|
Do
You Reject the Catholic Church's Practice of Giving Honor to
Jesus' Mother Mary? |
Consider:
*
Why do you reject the practice of giving honor to Jesus' mother
Mary when Mary herself, pregnant with Jesus and in the presence of
the Holy Spirit, prophesied that all
generations will call her blessed (see Lk. 1:48)?
Why is it that an angel called Mary "blessed", St.
Elizabeth called Mary "blessed" and Mary herself,
pregnant with Christ, said "all generations will call [her]
blessed", yet you think it is somehow wrong to call her
blessed? Or, why do you fail to call her blessed in fulfillment of
her own prophecy?
*
Why do you reject the practice of giving honor to Jesus' mother
considering that Jesus Himself - in fulfillment of the commandment -
honored His mother?
*
Why do you reject the practice of giving honor to Jesus' mother
Mary when Scripture tells us that the angel gave her honor,
greeting her has "Hail, full of grace", telling her that
"The Lord is with thee", and calling her blessed among
women (see Lk. 1:28)? It is unheard of for an angel - who by
nature is greater than a human - to give a human being such great
praise! Further, a quick count of the number of times "Hail" was applied to
a person in Holy Scripture (NAB translation) reveals:
"Hail" is applied to Jesus four times [once by the
betrayer Judas as he betrayed Christ (Mt. 26:49), and three times
as mockery during the crucifixion (Mt. 27:29, Mk. 15:18, Jn.
19:3), and to Mary one time (by the angel in Lk 1:28)].
*
Why do you reject the practice of giving honor to Jesus' mother
Mary when St. Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist [about whom
Jesus says there is "none greater than John the Baptist"
among those born of women (see Mt. 11:11)] gave her honor, calling
her "blessed" and "most blessed"
(see Lk. 1:42, 45), and speaking "in a loud voice" (Lk.
1:42)? Remember
also that St. Elizabeth spoke this way upon being filled
with the Holy Spirit (Lk. 1:41).
*
Why do you reject the practice of giving honor to Mary when
Scripture tells us to "Honor your father and your
mother" (Ex. 20:12)? Do you not consider Mary to be your
mother? Do you ignore the fact that Jesus gave Mary to "the
disciple whom he loved" (see Jn. 19:25-27)? Are you meaning
to admit that Rv. 12:17 doesn't include you, that you are not
Mary's "offspring" (one who "keep[s] God's commandments and bear[s] witness to
Jesus")? If you are not Mary's "offspring", whose
side do you suppose you are on? Do you not see that Scripture
shows only two
sides to this great battle - Mary's and the devil's? If one is not on
Mary's side, one must be on the devil's side!
*
Why do you reject the practice of giving honor to Jesus' mother
Mary, who is clearly indicated as queen (see Rv. 12:1)? Would you
also refuse
to give an earthly queen due honor? Would a wise person show great
honor to an earthly king, yet snub his mother?
*
Do you think that by not honoring Christ's mother you are somehow
pleasing Christ? Do you not rather think He would be more pleased
that you honored His mother?
Would you be offended if someone praised your
beloved mother? Would you be insulted or angry
or resentful? Would you not rather be honored yourself? "Let us not imagine that we
obscure the glory of the Son by the praise we lavish on the
Mother; for the more she is honored, the greater is the glory of
her Son." (St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Doctor of the
Church)
*
If the Blessed Virgin Mary shouldn't be honored, why does Marian
art trace back even to the Apostolic age? Why is there archeological
evidence of devotion to Mary at least from the beginning of the
second century?
*
Do you not realize that - by God's design - each and every
person's redemption depended upon Mary's fiat? If not for her,
Jesus could not have become man and could not have died on the cross. Have you
ever considered that Mary's actions made it possible for you to
enjoy eternal life with God? Are you not thankful for that? Do you
remember that Scripture teaches that when Christ healed persons
and only one of them returned to give thanks, Jesus inquired about
the other nine (see Lk. 17:17)?
*
Are you unaware of the extraordinary suffering that Christ's
passion and death caused His mother Mary? Do you not see the need
to express your gratitude to her?
