The Center for contemplative practice
A Lay Cistercian Looks at Spiritual Reality
10 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT MARY, MOTHER OF GOD
Despite the bad press about Mary and her being divine and the object of a cult, she is the mother of Jesus, the Son of the Living God. Of course, none of this makes any sense using the assumptions of the World. It is a sign of contradiction, a Mystery of Faith.
- Mary only has one nature, human. Yea, you say, but you call her the Mother of God. Does that means she is before God because she was His mother? No. Does Mary have a divine nature? No. Only God has a divine nature. Jesus had both a divine nature, and, thanks to Mary’s “yes”, a human nature.
- No one should pray to another human, either living or dead. We only pray to God, the object of our Faith. We don’t pray to the Pope or to the Blessed Mother or to St. Peter or St. Paul. We only pray to someone with divine nature.
- Mary only told us one thing to do when it comes to Jesus. “Do what he tells you.”
- Mary is Mother of God. When Mohammed was pulling together his religion, he took elements of pagan worship from the tribes, Jewish traditions, and Christian traditions. The problem was, when he took the Christian part of the religion, he talked to people who were Nestorian Christians (heretics). They held that Mary was the mother of Jesus, whereas the Church tradition held that Mary was the Mother of God. They hold that misconception to this day.
- Mary is the Mother of God but also the Mother of the Church. She is the first Christian, the first to believe in her Son.
- There is only one way to approach the Father, through, with and in Christ. We can pray to Mary, in the sense of asking her to pray with us to her Son, but even that prayer is through, with and in Christ.
- When we go before the Blessed Sacrament in Eucharistic Adoration, we worship God alone. When we consume the Eucharist during Mass, we proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Mary worships God, just as we do. We ask her intercession as we do all the Saints who have gone before us (those who are Saints and those who are saints) to join in our prayers to God as they stand before the Throne of the Lamb giving Him all praise, and honor, and blessing.
- Christ ascended into Heaven. Mary was assumed into Heaven. Mary has not power other than through, with, and in her Son, just as we all do.
- Mary’s center was Christ, not herself. She was overshadowed or conceived by God and was without sin from that moment. We call this the Immaculate Conception, part of the Mystery of Faith.
- Mary was not one of the Apostles nor did Christ make Mary the rock upon which he would build his Church. That was to Peter, broken, and one who betrayed Christ.
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