Why Do You Worship Mary?

The first thing I want to get across is that I have never personally worshiped Mary, nor has any true Catholic that I know of. I think that the best place to start to address this by asking a quick question. Have you ever tried to emulate a person in your work or personal life? When you did this, did you worship that person? As a Catholic I see Mary as a person I would like to be like. She is truly the very first Christian. She had a very deep love for Christ and Christ would have done anything for his mother. Although I do not worship Mary, I do pray to Her and I will cover this also.

I am going to start with praying to Mary. To begin I will ask what was Jesus’ first miracle and why did he perform it? Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding at Cana. The reason he did this was because his mother asked him. Jesus can not sin because of his divine nature therefore he must honor his father and mother. What better way to receive something in prayer then to have Mary ask Jesus for it, if she asks Jesus he can not refuse.

Why do we pray to Mary, because she is dead and can not help us? This is the next question you will ask. To answer this we need to turn to the bible and see if praying to the dead will help us on earth. I will begin by looking at Romans 15:30 “I urge you, (brothers,) by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in the struggle by your prayers to God on my behalf,” Paul is clearly asking for the prayers of the faithful here. Now take a look at Luke 16:19-30 "There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.' Abraham replied, 'My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented. Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.' He said, 'Then I beg you, father, send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.' But Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.' He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent'”. How can Abraham intercede for this man if he is dead? Jesus himself stated that this could be done. I want to add Joshua 5:13-15, “While Joshua was near Jericho, he raised his eyes and saw one who stood facing him, drawn sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you one of us or of our enemies?" He replied, "Neither. I am the captain of the host of the LORD and I have just arrived." Then Joshua fell prostrate to the ground in worship, and said to him, "What has my lord to say to his servant?" The captain of the host of the LORD replied to Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy." And Joshua obeyed”. Joshua fell down and worshiped the angle of the Lord. Did anyone else do this? What about Daniel? Look at Daniel 8:17 “and on the Ulai I heard a human voice that cried out, ‘Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.’ When he came near where I was standing, I fell prostrate in terror. But he said to me, ‘Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the end time.’” We can also see that Tobiah and Tobit fell to the ground to worship Raphael in Tobit 12:16.

This shows that others have venerated someone else other then God and as a Catholic we do not worship Mary we Venerate her. If you look in the bible does Mary not state that “All the nations will call me blessed” Luke 1:48? When Catholics venerate Mary we are fulfilling this prophesy. When you look at The Hail Mary you will see that it is also biblical.
Hail Mary Full of grace the lord is with you
Blessed are you among woman
and blessed if the fruit of your womb Jesus
Holy Mary Mother of God
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen

“During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." And Mary said: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.” Luke 1:39-48. This is the discourse between Mary and her cousin Elizabeth. You will see that all of the prayer is contained with in this discourse. You will also note that Elizabeth made the statement of, “how is it that the mother of my Lord should come to me”. I the time of this when a Jew used the statement Lord it meant God because Jews would not say the name of God. Mary did not correct her and she went on to say how all ages or generations would call her blessed.

With Mary being the Mother of our Lord (God) and that it was and is ok to venerate someone why not choose Mary. If I can imitate her in the smallest regard why would I not try? I also think that for the reason I stated above about how Jesus will respond to Mary, we should pray to her and ask for her intersession when ever possible. I also know there are many other questions about Mary that non-Catholics will ask. I do plan to answer them also. Each should receive their own posting.