The Gospel of St. John expressly reminds the reader that not everything is in the Bible. Yet, Protestantism ignored St. John, being that it bases itself on a very fatal and tunnel-visioned belief in Sola Scriptura. Protestants demand a Biblical reference that justifies Marian devotion. The source is the Gospel of St. Luke, where Mary said:
My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my
Savior, because he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness.
Henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed, because
he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is
his name.
In light of this, if you have a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, then you call her blessed by means of said devotion. In doing so, you are fulfilling a Biblical prophecy of all generations (after hers and including hers) calling her blessed.
Those who do not call her blessed are NOT Christians, only pretenders lodged in heretical sects that rejected many precepts and doctrines which trace back to the original apostles. All in all, devotion to Mary consists in being part of All Succeeding Generations calling Mary blessed as was prophesied in the Bible. It's that simple.
Concerning simplicity, it is written,
"From the mouths of babes come perfect praise."
Thus, a child praying the Rosary is fulfilling Sacred Scripture in sending forth perfect praise. People who have trouble accepting this are spiritual gluttons never satisfied with anything but that which is vain and overbearingly gaudy. The irony is that embracing a devotion as humble as the Rosary results in the devotee having lights and a colorfulness equal to a multi-faceted gem which is very clear, as opposed to muddy and muddled.
In addition, there is the account in the Gospel of John, where Christ, while dying on the Cross, said to John, "Behold. Your mother." Devotion to the woman given to mankind as its mother honors Christ in the pain and death he endured. Add to the Biblical sources the words of God the Father, spoken through the Archangel Gabriel: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Rejoice oh highly favored daughter." Devotion to God's highly favored daughter honors the God who creat ed her. It also shows a common interest that you and God both hold.
1] What is the essence of Marian Devotion?
Response: To start, Mary is NOT a brain dead road sign who merely says, "Do whatever he says." Rather, she, unlike any creature of God, brings Jesus to you. In as much, Marian Devotion consists in Mary taking Jesus and placing him in your arms. Then, when you die, Mary takes you and places you in Jesus' arms. It's that simple. But, it is the essence of sacredness. Only the arrogant are in complete incomprehensive to this reality.
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| Painted by an Australian friend. |
2a] Isn't looking at a painting or statue of the Virgin Mary idolatry?
Response: Do you have photos of your loved ones at home? When you look at those photos, are you worshiping the people within the frames? In fact, do you have photos of sports heroes, war heroes, peace heroes, singing stars, or movie stars? Do you worship those people as if you actually believe that they created all that is seen and unseen? Religious images are reminders. They are study guides that help you recollect something pertinent about the event or person depicted in the image upon which you are meditating.
Such images are a view to a scene or a person. They let you experience the person or the event to some degree. When you view and make conscious note of an image of the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, or the Ascension, it places your considerations and realizations at the event represented.
Religious images have symbolism attached to them. The symbolism for martyrs includes the article of execution used upon the martyr, as well as a palm branch to remind the viewer that the saint represented in the image was a martyr. Thus, in images of Saint Jude, you will see clubs. In images of Saint Andrew, you will see an X-shaped cross. In as much, images of the saints are blessed picture books. The stained glass versions of such images helped the illiterate tremendously.
3a] Where in the Bible does it state that the
Virgin Mary was conceived without sin?
Response: It was mentioned at the Annunciation when the Archangel Gabriel said, "Hail, full of grace. The Lord is with you." Technically speaking, Gabriel said, "Rejoice, oh graced one." And of course, such a title is a description of totality.
Now, to be full of one thing is to be free of its opposite. Therefore, to be full of grace is to be free of sin. Furthermore, to be full of grace is different than being filled with the Holy Spirit . To be filled with the Holy Spirit still requires the person to receive stipends of grace, so that sin will not be out of control weeds in the soul. To be full of grace is to be in a state where all sin is always crowded out.
The church came before the New Testament. If it were not for the apostles and the faith of the early Christians, there would be no series of written texts called the New Testament. Therefore, the Bible was made for man --- not man for the Bible. The New Testament came forth from Tradition. Tradition existed first.
The Bible has a limited number of pages, meaning that it's finite. It was written in the service of the Infinite God. Thus, not everything is in the Bible, being that finite pages cannot contain knowledge of the Infinite. Therefore, it wasn't required for the Bible to state that the Virgin Mary was conceived in an immaculate state of soul. In fact, John stated in his Gospel, "There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if they were to be described individually, I don't think that the entire world would be able to contain the books that would be written." Therefore, a writer of the Bible stated that not everything is in the Bible. Quite frankly, hardly anything is in the Bible.
The Bible is merely the Beginner's Book. It's training wheels compared to what the angels know about the subject, as well as what you'll personally experience in your interaction with God, the angels, the saints, and even people in this life. Your education will be the result of the Holy Spirit infusing knowledge into you and the others who will share their knowledge with you. This type of thing happens whether the person given infused knowledge read the Bible or not. Reading the Bible does not guarantee holiness. Satan knows the Bible far more than anyone of us. Knowing it didn't make him a saint.
3b] The Bible said that, "In Adam, all have sinned."
Isn't the Virgin Mary a member of this "all?"
Response: Mary wasn't in Adam. She was in the Holy Spirit. This is why God the Father gave the impulse to the archangel Gabriel which resulted in him appearing to Mary and defining her as "Full of Grace" ("Oh Graced One.") Never before and never after did God the Father instruct any angel to appear to anyone on earth and recognize her as being the graced one ... the one full of grace.