"[W]hat
anguish unutterable must have filled the soul of this Mother, when
raising up her eyes, she sees the mangled Body of her Son,
stretched upon the cross, with His face all covered with blood,
and His head wreathed with a crown of thorns!" (Gueranger)
"Thirty-three
years ago Mary looked down at His sacred face; now He looks down
at her. In Bethlehem heaven looked up into the face of earth; now
the roles are reversed. Earth looks up into the face of heaven -
but a heaven marred by the scars of earth. He loved her above all
the creatures of earth, for she was His Mother and the Mother of
us all. He saw her first on coming to earth; He shall see her last
on leaving it. Their eyes meet, all aglow with life, speaking a
language all their own. There is a rupture of a heart through a
rapture of love, then a bowed head, a broken heart. Back to the
hands of God He gives, pure and sinless, His spirit, in loud and
ringing voice that trumpets eternal victory. And Mary stands alone
a Childless Mother. Jesus is dead!" (Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
"With
this fourth dolor no word is spoken; one sees only the shimmering
steel of the Sword, for terror is speechless. The Sword He drove
into His Own heart made Him shed drops of blood, like beads in the
Rosary of redemption over every inch of that Jerusalem roadway;
but the Sword He drove into her soul made her identify herself
with His redemptive sufferings, forced her to tread the streets
over her own Son's blood. His wounds bled; hers did not. Mothers,
seeing their sons suffer, wish it could be their own blood instead
of their sons' that is shed. In her case, it was her blood that He
shed. Every crimson drop of that blood, every cell of that flesh,
she had given to Him. Jesus had no human father. It was always her
blood that He was shedding; it was [her] blood that she was
treading." (Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
"I
bless, praise, and highly commend you, holy and immaculate Virgin
Mary, for taking your sorrowful station at the foot of Jesus'
Cross, where you stood for a long time careworn and afflicted,
transfixed by the sword of sorrow, as foretold by Simeon; for your
many tears, which you abundantly shed; for the great loyalty and
unwavering allegiance you manifested to your dying Son in his most
dire moment; for the acute heartbreak you felt the instant he
died; for your tear-filled countenance when you saw him hanging
dead before your eyes; for your blessed embrace when in your
Mother's arms you received him from the Cross and amid laments
clasped him to your breast; for your dolorous journey to the
sepulcher, walking behind those who bore that sacred corpse and
seeing it placed in a tomb with a large stone sealing it"
(Thomas a Kempis)
If
someone you knew gave up their own child so that you and your
loved ones could live, would you not honor that person? Would you
refuse your gratitude? Well, Mary
did give up her Son so that you and your loved ones might live and
you refuse to honor her or give her gratitude!
*
Do you actually imagine that you could honor Mary more than God
already has? "She bore God, yet your honor is to be believed
to add so much to her glory?"
*
Do you really not see that the woman who was found worthy to be
the mother of the Jesus - that is, God! - is worthy of your honor?
How can you not think the woman who is "Daughter to the
Father, Spouse to the Holy Spirit, and Mother of the Son"
deserves honor? Have you not realized that of all the people who have
ever lived, Jesus was the only one to choose His own mother. Do
you seriously think He'd pick one who wasn't worthy of honor?
*
If
the Ark in the Old Testament which held the written words of God
was to be so revered, how much more should the Ark which actually contained
God Himself be revered?
*
When
one loves God, should not one also love those whom He loves? "For it is the nature of love, to love when it feels itself
loved, and to love all things loved of its beloved. So when the
soul has by degrees known the love of its Creator toward it, it
loves Him, and loving Him, loves all things whatsoever that God
loves." (St. Catherine of Siena)
*
Are we to believe that Mary gave flesh to Jesus (who was conceived
in her by the Holy Spirit!), carried Him for nine months, fed Him,
loved Him, cared for Him, protected Him, taught Him, had authority
over Him, was obeyed by Him... and is now "nothing
special" to Christ?
*
Why is it you would reverence the tomb that Christ's body was laid
in for a few days, but reject the womb from which Christ received
his very flesh?
*
Why is it your non-Catholic 'Christian' religion pays so little
mind to the woman who gave Christ life, brought him into the
world, nourished and protected him, raised him, suffered for
him (cf. Lk. 2:35), sought
and received His first public miracle at her own request (Jn. 2:1-11),
was with Him in His Passion, death, burial, and ascension, and was
also used as God's instrument in the sanctification of St. John
the Baptist in the womb (cf. Lk. 1:41),
and who prayed with the Apostles on Pentecost?
How can you ignore this precious woman who spent more time with Christ
than anyone else on earth and whom all generations are to call blessed (Lk. 1:48)?
The very woman that gave Christ (human) life!
