Why Not Mary?

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Oct22

Beyond the Rhetoric: Why Not Mary?

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

Most of us who are Catholics eventually get asked, “Why do you Catholics worship Mary?” More often than not the question is not a real question it is a rhetorical question. For a few of you who might not know what is meant by the expression “rhetorical question,” it refers to a “question” whose purpose is not to seek an answer, but, rather, to make a (usually hostile) point. For example the expression “Who do you think you are!?” is in the form of a question but it does not seek an answer. Instead it is meant as a rebuke. And so it usually is when we Catholics get asked the “question” Why do you worship Mary?” we’re usually aware that it is not a sincere question seeking a sincere answer. However, for those cases where an answer really is sought I might propose the following approach:

“Well, of course we don’t worship Mary since that would be a terrible sin. Worship belongs to God alone. We DO honor her though. Afterall, she is Jesus’ mother. But let me ask you a question. Why in your church, do you NOT honor Mary at all? Doesn’t scripture say Every generation will call [Mary] blessed because God who is mighty has done great things for [her]? (Luke 1:48-49) It seems to me that we Catholics are fulfilling scripture but that in your denomination you are not fulfilling or following it. So why don’t you honor her at all? Why don’t you call her blessed as the Bible says?”

Now stop there and wait for an answer. Don’t keep going. Just stop and wait. Have them answer for a change. We Catholics are always on the defensive, always in answer mode. But we ought to ask a few questions too. And try to avoid a merely rhetorical or hostile tone. Try to allow this question to be genuine, respectful, one meant to provoke thought. It is possible that many Protestants have never been asked this question or pondered an answer. Now it is also possible that your interlocutor will try to change the subject or evade an answer by piling on about Catholics but just repeat the question respectfully and ask for an answer. Remember your point is not to argue, be hostile or win an argument. Your point is to provoke thought and get a real answer. And even if the conversation ends badly or with no answer, you’ve planted a seed, a question that they will ponder even if they don’t admit it. Jesus often asked questions to proke thought and conversion. I will be doing a post on this next week.

A final thought on Mary. Another way to explain out devotion and love for Mary is that we are imitating Jesus. We love, honor, respect and entrust ourselves to her care because Jesus did all these things and we want to be just like Jesus. Consider that the very Son of God, dwelled in Mary’s womb, nursed at her breasts, was held in her arms, sat on her lap and entrusted himself to her care. Our Lord could have chosen to enter our world in other ways. Perhaps He could simply have entered the world as a full grown man. The fact is that He freely chose Mary to be his mother and he was truly her Son. As her son he loved and honored her as any good son must and as her son he entrusted himself to her care. All of this serves to highlight Mary’s dignity and to show us how devotion to her is in perfect imitation of Jesus himself.

What more need we say: Jesus our Lord and God honors and loves Mary, and his very scriptures sing her praises; so too His Angel Gabriel and countless saints. When we honor Mary we imitate the very Son of God and fulfill Holy Scripture. Certainly our Lord is pleased that we love and honor his mother.

Here’s a little viseo I recently put together. The Music is from the Daughters of St Paul, “I Am Thine” from the Handmaiden of the Lord Album:

Bearing Wrongs Patiently

When I came home after a busy day I received a note saying that I had to finish cleaning my bathroom and doing something with the clutter in front of the desk. I was almost as mad as a hornet!!! My room had to reach a certain standard in order for me to be allowed to stay at my friend's for the night. That's what was really bothering me!

I really think it's wrong to punish someone for having a problem he/she can't control or is doing the best they can with. And I've been really trying but did take some time out to do something.

I almost wrote a grievance (a complaint) about this but thought I'd talk to my case manager-the one who wrote the note-since this was kind of a "first offense" and also I received another note about a necessary ANNUAL smoke alarm inspection in every room of the building which has one. So they said our rooms had to be neat for the inspection. My smoke alarm isn't far from the chairs or clutter in front of my desks-so they will need room to do their work without tripping over my stuff or breaking an ankle.

I felt like I needed to talk to Father right away even if it's not a dire emergency. If I discuss issues that are weighing on me like this I usually don't call them at home or on their cell phones; I usually would talk to them before of after Mass or in the confessional.

So I called him at the number I have for him on my cell phone-probably his cell phone. I told him that I'm terrible at bearing wrongs patiently-one of the Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy and had less than a saintly attitude toward this kind of treatment.