A handful of people in scriptural passages were described as being full of the Holy Spirit, but this is different than being full of grace. To be full of grace is to possess all of the graces existing in the treasury of the Holy Spirit, to the point where you can wield them as if there were yours. To be full of the Holy Spirit still places the person in need of the Holy Spirit conveying specific needed graces to him/her. To be full of the Holy Spirit is to be in possession of sanctifying grace. To be full of grace is to be in possession of all actual internal graces without having in your soul a component that acts against those graces. Any component within the soul that acts against grace is an element of original sin.
3c] But what empowered God to create Mary Immaculate?
Response: The foreseen merits of Christ and Christ's rights as Savior of mankind did so. Jesus is the perfect savior. He has the right to save souls in every spectrum of life, from the beginning to the end of life. He was empowered to save a person who jumped off a bridge, in giving that person the unfailing grace to make a perfect act of contrition or of love before that person hit the water. He was empowered to save from their sins those on their death beds, moments away from eternity. Thus, he had the right to save one person from even falling into sin, in the first place.
What he did to Mary the first moment she was created was equivalent to catching someone before she falls into the mud. The fact that he would one day perform the priestly sacrifice that only he could do was all that was needed to empower him to save Mary from falling into the state of original sin. Christ is more dynamic than what he is presently made out to be. He only looks like a buffoon when buffoons talk about him. People equate him with the buffoons who talk about him.
4] The idea of Original Sin sounds too judgmental. How could
a mere child who didn't do anything start out in original sin?
Response: No child is guilty of committing the original sin, being that no child is the original Adam. Rather, being conceived in the state of original sin consists in being conceived in the same state that Adam found himself, the moment after he committed the original sin.
This state of original sin brings with it obscured reason, as well as senses that can get out of control. This is why we must apply ourselves to learning and why we also need to do some type of good in life, such as occasional fasting, abstention, works of mercy, prayer, and those bodily workouts formerly known as mortifications. After all, we are not born with infused knowledge and we no longer possess the endowment of integrity. The first objective is to conquer your cravings.
The other effect of original sin that can lead to tragedy and abuse is interdependence. Those who take advantage of the dependence of others rocket into Hell like lightning, if they die before converting. Forcing women to partake in prostitution is a sin worse than the acts of prostitution themselves.
5] What gave Christ the power to assume
Mary into Heaven body and soul?
Response: The Ten Commandments did. It is written, "Honor your mother and father." If Jesus didn't take his own mom into Heaven body and soul, he would have sinned against his own commandment. This was expressly mentioned in the Infallible Statement, titled, Munificentissimus Deus, published in 1950.
6] The Bible states that there is but one Mediator between God
and Man. That would exclude everyone else, including Mary.
Response: No one devoted to Mary ever said that she was the savior of mankind. This is where one needs to have a minimal understanding of Latin. Co-redemptrix means, "With the Redeemer." Mary called God her savior during the Visitation she made to her cousin Elizabeth. That same biblical passage stated that all generations will call her blessed.
People devoted to the Virgin Mary, by their devotion, call her blessed, thereby fulfilling the prophecy about her in the Bible. If you do not call her blessed, then you are the one who is anti-Biblical. After all, it is written, "All generations will call me blessed, because he who is mighty has done great things
for me and holy is his name." "His name," incidentally, means "his person."
Christ is the Mediator for the forgiveness of sin. Mary is the dispenser of graces, because of Jesus' priestly sacrifice. Such a job resulted in her being called, Mary, the Mediatrix of All Graces. There is a reason why Mary must be the Mediatrix of the graces which, incidentally, come from her spouse, the Holy Spirit. It pertains to the the Last Supper.
The Last Supper was the first Mass, where Jesus gave to mankind the last commandment that he will ever give. This occurred when he said, "Love one another as I have loved you." Mary is the master link in that chain of loving one another as Christ has loved us. After all, she was personally in direct view of Divine Love longer than anyone in the history of mankind. Therefore, she has more experience at interacting with it.
In the mystery of love, Mary transformed into the Holy Spirit. I can assure you, even if you are the most Bible-reading person on earth, Mary knows mysteries that you do not. So, why not go to the source of the mysteries that pertain to the salvation of mankind? The Virgin Mary knows what it means to be saved more than anyone in existence. More mercy was bestowed upon the Virgin Mary, in keeping her free from sin, than was bestowed upon every converted prostitute combined.
It's written, "Eye has not seen and ear has not heard, nor has it entered the human heart as to what God has prepared for those who love him ..." 1 Cor., 2:9. Also written is, "Beloved, we are God's children now. What we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that, when it is revealed, we shall be like him, being that we shall see him as he is." This means that the mysteries of God are far too deeply recessed and awe-striking for them to be reduced to the basal mentality of those too cowardly to aspire the to depths and heights where one expects to find the angels stationed. The express route to the angels is the Rosary, of course. The principle prayer of the Rosary are the words of God the Father spoken by Gabriel. It is known as the Angelic Salutation ... the Hail Mary.
People who hate the Virgin Mary do so, because they think that they have an aversion to what they perceive to be gymnastics training and harsh disciplinary oppression. Yet, those who have an affinity to her see her as a beautiful starlit night. Her devotees become attracted to her beauty and inviting friendliness, if they don't do so, in the quest for solace in tragedy. They are devoted to her because they want to be near her. She then takes over and starts the trimming, pruning, and overhauling process. After the chiseling, one ends up perceiving the Holy Spirit for what he actually is; Kindness itself. Concerning Reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, see:
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