The Blessed Virgin Mary is highly honored in the Catholic Church, more than any of the saints.
She is honored and revered, but never worshiped. Only God should be worshiped and Mary is not God. She is one of us.
As the first and most perfect disciple, she leads all Christians to Jesus, and devotion to her is pleasing to Him.
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”
Luke 1: 26-31
She was there with Him throughout his whole life:
Veneration and honor, not adoration or worship:
She has a special place right next to her Son:
No other human has been so close to God:
“All generations will call me blessed”: “The Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship.” The Church rightly honors “the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of ‘Mother of God,’ to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs. . . . This very special devotion . . . differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration.” The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an “epitome of the whole Gospel,” express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 971
Her most honored title is “mother”:
Mary is the mother of the King:
Mary is our Mother:
Now, at the first dawn of the Church, at the beginning of the long journey through faith which began at Pentecost in Jerusalem, Mary was with all those who were the seed of the “new Israel.” She was present among them as an exceptional witness to the mystery of Christ. And the Church was assiduous in prayer together with her, and at the same time “contemplated her in the light of the Word made man.” It was always to be so. For when the Church “enters more intimately into the supreme mystery of the Incarnation,” she thinks of the Mother of Christ with profound reverence and devotion.
Pope Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, March 25, 1987
The grace of God perfected and fulfilled:
At the deepest level, the Church is Marian in form:
An appropriate gesture of honor due to her:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
What does it take?:
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