He did ask me if the rent is reasonable and I told him that they base it on income like a housing authority apartment. He even asked me if I thought of moving and I said yes, but I really don't like living alone and don't know who'd let me live with them. And I'd like to live close to St. Patrick's so I can keep going to the Latin Mass.

He did encourage me and helped me not to feel like such a bad person and we both agreed other people, even seminarians and Sisters, can be a challenge to live with. Probably why it would be hard to find a place to live with others unless I got married or committed to an institution.

He's been quite a comfort and a blessing to me and sounds very cheerful even over the phone and behind the screen in the confessional. I wish I could be that cheerful, but I still have "more issues than TV Guide" and complain too much. This includes being penalized for being a very disorganized and tired packrat who has very little space to keep her belongings.

Father asked me if I had an "altar" in my room or some special place to pray or at least a statue of a patron Saint. I said I don't have the space for the altar, but I do have a statue of the Blessed Virgin with a Miraculous Medal on each side of her.

Saint Anthony of Padua is a favorite Saint of mine because he's the finder of lost things, St. Francis of Assisi another one because I admire him for giving away his possessions to the poor and living a life of poverty (as well as his love of animals) and St. Dymphna for being the Saint for mental and nervous conditions-which is what seems to be getting me in trouble-with the clutter and a lot of behavioral and emotional issues-including the stress that this situation causes me. So I may have at least these four Saints on my personal altar whenever I find room for one.

Father said he had to get off the phone, but he and I prayed the Magnificat, three Hail Marys, and another prayer-part of it in English and part of it in Latin, before getting off the phone.

Since I'm feeling a need to spend as much time as possible on this room I may not have much time to post on this blog. So I may have to post every other day-including the lessons on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit-Whose guidance I can really use at this time.

Gratitude

We had a different priest say the Latin Mass yesterday morning. The one we usually have is on retreat.

The priest we had this time talked about being gratitude. He also said that there's a restaurant in Michigan he stops at on the way to "my native Canada." I've known for a long time that the Canadians' Thanksgiving is held in October-not November. Must be wonderful being a Canadian living in the United States-getting to celebrate Thanksgiving twice! I had that pleasure one year. I was going with a man who lived with a Canadian citizen. I was invited over to their house for Thanksgiving twice-both in October and in November. It was awesome! In fact the food the Canadian's wife fixed in October was the same as what we have in November in the US.

My friends in AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) refer to November as Gratitude Month and say that the Canadians' Gratitude Month is October.

What a wonderful thing to have 61 days dedicated to being grateful!

Many times I'm not grateful enough-and complain about things not going my way-instead of being grateful for the good things.

I'm grateful today that I have a room to retreat to with a full bath and a phone (same number I had in my apartment) without people constantly banging on my door all hours of the day and night-regardless of what I'm doing trying to get money out of me for cigarettes-or at least a can of pop-as if I were responsible for feeding their addictions.

I'm glad that I can spend some time here praying at different times without having to constantly being distracted by noise or being dragged out of my "prayer closet" to see what anyone wants. I think this really helps me spend time with the Lord-and His Mother-when things are quiet most of the time-or that the noise out in the hall is not there to get me to do anything for anyone-it's just there.

I'm grateful that there are plenty of dogs and cats I can visit and pet. We can't have a dog or cat at the place I live, but we can have pet fish in our rooms-and I have a couple of them. I have a friend who has dogs and cats at her house. I get to go over there and pet them. Actually, there's just ONE dog at her house-she called me to tell me the other one is missing and to tell me to have EVERYONE I know pray for the other one to come back.

I'm not exactly rich or the healthiest person around-but others have it worse than me. Of course this is not good that people are so sick and poor-they do need our help.

And I'm grateful today that Jesus and Mary love me and want me to be in Heaven with them. In fact the ONE thing that Father says matters the most-that no matter what else happens to him is that he is in a state of grace!

I guess I haven't been thinking about that very much before attending the Latin Mass as much as I've been admiring the Protestants for their love of Jesus. But thinking of what Father says sometimes helps me to keep my sanity about even things that seem catastrophic-such as my rent check bouncing on me in July.

I've been very grateful that someone did the Heimleich maneuver on me and saved me from choking to death on a tiny bran flake. The feeling of gratitude I have about being alive-in the physical sense-reminds me of how I need to be grateful to Jesus for saving my soul-so I can go to Heaven when I finally have to leave this earth. But the sanctifying grace given by Jesus is far more important than anything that can be done by any man, woman, or child to keep me breathing so I can still be with them on Earth.

