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DEFENDING  THE  BRIDE

 

 

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Why Pray to Mary ?

Devotion to Mary leads us directly to her Son, Jesus

 

We should all want to go directly to God.  However, because we lack perfection in the virtues of faith, humility, obedience, and love, we therefore lack perfection in our desires and therefore, in our direction. God makes up for what we lack, however it is an arrogant assumption to assume that our understanding His way must be His way of overcoming this infinite distance between He and us. 

We must humbly search out to find His Way.  All we need is Jesus, BUT we need ALL that He wills for us and that He does. 

Philippians 4:8
“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

So, if we truly desire to go directly to God we must not ignore how He has manifested His goodness in creation. We must focus on not only Him but all He has accomplished through others.  If we fail at this, we are not focusing on Him at all, but only our deluded perception of Him.  All good things come God, because only He can provide the grace for something to be good.

CCC 2007
“With regard to God, there is no strict right to any merit on the part of man. Between God and us there is an immeasurable inequality, for we have received everything from him, our Creator. Cf. CCC 2008

CCC 299
“Because God creates through wisdom, his creation is ordered: "You have arranged all things by measure and number and weight." 151 … only in a spirit of humility … Because creation comes forth from God's goodness, it shares in that goodness - "And God saw that it was good. . . very good" - for God willed creation as a gift addressed to man, an inheritance destined for and entrusted to him. On many occasions the Church has had to defend the goodness of creation, including that of the physical world.

CCC 293
“… St. Bonaventure explains that God created all things "not to increase his glory, but to show it forth and to communicate it", 135 for God has no other reason for creating than his love and goodness … not for increasing his own beatitude, nor for attaining his perfection, but in order to manifest this perfection through the benefits which he bestows on creatures, with absolute freedom …
http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/293.htm

1 Corinthians 12:20-21
“But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I do not need you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I do not need you.’ ”

God has built up in Mary’s Immaculate Heart a Super highway to bring us closer to Him

It is not that a person goes to Mary first and then goes to God.  Rather, a person needs to accept Jesus and have faith in Him as their Savior.  He is truly God, and our only Savior.  She is not.  Jesus shows us how much he loves us all.  And we read below how no one has done a better job of putting their in Jesus than Mary.

Luke 1:41-45
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit  and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!  And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?    For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy.  And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.’ ”

 

Therefore, He loves Mary tremendously because of her faithfulness.  And He introduces us, the disciples whom He loves, to her. “Behold, your mother!” John 19:27. And He shows us how important she really is and how He wishes to work through her.  Revelation 11:19 – 12: 1-5, 17.  And then by getting closer to Mary we are enabled to get even closer to Jesus, to know Him better, and love and follow Him more devoutly and therefore more directly.  It is worth noting that the only Apostle that persevered in following Jesus all the way to the Cross was the one who was strengthened by his walk with Mary.  All the others abandoned him.  Through Mary is the most direct way to get closer to Jesus.

Pope Benedict XVI

“Our Lady of the Rosary ... We are therefore asked to let ourselves be guided by Mary in this prayer, ancient and ever new, which is especially dear to her because it leads us directly to Jesus, contemplated in his Mysteries of salvation: joyful, luminous, sorrowful and glorious. In the footsteps of Venerable John Paul ii (cf. Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae), I would like to recall that the Rosary is a biblical prayer, interwoven with Sacred Scripture throughout. It is a prayer of the heart, in which the repetition of the Hail Mary directs the thoughts and affections to Christ …”  
[Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus, October 10, 2010] 
 

Pope John Paul II 

“Christ is the supreme Teacher, the revealer and the one revealed. It is not just a question of learning what he taught but of “learning him”. In this regard could we have any better teacher than Mary? From the divine standpoint, the Spirit is the interior teacher who leads us to the full truth of Christ (cf. Jn 14:26; 15:26; 16:13). But among creatures no one knows Christ better than Mary; no one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of his mystery better than his Mother.”

[Rosarium Virginis Mariae by JPII, section 14]

 

 In the book Crossing the Threshold of Hope by John Paul II (in which the Pope is interviewed by Vittorio Messori who wrote the introduction [English edition, Jonathan Cape, 1994]), the Holy Father responded to a precise question from the interviewer.


“Totus tuus. This phrase is not only an expression of piety, or simply an expression of devotion. It is more. During the Second World War, while I was employed as a factory worker, I came to be attracted to Marian devotion.


“At first, it had seemed to me that I should distance myself a bit from the Marian devotion of my childhood in order to focus more on Christ. Thanks to St Louis de Montfort, I came to understand that true devotion to the Mother of God is actually Christocentric, indeed, it is very profoundly rooted in the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, and the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption” (pp. 212-213)
See  EWTN  or  Page 110 Here
 

On May 13, 1981 there was an assassination attempt on the life of Pope John Paul II.  He credited Mary with saving his life.  He said one hand fired the shot, but another - Mary’s hand - guided the bullet, and spared his life.  Exactly one year later he gave a homily at Mary’s shrine at Fatima.  He said that the purpose of Marian consecration was so that she can lead us to the pierced side of Christ, the Fountain of Mercy.