*
How can you not honor Mary? How is you feel you would have
any chance of salvation without her role in it? How can you not
honor the woman who brought forth God? *
"Do you somehow think it's not a big thing to be made Mother of God?
Do you really think no honor should be paid to such a woman?"
How is it you can think it's wrong to honor Jesus' mother Mary,
but be willing to accord a mere celebrity or sports figure honor?
* Do you reject the concept of honoring Mary because Jesus
referred to her as "woman" (see Jn. 2:4, Jn. 19:26)? Can you not
see that this may be seen as a title of honor? In the Gospel of
John, Chapter 2, Jesus calls Mary "Woman" right before
he performs his first public miracle - the very miracle that would
cause his disciples to believe in him (see Jn. 2:11) - at Mary's
request and even though He said that His hour had not come (see Jn. 2:4)
and even though He seemed to say "no" to her request. At
the foot of the Cross, He calls his mother "Woman"
before giving her to the disciple that he loved - to be his
mother! Is it not clear that Mary is "the woman" of Gen.
3:15, the mortal enemy of Satan? *
Do you reject the concept of honoring Mary because Jesus seemed to
'deny' her in certain passages of Scripture (e.g. Mt. 12:46-50,
Mk. 3:31-35, Lk. 11:27-28)? Can you not see the true context of Jesus'
statements - i.e. that He is teaching that it is the following of
His commands, not blood relationships which are important? Can you
not see how Mary is herself included - to an eminent degree - and
not excluded, in the remark that "rather, blessed are they
that hear the word of God, and keep it" (Lk. 11:28)? Can you
not see how Christ greatly honors Mary in Scripture by performing
a miracle at her request "before His hour had come" (Jn. 2:4)?
That He makes provision for her at the foot of the Cross (Jn. 19:27)?
That He fulfils the commandment of honoring His mother? As various
saints have said concerning Jesus' perceived 'denials' of his
Mother Mary... "In
this answer ['rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God,
and keep it' (Lk. 11:28)] He sought not to disown His mother, but
to show that His birth would have profited her nothing, had she
not been really fruitful in works and faith." (St. John
Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church)
"['And
he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?' (Mk.
3:33)] He does not therefore say this, as denying His mother, but
as showing that He is worthy of honor, not only because she bore
Christ, but on account of her possessing every other virtue."
(St. Theophylact)
"['But
he answered and said to him that told him, Who is my mother? and
who are my brethren?' (Mt.12:48)] Nor does He overthrow the duty
of filial submission, which is conveyed in the command, Honor your
father and your mother, but shows that He owes more to the
mysteries and relationship of His Father, than of His mother; as
it follows, 'And stretching out his hand to his disciples, He
said, Behold my mother and my brethren'." (St. Ambrose,
Doctor of the Church)
"['Then
one said to him, Behold, your mother and your brethren stand
without, desiring to speak with you.' (Mt. 12:47)]; He that
delivers this message, seems to me not to do it casually and
without meaning, but as setting a snare for Him, whether He would
prefer flesh and blood to the spiritual work; and thus the Lord
refused to go out, not because He disowned His mother and His
brethren, but that He might confound him that had laid this snare
for Him." (St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church)
"['And
he answered and said to them, My mother and my brethren are these
which hear the word of God, and do it.' (Lk. 8:21)] But some take
this to mean that certain men, hating Christ's teaching, and
mocking at Him for His doctrine, said, Your mother and your
brethren stand without wishing to see you; as if thereby to show
His [so-called] meanness of birth. And He therefore knowing their hearts gave
them this answer, that meanness of birth harms not, but if a man,
though of [perceived] low birth, hear the word of God, He reckons him as His
kinsman. Because however hearing only saves no one, but rather
condemns, He adds, and does it; for it becomes us both to hear and
to do. But by the word of God He means His own teaching, for all
the words which He Himself spoke were from His Father." (St.
Theophylact)
"The
moral teacher who gives himself an example to others, when about
to enjoin upon others, that he who has not left father and mother,
is not worthy of the Son of God, first submits Himself to this
precept, not that He denies the claims of filial piety...but
because He knows that He is more bound to obey His Father's
mysteries than the feelings of His mother. Nor however are His
parents harshly rejected, but the bonds of the mind are shown to
be more sacred than those of the body. Therefore in this place
['And he answered and said to them, My mother and my brethren are
these which hear the word of God, and do it.' (Lk. 8:21)] He does
not disown His mother, (as some heretics say, eagerly catching at
His speech,) since she is also acknowledged from the cross; but
the law of heavenly ordinances is preferred to earthly
affection." (St. Ambrose, Doctor of the Church)
*
Do you reject the Catholic Church's practice of giving honor to
Jesus' mother Mary because you think it's idolatry? If so, you
should know that the Catholic Church in no way promotes or
sanctions idolatry.
