Thanks! :-)
Of course I understand the reaction. It sounds so foreign to the faith as some have learned it, and seems to make Jesus' Divinity have "less status."
However, that's how great a Lord and King Jesus is, that He Himself, in union with the Father and the Holy Spirit, elevates His Mother to such a high degree:
[46] And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord,
[47] and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
[48] for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
[49] for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
Luke 1:46-49 RSV
I think that some people are afraid that honoring and loving Mary takes away from loving, honoring, and worshipping Jesus, but such is not the case. The more one honors her, the more one honors Christ. Solomon had his own mother sit at his right hand - can Jesus be any less loving and gracious to *His* mother? It is His Holy Will that we revere His mother, as the above scripture illustrates.
She always points the way to Him saying, "Do whatever He tells you," just as she said at Cana. The closer we let ourselves come to her, the closer we become with Christ, just as Christ draws us to the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit. She is the easy way to the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
This is not a name taken from Scripture but arrived at in the fourth century by some teachers within the Catholic Church in Rome.
By the way, this was not just any gathering, but rather an Ecumenical Council (the world-wide Church), which was guided by the Holy Spirit. Councils do not come up with new doctrine, but rather define, i.e., come to understand more fully, Divine Revelation.
I wonder why some people have a problem with this Council, it having occurred so much earlier than the Reformation.
An easier way than our mediator himself, Christ Jesus, who IS the way, truth and life? Why would we need any other? Why should we need another?