I beleive the Mary stuff has occurred like the frog in the warming bucket over centuries . . . and like the thickening curtain hiding the Holy of Holies . . . to reportedly 2 feet thick at the time of the Crucifixion.
And, there are those champing at the bit to dogmatically formalize her presumed status as joint-Mediatrix.
THAT ENORMOUSLY whether the Catachism or encyclicals or widely officially published, officially sanctioned items with such as
ni•hil ob•stat
n.
1. Roman Catholic Church An attestation by a church censor that a book contains nothing damaging to faith or morals.
2. Official approval, especially of an artistic work.
WITH
RICHARD CARDINAL CUSHING’S IMPRIMATUR
in John Ferraro's TEN SERIES OF MEDITATIONS ON THE MYSTERIES OF THE ROSARY by the very officially sanctioned and kosher Daughters of St Paul publishers.
"The Faithful"
Are encouraged to persist in spiritually damning glorifications of a mortal in competition with glorifications of God.
When I surveyed the names of Vatican affiliated churches in LA county . . . depending on how one defined it . . . IIRC . . . Mary et al TRUMPED GOD 20-70%!!!
There was much wailing on FR about how inconsequential that was in the over all scheme of things.
I beg to differ. That was raw proof that the MARY MENTALITY has superceded Christ in degrees and ways that are horrific--in the Vatican umbrella'd system.
The
"6 - 'As Mother of the Word Incarnate, Mary was elevated to a certain equality with the Heavenly Father.'"
on p83 of Ferraro's book is but one of dozens of similarly horrific Mary exaltations above her God-given station in that one volume. And most of those outrageous exaltations are taken from a wide range of more or less officially sanctioned, applauded, published and propagated documents, booklets, books from the long history of the Vatican system. Ferraro's book is not an isolated example. It is a SUMMARIZING COMPILATION indicting the whole of the Vatican literature from which it draws.
And, sadly, this is not merely a philosophical/theological thing isolated in pseudo-lofty towers with little impact on daily lives of the masses--particularly in countries such as Mexico and the Philippines--but also, clearly, as the rabid rants on FR attest--also in America.
Souls and lives are being put eternally at risk for their UNBIBLICAL AND SPIRITUALLY HAZARDOUS FOCUS ON MARY vs on Christ.
The Scripture is clear, we cannot serve two masters. Morphing Mary into part of the God-head IS NOT A SOLUTION! IT IS MORE BRAZENLY THE PROBLEM.
Throughout the Old Testament, God's fiercest condemnations were for idolatry. The new testament affirms that attitude on His part.
Yet the Vatican/Roman Catholic et al rationalizations, slippery justifications, excuses, slight of intellectual hand . . . junk . . . about Mary is endless. Methinks they doth protest far too much. That much smoke and no fire would be irrational. That much smoke signals deep rooted bone marrow idolatry pure and simple.
It is as though . . . EVEN WITH BLESSED ROMAN CATHOLIC ET AL FOLKS I RESPECT AND ADMIRE THE CHRISTIANITY OF--EVEN WITH FOLKS SUCH AS y'all . . .
It IS AS THOUGH there's a cloud over your thinking and perceptions which prevents a thoroughly candid, objective, ruthlessly honest view even of your own attitudes toward Mary.
SORRY, BUT THAT'S FRIGHTFUL TO SOME OF US ONLOOKERS.
What must it be for those rank and file Roman Catholic et al pew sitters who don't think very deeply but just go along with the system and rituals as that's all they know and all the deeper they care to think????
God have mercy.
And the wail that such is not part of the Catachism is nonsense.
We have a Constitution in the USA. Yet, we daily observe how shredded it has become at government levels and at street levels. This is still the only America we have. This is still the only realities extent in the US of A.
WHEN THE VATICAN ALLOWS A TEXT LIKE FERRARO'S TO BE PUBLISHED BY SUCH A REVERED PUBLISHING HOUSE WITH THE OFFICIALLY INCLUDED SANCTIONS--THE NET EFFECT TO THE AVERAGE PEW SITTER IS THE SAME AS THOUGH IT WERE WORD FOR WORD FROM THE CATECHISM. 100's of millions of average Roman Catholics et al will have no concept of any distinction between such and the Catechism WHATSOEVER, AT ALL.
EVEN IF THE VATICAN CAME OUT TOMORROW AND BEGAN A WIDELY PUBLICIZED CAMPAIGN to eradicate all such heretical Marian stuff from every Vatican umbrella'd organization and publication--it would be decades if not centuries before such a change really reigned complete and effective with 100's of millions of Roman Catholics et al.
And we can bank on the fact that the Vatican is NOT ABOUT TO negate in the least ANY of the Marian idolatries and blasphemies. The move is WHOLESALE in the direction of embellishing and adding to them.
God have mercy.
I am not doing dogma fights in Lent.
BUT when I read that somebody “discovered Mary” I remember the joke about the bad boy whose mother sent him to talk to the pastor.
He went in, and the pastor bellowed, “Son, have you got Jesus in your life?”
The boy ran home and hid in his closet. When his mom asked why he said, “The Pastor is angry; Jesus is missing, and he thinks I took him!”
But dear brother in Christ, I must object: This is NOT how Catholics view Mary. She is NOT "morphed into the Godhead." She is NOT the spawn of Satan. She is the Holy Mother of Christ, a mortal human albeit supremely Blessed, who is with her Son in Heaven even now.
What I find most perplexing is, I cannot reconcile your view of Mary with the picture we have of her at the Marriage at Cana, John 2.
You recall the story I'm sure, dear brother in Christ. Mary comes to Jesus, and says (in so many words), "Son, the marriage feast has run out of wine. Go fix the problem." [Evidently Mary was completely aware of the Nature of her son.]
And Jesus "tries to get out of it," saying:
Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. — John, 2:4So what does Mary do? Basically, she simply ignores her son's "protest," turns to the servants, and says: "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it."
And Jesus complies. The best wine of the marriage feast is about to be served to the wedding guests....
So, what is my takeaway from this story?
(1) The miracle of the wine at Cana was the first miracle that Christ performed on His earthly journey. [John 2:11]
(2) He performed this miracle at the behest of his mother.
(3) Of this first miracle, Dostoyevsky has Alyosha say [Brothers Karamazov]:
I love that passage; it's Cana of Galilee, the first miracle. ... Ah, that miracle! Ah, that sweet miracle! It was not men's grief, but their joy Christ visited, He worked His first miracle to help men's gladness....Does any of this add up to the picture of Mary as the harlot of Satan? Tool of the Great Deceiver? Jeepers, Quix.
Rather, Catholics regard the Blessed Mother as a special protector of human beings, because she is herself a human being, and a mother to boot.
Or at least, that is my understanding of the matter.