The truth is that while faithful Catholics give the
highest veneration to the Blessed Virgin Mary, they never put her
above God, put her as equal to God, put her in opposition to God,
or confuse her with God. Rather, they venerate her as the highest
creature of God. Technically speaking, the
"Worship of Hyperdulia" refers to
the highest degree of veneration allowed to a creature. It is paid
to the Blessed Virgin Mary alone. This special homage paid to the
Blessed Virgin is not to be confused with the "Worship of
Latria" (given to God alone), but is more closely related to
the "Worship of Dulia", the veneration due to the angels
and saints. Mary, of course, is the greatest creature of all,
surpassing all the angels and saints. While
faithful Catholics acknowledge the Blessed Virgin Mary as the
greatest creature in all of God's creation, they admit an infinite
difference between her and God. Should you come across the term "worship" used
in connection with the Blessed Virgin, this should not to be confused with the worship paid to God alone.
Rather, it refers to the highest degree of veneration due a
creature. As expressed by St. Thomas Aquinas, "Since,
therefore, the Blessed Virgin is a mere rational creature, the
worship of latria is not due to her, but only that of dulia: but
in a higher degree than to other creatures, inasmuch as she is the
Mother of God. For this reason we say that not any kind of dulia
is due to her, but hyperdulia." Finally, should
a Catholic actually "worship" Mary in an idolatrous
sense, that person's actions would be condemned by the Church as a
mortal sin (and worthy of eternal punishment if unrepented).
*
"How could you ever consider any legitimate honor paid to Mary to
be excessive? How could one ever honor Mary enough given her relationship
to the Blessed Trinity, and also in light of her
role in our salvation?" *
Have you ever considered that Mary
did not stop being Jesus' Mother after His birth, that she will
continue to be his mother for all eternity?
*
How can you not consider it a duty to honor Jesus' mother Mary? By
God's design, you may receive redemption only because she cooperated with
God's will. *
Do you not realize that the ultimate reason that the Catholic Church honors Mary is because she is the Mother of
God? *
God honored Mary, the angel honored Mary, St. Elizabeth honored
Mary, but you won't?
Closing
Quotations...
"Death
through Eve, life through Mary." (St. Jerome, Doctor of the
Church)
"That
which is given to the Mother redounds to the Son; the honor given
to the Queen is honor bestowed on the King." (St.
Ildephonsus)
"[H]uman words are not able to
describe her who became the Mother of God" (St.
Maximilian Kolbe)
"It
was through the Virgin Mary that God assumed human nature and
joined the race of the sons of Adam." (Pope Pius XII)
"Your honor and dignity surpass the whole of creation;
your greatness places you above the angels." (St. Germanus)
"For the honor which we give to her is referred to Him
Who was made incarnate of her." (St. John of Damascus, Doctor of the
Church)
"For no single individual can even be imagined who
has ever contributed or ever will contribute so much towards
reconciling man with God [as Mary]." (Pope Leo
XIII)
"I
have never read of any saint who did not have a special devotion
to the glorious Virgin" (St. Bonaventure, Doctor of the
Church, 13th century A.D.)
"Hail, God's palace; hail, tabernacle of the
Most High; hail, house of God; hail, His holy vestments; hail,
handmaid of God!" (St. Francis of Assisi)
"Let
us not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the praise
we lavish on the Mother; for the more she is honored, the greater
is the glory of her Son." (St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Doctor of the
Church)
"As
God he produced Mary; as man he was produced by Mary. He himself
was both father and son to his mother Mary." (Eleventh
Council of Toledo, 675 A.D.)
"Neither
did He pass through the Virgin as through a channel, but was truly
made flesh of her, and was truly nourished with her milk"
(St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Doctor of the Church, c. 350 A.D.)
"Him whom the heavens cannot contain, the womb of one woman
bore. She ruled our Ruler; she carried Him in whom we are; she
gave milk to our Bread." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the
Church, 5th century A.D.)
"Mary is blessed by Elisabeth with the
same words as before by Gabriel ["blessed art thou among women"] to show that she was to be
reverenced both by men and angels." (St.
