding of the loving heart of Mary leads them to try to rationalise about the Blessed Sacrament and the Real Presence. They start to seek to please, as bishop Rainer, to please their Protestant friends rather than their Catholic neighbours.
So where am I now. I am one who loves Mary. You see just as every child needs a natural mother and father so in spiritual matters we also need the discipline of a Father but the soft centre of a Mother. When Jesus asked us to pray 'Our Father...." I am sure He had Mary in mind as our mother for you cannot have a family with just a Father.
"Unless you become as little children you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven". God our Father look upon your child, Mary my mother speak to Jesus for me.
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