Homily at Mass in Fatima May 13, 1982.

“Meaning of consecration

8. On the Cross Christ said: “Woman, behold, your son!” With these words he opened in a new way his Mother’s heart. A little later, the Roman soldier's spear pierced the side of the Crucified One. That pierced heart became a sign of the redemption achieved through the death of the Lamb of God.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary, opened with the words “Woman, behold, your son!”, is spiritually united with the heart of her Son opened by the soldier’s spear. Mary’s Heart was opened by the same love for man and for the world with which Christ loved man and the world, offering himself for them on the Cross, until the soldier’s spear struck that blow.

Consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary means drawing near, through the Mother’s intercession, to the very Fountain of life that sprang from Golgotha.

Consecrating the world to the Immaculate Heart of the Mother means returning beneath the Cross of the Son. It means consecrating this world to the pierced Heart of the Saviour, bringing it beck 'to the very source of its Redemption. Redemption is always greater than man’s sin and the “sin of the world.” The power of the Redemption is infinitely superior to the whole range of evil in man and the world.

The Heart of the Mother is aware of this, more than any other heart in the whole universe, visible and invisible.

And so she calls us. She not only calls us to be converted: she calls us to accept her motherly help to return to the source of Redemption.”
Pope John Paul II homily at Fatima May 13, 1982
See EWTN or Vatican  web site

 

Saint Louis Marie de Montford showed how True Devotion to Jesus Christ is enhanced and most fully expressed when we go to Jesus while assisting ourselves of the help that Jesus wants to give to us through Mary.  He summarized it well when he pointed out that there is no shorter way to Jesus than the route were we avail ourselves of God’s help that we receive through Mary.  There is no easier road than the one with Mary.  God works through her to help us grow more deeply in love with Him.  There is no surer road to Jesus than the one through Mary.  Understanding Mary helps us to understand who her Son is.

 

Saint Maximilian Kolbe

Do not be afraid to love the Immaculata (Mary) too much because we could never equal the love that Jesus has for Her, and His imitation is our sanctification.  To approach the Immaculata is the easiest way to draw near to God.  Wherever Thou dost enter, O Mary, Thou dost obtain the grace of conversion and growth in holiness.  It is through Thy hands that all graces come to us from the most Sacred Heart of Jesus.  

 

Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 60, 62

“Mary's function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men originates not in any inner necessity but in the disposition of God. It flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it and draws all its power from it. It does not hinder in any way the immediate union of the faithful with Christ but on the contrary fosters it. 60

“Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix, and Mediatrix.  This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator.

“For no creature could ever be counted as equal with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer. Just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by the ministers and by the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is really communicated in different ways to His creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source.”  62.   Also see CCC 970


Vatican II

“Everyone should have a genuine devotion to her and entrust his life to her motherly care.”
[Vatican II Council, 1965. Decree On The Apostolate Of Lay People - Apostolicam Actuositatem, 4 ]

 

Pope John Paul II 

Christ is the one mediator between God and mankind: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony to which was borne at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth” (1 Tm 2:5-7; cf. Heb 4:14-16). No one, therefore, can enter into communion with God except through Christ, by the working of the Holy Spirit. Christ’s one, universal mediation, far from being an obstacle on the journey toward God, is the way established by God himself, a fact of which Christ is fully aware. Although participated forms of mediation of different kinds and degrees are not excluded, they acquire meaning and value only from Christ’s own mediation, and they cannot be understood as parallel or complementary to his.
[Encyclical Redemptoris Missio,  5]

 

Matthew 18:20
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

1 Corinthians 12:21
“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I do not need you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I do not need you.’”

James 5:16
“… pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.”
 


 

 

See:

One Of Mary’s Preferred Feasts
Msgr. Anthony A. La Femina, STL, JCD

The Rosary of the Virgin Mary
by Pope John Paul II

See how the early Church proclaimed
Jesus, the God-Man.

Going Directly To God

 

Proof that Catholics clearly teach to worship only God and not to worship Mary

To Pray”   -  A definition.  Does it mean to worship ?  NO!  

Off site resources:

 

Individual Retreat
33 Days to Morning Glory
By Fr. Michael E. Gaitley, MIC.  This book leads you through an extraordinary 33-day journey of consecration to Jesus through Mary with four giants of Marian spirituality: St. Louis de Montfort, St. Maximilian Kolbe, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Blessed Pope John Paul II.

Queen Mary by ChrisRedfield

 

 

 

In this CD Fr. Michael Gaitley is a priest in the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception and the director of the Association of Marian Helpers, a spiritual benefit society with more than one million members. In this talk Fr. Gaitley describes the second greatest story ever told - a story that encompasses Divine Mercy, the life of Blessed Pope John Paul II, and the crucial role that Marian Consecration can play in your life.
 

 

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