Bede the Venerable, Doctor of the Church)
"Choose
which you will most admire, the most beneficent condescension of
the Son, or the sublime dignity of the Mother. On each side it is
a subject of wonder and astonishment; that a God should obey a
woman is a humility beyond example, and that a woman commands a
God, is a preeminence without a rival." (St. Bernard, Doctor
of the Church)
"The
only begotten Son of God at all times paid to his most holy Mother
the most evident marks of honor... He associated her with himself
in each of his first two miracles - the miracle of grace when, at
the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in the womb of
Elizabeth; the miracle of nature when he turned water into wine at
the marriage feast of Cana." (Pope Leo XIII)
"God
could have given us the Redeemer of the human race and the founder
of the Faith in another way than through the Virgin, but since
divine Providence has been pleased that we should have the man-God
through Mary, who conceived him by the Holy Ghost and bore him in
her womb, it only remains for us to receive Christ through the
hands of Mary." (Pope St. Pius X)
"Moreover,
one must remember that the Blood of Christ shed for our sake and
those members in which He offers to His Father the wounds He
received, the price of our liberty, are no other than the flesh
and blood of the virgin, since the flesh of Jesus is the flesh of
Mary, and however much it was exalted in the glory of His
resurrection, nevertheless the nature of His flesh derived from
Mary remained and still remains the same" (Pope Leo XIII,
"Fidentem Piumque Animum", 1896 A.D.)
"The
Ark contained the Tablets of the Law; Mary contained in her womb
the heir of the Testament. The Ark bore the Law; Mary bore the
Gospel. The Ark make the voice of God heard; Mary gave us the very
Word of God. The Ark shone forth with the purest of gold; Mary
shone forth both inwardly and outwardly with the splendor of
virginity. The gold which adorned the Ark came from the interior
of the earth; the gold with which Mary shown forth came from the
mines of heaven." (St. Ambrose, Doctor of the Church)
"Let
us once more devoutly reverence the mystery of Mary's Immaculate
Conception: our Emmanuel loves to see His Mother honored. After
all, is it not for Him and for His sake that this bright star was
prepared from all eternity, and created when the happy time fixed
by the divine decree came? When we honor the Immaculate Conception
of Mary, it is really to the divine mystery of the Incarnation
that we are paying our just homage. Jesus and Mary cannot be
separated, for Isaias tells us that she is the branch and He the
Flower (Is 11:1)."
(Dom Gueranger)
"By
divine decision, the new Eve, mother of the new generation of the
living, is the irreducible enemy of Satan and, together with the
Savior, has the task of defeating Satan and crushing his head. The
pride of the rebellious angel is given a deadly blow, from the
moment in which God makes use of a creature, and in particular a
woman, to realize the plan of redemption entrusted to His Son.
Satan has other and no less important reasons for nourishing a
particular hatred against Mary. In this regard, it is interesting
to report the testimony of exorcist priests, who agree that when
the name of Mary is pronounced, a person possessed or disturbed by
a demon manifests the most violent reactions." (Fr. Fanzaga)
"I answer that, Since latria is due to God alone, it is not
due to a creature so far as we venerate a creature for its own
sake. For though insensible creatures are not capable of being
venerated for their own sake, yet the rational creature is capable
of being venerated for its own sake. Consequently the worship of
latria is not due to any mere rational creature for its own sake.
