From Fr. Flanagan...
Honoring Mary During the Month of May
As we prepare to honor our mothers, both living and deceased next weekend, I thought
this would be a good opportunity to address why we honor our Blessed Mother with
a procession like the one we’re celebrating this weekend. Processions to commemorate
the lives of the saints have a very deep and rich tradition in the history of our
Catholic faith, but as we know, we have to be prepared to address questions about
the doctrines of Marian devotion—these teachings that help us explain to others
why we hold such pious exercises.
Frequently, we are accused of “worshipping Mary” an action which somehow detracts
from the worship owed to Almighty God. We hear the accusation, “How can you Catholics
pray to Mary and erect statues of her? This seems idolatrous and is a violation
of the First Commandment.” But, do the prayers to Mary and the building of
statues, churches, and schools in her honor take anything away from God?
To answer the question, we need to delineate between “worship” and “veneration”—
terms which are often confused by those objecting to Marian devotion. As Catholics,
we worship God and Him alone; however, the way we relate to the saints is
a different story. We “honor” and “venerate” them because their lives are
worthy of imitation and serve as models for us who are also called to follow the
Lord Jesus. Concerning the Blessed Mother, it is only fitting that she deserves
even greater respect and veneration because of her singular and unique role in Salvation
History since she was chosen to bear Christ the Lord Himself.
“Alright— but what about all those statues?” It’s a fair question but if we conclude
that building statues of people (other than Jesus) is utter idolatry then our nation’s
capital is filled with idols. For instance, look at the statues of our nation’s
presidents and the countless soldiers who have given their lives for our country.
By that logic, we better tear those down as well. Of course, we see how silly that
is…..we don’t erect statues of these people to “worship” them; rather, we do so
to honor the sacrifices they have made for our country. If that is true on the natural
level how much more important is it to honor those men and women (chiefly the Blessed
Mother) on the supernatural level.
Such honor also includes prayer to her. We invoke her intercession, much like we
ask others to pray for us when a particular need arises. Because we believe she
is in the presence of almighty God (see Revelation 12:1-2) she is certainly
a powerful intercessor for us and cares for her children here on earth. We also
invoke “her sweet name” every time we pray the “Hail Mary” which is a beautiful
Biblical prayer. In that prayer, we echo the words of both the angel Gabriel
(Luke 1:28) who greets our Lady by saying, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with
you” as well as those of her cousin, St. Elizabeth, upon Mary’s arrival at
her home. In Luke 1:42 we read, “Blessed are you among women and blessed
is the fruit of your womb!” as Elizabeth erupts in a moment of ecstatic joy.
It is clear then that Marian devotion for us is not some wedge that drives us away
from our relationship with the Lord Jesus; on the contrary, the Blessed Mother is
a bridge between us and God. She is at the heart of the mission of the Church much
like she was 20 centuries ago in the “Upper Room” during that first Pentecost (Acts
1:14) as she prayed with the Apostles. At the moment when the Holy Spirit
descended upon them, interestingly enough, Our Lady was the only one in that room
who had true, experiential knowledge as to what was taking place. Because about
33 years earlier, the same Holy Spirit descended upon her as she uttered her “Yes”
which has forever changed the world (Luke 1:35). Mary does not detract from
Jesus whatsoever because her sole mission was to bring Jesus to us....and to bring
us closer to Jesus.
Oh, and, by the way if we are worried that this explanation may not suffice when
trying to help others understand this part of our faith concerning Marian devotion,
we can take great comfort in the words of St. Maximilian Kolbe who said: Never
be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than
Jesus did.
May our Blessed Mother, who is perfectly united with the will of her Divine Son,
keep you always close to her Immaculate Heart,
Fr. Flanagan
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