Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Light, we do not need Mary
That Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life can never be contradicted. He Himself said this and gave witness to it by his teachings which came from God and therefore cannot be contradicted, and when people follow this way and this truth they find that life so close to God and His Love that they experience a joy they have never known.. In all things we must follow the words of Jesus and He will reward us with His Love and Mercy.
So what does devotion to Mary add to this - absolutely nothing. But there is an incident in the Gospels where a woman cried out to Jesus "Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the breasts at which you sucked" But Jesus turned to her and said "No, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it". He was not belittling the woman who gave him birth, rather he was pointing out the real measure of his Mother's greatness, she was faithful and obedient to God. It was because of this faithfulness that she had been chosen as His mother
When my boys were children they were football fans . When they played football with their friends they wanted to be as good as the particular hero in their teams which they idolised. They would buy football shirts with the names emblazoned on the backs. Their hero stood for the best they could accomplish in the game. When I was young I wanted to be a White Father who would go into Africa and convert the people there to Catholicism.. Later I was drawn to St Therese of Lisieux, then St Francis. But there was a name that was above all other names and the name was Mary. She was the Mother of Jesus and so very close to Him. She had gone through her life and never sinned. This was awesome. I saw people lying and cheating all around me. I saw people hurting one another. I saw men using women and deserting them, and yes in all of this I was no saint I wrestled with Satan and many times turned to Mary. I knew somehow that she was someone who could help me because she had faced many of these trials I had faced and overcome them. "I want to be like you, Mary. You are my model, you are the best" In many hidden ways Mary would reply "Follow my Son, He is the Way, the Truth and the Life" Believe me, I really needed that message.
Mary always points to Jesus Yes, perhaps God could have found some other way to save us without Jesu8s having a mother, but without that mother perhaps we would have found saving our souls more difficult. But it was God Himself who gave us Mary, and her heart is filled with so much compassion and love for us.
When there was so much doubt being brought into the Church after Vatican II, I remember that even the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament was a target of the Reformers. Adoration was abandoned in many many Churches. But Adoration survived and is now being revived by a small band of people who said the Rosary and were devoted to Mary. For Mary is devoted to her Son Jesus the Blessed Sacrament and in this battle I remembered an old saying that those who deny the mother end up denying the Son. Perhaps in the Christian context I shouldn't go back not fifty years but five hundred years when devotion to Mary was banished. So many of the teachings of Christ in scripture are now ignored and the battle against sin and the building of the Kingdom has been abandoned. Yet Mary appeared at Lourdes to ask us to come in procession there to pray for the conversion of sinners and later she came to Fatima to tell us that we must return to the teachings of her Son on sin and Hell and pray for those who go there because there is nobody to pray for them Wars and hatred are the fruits of sin and it is only by people turning again to God and the true Jesus who is the Way the Truth and the Life that we will bring Peace to the world.. Mary is a real Mother to us, but we are such ungrateful children.
So what does devotion to Mary add to this - absolutely nothing. But there is an incident in the Gospels where a woman cried out to Jesus "Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the breasts at which you sucked" But Jesus turned to her and said "No, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it". He was not belittling the woman who gave him birth, rather he was pointing out the real measure of his Mother's greatness, she was faithful and obedient to God. It was because of this faithfulness that she had been chosen as His mother
When my boys were children they were football fans . When they played football with their friends they wanted to be as good as the particular hero in their teams which they idolised. They would buy football shirts with the names emblazoned on the backs. Their hero stood for the best they could accomplish in the game. When I was young I wanted to be a White Father who would go into Africa and convert the people there to Catholicism.. Later I was drawn to St Therese of Lisieux, then St Francis. But there was a name that was above all other names and the name was Mary. She was the Mother of Jesus and so very close to Him. She had gone through her life and never sinned. This was awesome. I saw people lying and cheating all around me. I saw people hurting one another. I saw men using women and deserting them, and yes in all of this I was no saint I wrestled with Satan and many times turned to Mary. I knew somehow that she was someone who could help me because she had faced many of these trials I had faced and overcome them. "I want to be like you, Mary. You are my model, you are the best" In many hidden ways Mary would reply "Follow my Son, He is the Way, the Truth and the Life" Believe me, I really needed that message.
Mary always points to Jesus Yes, perhaps God could have found some other way to save us without Jesu8s having a mother, but without that mother perhaps we would have found saving our souls more difficult. But it was God Himself who gave us Mary, and her heart is filled with so much compassion and love for us.
When there was so much doubt being brought into the Church after Vatican II, I remember that even the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament was a target of the Reformers. Adoration was abandoned in many many Churches. But Adoration survived and is now being revived by a small band of people who said the Rosary and were devoted to Mary. For Mary is devoted to her Son Jesus the Blessed Sacrament and in this battle I remembered an old saying that those who deny the mother end up denying the Son. Perhaps in the Christian context I shouldn't go back not fifty years but five hundred years when devotion to Mary was banished. So many of the teachings of Christ in scripture are now ignored and the battle against sin and the building of the Kingdom has been abandoned. Yet Mary appeared at Lourdes to ask us to come in procession there to pray for the conversion of sinners and later she came to Fatima to tell us that we must return to the teachings of her Son on sin and Hell and pray for those who go there because there is nobody to pray for them Wars and hatred are the fruits of sin and it is only by people turning again to God and the true Jesus who is the Way the Truth and the Life that we will bring Peace to the world.. Mary is a real Mother to us, but we are such ungrateful children.
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