Since, therefore, the Blessed Virgin is a mere rational creature,
the worship of latria is not due to her, but only that of dulia:
but in a higher degree than to other creatures, inasmuch as she is
the Mother of God. For this reason we say that not any kind of
dulia is due to her, but hyperdulia." (St. Thomas Aquinas,
Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history
of the Church")
"It
was through her that He became the bridge between the Divine and
the human. If we take her away, then either God does not become
man, or He that is born of her is man and not God. Without her we
would no longer have Our Lord! If we have a box in which we keep
our money, we know that one thing we must always give attention to
is the key; we never think that the key is the money, but we know
that without the key we cannot get our money. Our Blessed Mother
is like they key. Without her we can never get to Our Lord,
because He came through her. She is not to be compared to Our
Lord, for she is a creature and He is a Creator. But if we lose
her, we cannot get to Him. That is why we pay so much attention to
her; without her we could never understand how that bridge was
built between Heaven and earth." (Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
"Mary
does not prevent our honoring Our Lord. Nothing is more cruel than
to say that she takes souls away from Christ. That could mean that
Our Lord chose a mother who is selfish, He Who is Love itself. If
she kept us from her Son, we would disown her! But is not she, who
is the Mother of Jesus, good enough for us sinners? We would never
have had Our Divine Lord if He had not chosen her. We pray to the
Heavenly Father, 'Give us this day our daily bread.' Though we ask
God for our daily bread, we do not hate the farmer and the baker
who help prepare it. Neither does the mother who gives the bread
to her child dispense with the Heavenly Provider. If the only
charge that Our Lord has against us on Judgement Day is that we
loved His Mother - then we shall be very happy!" (Archbishop
Fulton Sheen)
"The
Apostles had the advantage of only three years' teaching to
prepare themselves for the establishment of His Kingdom, but the
Blessed Mother had the advantage of thirty years. When one tries
to imagine who much insight and inspiration would come from
catching only a momentary glimpse of Wisdom Incarnate, one is
appalled to think how much inspiration and wisdom Mary must have
received from the years of communing with her Divine Son... If Our
Blessed Lord after His Resurrection could so inspire the disciples
of Emmaus in the interpretation of Scripture, then what must have
been the thirty years' rehearsal of the Scriptures to His Mother,
as explained to her how she was to be the new Eve, and how she was
to share in His work of redemption beginning at Cana and ending at
the Cross? Let those who think that the Church pays too much
attention to Mary give heed to the fact that Our Blessed Lord
Himself gave ten times as much of His life to her as He gave to
His Apostles." (Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
"If Mary
is the Mother of God, what wonder, then, that God has glorified
and will glorify, though all ages, her power of intercession with
him for all men? The Eternal Father has chosen Mary to be the
mother of his only Son; the Holy Spirit chose her as his spouse.
The Son, who has promised a throne in heaven to the apostles who
preached his world, is bound in justice to do more for the Mother
who bore him, the eternal Word. If we believe in honoring our
mother, surely he believes in honoring and glorifying his. Now
what honors, what prerogatives, should God bestow on her whom he
has so favored, and who served him so devotedly! How should she be
honored whom the King of Heaven deigns to honor!... How should
Jesus reward the loving Mother who bore him, nursed him, saved him
in his infancy from a most cruel death? Is there any honor too
high for her whom God himself has so honored? Is there any glory
too dazzling for her whom the God of glory has chosen for his
dwelling place?" (Muller)
"The
following praise was given to her in the same words both by the
Archangel Gabriel and St. Elizabeth: 'Blessed art though amongst
women.' Mary is truly called blessed above all other women, she
having been herself always preserved from the least stain of sin,
and having been the happy instrument of God in converting the
maledictions laid on all mankind into blessings. When Judith had
delivered Bethulia from temporal destruction, Ozias, the prince of
the people, said to her 'Blessed art thou, daughter, above all
women upon the face of the earth' (Judith 13:23). And 'the people
all blessed her with one voice, saying: Thou art the glory of
Jerusalem, thou are the joy of Israel, thou art the honor of our
people.' How much more emphatically shall we, from our hearts,
pronounce her blessed above all women who brought forth Him who is
the author of all manner of spiritual and eternal blessings to us.
She most justly said of herself, in the deepest sense of gratitude
to the divine goodness, 'Behold, from henceforth all generations
shall call me blessed' (Lk. 1:48)"
(Muller)
"Let
us not be surprised, therefore, at the enthusiasm and profound
respect wherewith the Church extols the Blessed Virgin and her
prerogatives. Let us on the contrary be convinced that all the
praise the Church can give her, and all the devotion she can ever
bear towards her, are far below what is due to her as Mother of
the Incarnate God. No mortal will ever be able to describe, or
even comprehend, how great a glory accrues to her from this
sublime dignity. For, as the glory of Mary comes from her being
the Mother of God, one would have first to comprehend God himself
in order to measure the greatness of her dignity. It is to God
that Mary gave our human nature; it is God whom she had as her
Child; it is God who gloried in rendering himself, inasmuch as he
is Man, subject to her: hence, the true value of such a dignity
possessed by a mere creature, can only be appreciated in
proportion to our knowledge of the sovereign perfections of the
great God, who thus deigns to make himself dependent upon that
favored creature. Let us therefore bow down in deepest adoration
before the Majesty of our God; let us therefore acknowledge that
we cannot respect as it deserves the extraordinary dignity of her
whom he chose for his Mother." (Dom Gueranger)
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