Evil=The Absence of Good

Last Sunday Father talked about good and evil in his homily. He said that evil is the absence of good and said it's like darkness being the absence of light. You flip the switch after walking into a dark room and you have light. And you flip the switch again and you remove the light-you have darkness again.

What a concept! Everything was good until Lucifer-a.k.a. Satan-decided he wanted to take charge and rebel instead of being faithful to God. And other angels decided to take his side instead of God's. So by being disobedient to God these fallen angels rejected good and chose evil. Of course, God wasn't-and still isn't-going to tolerate this lack of goodness in Heaven, so He had to throw them out of Heaven.

So He and St. Michael the Archangel went to work and got those devils out of Heaven and sent them off to Hell-a "place" that was made just for them.

Earth was perfect too, when Adam and Eve were created and they were perfectly happy. But they were tempted by Satan disguised as a serpent. The serpent asked Eve if God told her not to eat from any tree in the garden. She replied that she had been told she and Adam may eat from any tree in the garden-except for one. That was the one in the center of the garden-they were even told not to touch it. She said if she or Adam touched it they would die.

But the serpent told Eve that she wouldn't die if she ate the fruit of the tree; she would become like God and have knowledge of good and evil like Him. She tasted the fruit and it tasted good. And she gave some to Adam who ate it too. Then they found out they were naked and made clothes out of fig leaves. Then they were thrown out of the garden and had to suffer and die and everyone else had to suffer and die because of the sin they committed-what is known as Original Sin.

In fact the only two people who never had Original Sin on their souls were Jesus and His Mother Mary. Even John the Baptist had Original Sin in his soul while in the womb, but it was replaced by sanctifying grace when Mary arrived at the home of Elizabeth and Zechariah. Something was given to John while in the womb-sanctifying grace. Everyone else has to be baptized to be given sanctifying grace. And I've been thinking of baptism and the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) as ways of removing sin as well as giving grace.

I noticed that when I took Latin in high school that sine, the word for "without" was spelled almost like "sin" except there was an "e" at the end. And in college when I took Spanish, sin, their word for "without" was spelled exactly like our word "sin." I also heard that the word "sin" means to miss the mark. I feel that I've missed the mark in many ways and need to ask-and allow-God to give me grace and whatever help He'll give me to be on the "mark."


And I've been accustomed to thinking that evil things were being added, such as communicable diseases (via the addition of bacteria or viruses), neighbors who make too much noise or knock on the door too often or at the wrong time, automobile accidents, violence, you name it.

We (myself included) ought to accept the good that Jesus and Mary have to offer us instead of all these bad things that seem to be "added" to our lives. God didn't create evil, but He does use it to test and strengthen us.

Novena to St Anthony-Day 9

O Holy St Anthony, gentlest of Saints, your love for God and charity for His creatures, made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers.

Miracles waited on your word, which you were ever ready to speak for those in trouble or anxiety. Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to grant this for me (request). The answer to my prayer may require a miracle. Even so, you are the Saint of Miracles.

O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the Sweet Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms; and the gratitude of my heart will ever be yours. Amen.

Day 9

St. Anthony, servant of Mary, glory of the Church, pray for our Holy Father, our bishops, our priests, our religious orders, that through their apostolic labors all may be united in faith and give greater glory to God.

Please intercede on my own behalf that I too may live my life as a true disciple of Christ.

Close with Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be to the Father, St Anthony Pray for Us

The Week of the Brown Scapular

Father said he'll enroll people in the Brown Scapular after Mass next Sunday, July 19. This should be done at First Communion time, but many of us, myself included, slipped through the cracks and didn't enroll. Some converted to Caholicism and some received their First Communion during a time, like the Post-Vatican II church whose standards in the 1970's and '80's were lax.

Something like that happened to me when I made my 1rst Communion in 1976 at the age of 17. One of my aunts, my godmother, gave me a scapular shortly after that. And I wore it knowing nothing about the scapular enrollment until years later when I was 34 years old.

My parents were both cradle Catholics who had me baptized as a baby but were inactive during most of my childhood. I didn't start attending Mass until I was 13 and my godmother found out I wanted to go to church and I found out she was willing to take me.

Three years after I started going to Mass with my aunt, my parents and brother decided to go with me. The four of us joined the parish and my brother and I both prepared for my First Communion.

The feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, who told St. Simon Stock about the Brown Scapular, is July 16. Unfortunately this feast day falls on a weekday and Father can't come up then to enroll the scapulars so he will do it next Sunday instead.