Is this the official teaching on Mary??
I. MARY'S MOTHERHOOD WITH REGARD TO THE CHURCH
Wholly united with her Son . . .
964 Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it. "This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception up to his death";504 it is made manifest above all at the hour of his Passion:
Thus the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross. There she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, enduring with her only begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, joining herself with his sacrifice in her mother's heart, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this victim, born of her: to be given, by the same Christ Jesus dying on the cross, as a mother to his disciple, with these words: "Woman, behold your son."505
965 After her Son's Ascension, Mary "aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers."506 In her association with the apostles and several women, "we also see Mary by her prayers imploring the gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her in the Annunciation."507
. . . also in her Assumption
966 "Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death."508 The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians:
In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.509
. . . she is our Mother in the order of grace
967 By her complete adherence to the Father's will, to his Son's redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church's model of faith and charity. Thus she is a "preeminent and . . . wholly unique member of the Church"; indeed, she is the "exemplary realization" (typus)510 of the Church.
968 Her role in relation to the Church and to all humanity goes still further. "In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace."511
969 "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation . . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."512
970 "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 . . . 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."513 "No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among 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."514
* II. DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN
971 "All generations will call me blessed": "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship."515 The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the faithful fly in all their dangers and needs. . . . This very special devotion . . . differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration."516 The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome of the whole Gospel," express this devotion to the Virgin Mary.517
III. MARY - ESCHATOLOGICAL ICON OF THE CHURCH
972 After speaking of the Church, her origin, mission, and destiny, we can find no better way to conclude than by looking to Mary. In her we contemplate what the Church already is in her mystery on her own "pilgrimage of faith," and what she will be in the homeland at the end of her journey. There, "in the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity," "in the communion of all the saints,"518 the Church is awaited by the one she venerates as Mother of her Lord and as her own mother.
In the meantime the Mother of Jesus, in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven, is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise she shines forth on earth until the day of the Lord shall come, a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God.519
IN BRIEF
973 By pronouncing her "fiat" at the Annunciation and giving her consent to the Incarnation, Mary was already collaborating with the whole work her Son was to accomplish. She is mother wherever he is Savior and head of the Mystical Body.
974 The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, when the course of her earthly life was completed, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, where she already shares in the glory of her Son's Resurrection, anticipating the resurrection of all members of his Body.
975 "We believe that the Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven to exercise her maternal role on behalf of the members of Christ" (Paul VI, CPG § 15).
Sad but many would go even further.
Just wondering do you believe it? Why do you ask?
IBAPP (in before a popcorn post)
I fully believe all that the Church has declared to be true regarding Mary and her role in the salvation of mankind which began when she said yes to God’s will and became the mother of the Word Incarnate and continues to this day.
Queen of Heaven and Earth.
So, whats your point?
Catholics believe Jesus is unapproachable, so they go to his mother to intercede and gain sway with the Son of God. Mary, though a dead woman and incapable of hearing prayer, is an intercessor for Catholics. Sadly, that is how their system works.
Yes. It is an essential part of Christianity.
From recent study, what I've read in the messages in True Life In God, the witnessed events throughout history, especially now, in our time, I think the truth goes beyond what you posted.
I never would have thought that, and rarely about the Virgin Mary beyond her Son, and then only at Christmas, but I've had a change of heart and thought about a lot of things.
Seems fine to me and I’m not Catholic.
My only gripe is with Islam.
Don’t you have the Gospel of Luke in your Bible?
Read Luke 1:26 - to the end of the chapter, and read it carefully. Then go on to the story of the Visitation and Elizabeth calling Mary, the Mother of my Lord. (God)
Mary is Jesus’ mother. She bore Him. She is not the mother of Christ’s humanity. A mother gives birth to an individual person, not a soul, or body, or abstract concept like human nature or humanity. Mary gave birth to Someone with a unique identity: Jesus. Who is Jesus? He is God, the eternal Son. So Mary is Mother of God.
God is in me. But for me there always remains a distinction between God and me, regardless how close He might be, even if He is closer to me than my brain or heart. I am never God. I am not eternal. There was when I was not.
With Jesus the situation is decisively different. His existence did not begin with His earthly conception. Who Jesus is is eternal. One cannot distinguish between God in Him and He himself. “Jesus is the Eternal Son; He is God. So there is a strict identity between God-in-Jesus and Jesus himself. . .He is God the Eternal Son. The one who was born as a human baby, Jesus, was no other than the Eternal Son of the Father.”
Mary conceived as her son, the Eternal Son of God, who developed in her womb as a human being. After carrying Him to term, the Virgin Mary gave Him birth. She did not give birth to Jesus’ divinity. She is not the mother of the divine nature, but the mother of someone with the divine nature, someone who, as a human baby, needed to be nursed and carried, yet someone who holds the universe in existence.
The unique Son of God was begotten twice. He was born eternally of the Father before creation. Mary was not involved. He was also born in time, as the man Jesus. In this second birth, Mary played a major role. The Father’s role in Jesus' temporal birth was primary, yet Mary’s was indispensable. The same someone who was born eternally of the Father was born in Bethlehem to the Virgin Mary.
There is only one grammatical subject in Jesus, and that is God the Eternal Son. The Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed (A.D. 381) states: “We believe. . .in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all time. . .He. . .was made flesh by the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary, and became man. . . .”
The word “God” carries different meanings. It often signifies the Father. If we so understand the term, Mary is not the mother of God. Obviously, she is not the mother of the Eternal Father. He is her source and the source of all. She is not His source. The word “God” also refers to the Trinity. Clearly Mary is not the mother of the Trinity. “God,” likewise, signifies One who possesses the divine nature. Because it is possessed, “owned,” equally, though differently, by Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each Trinitarian Person is necessarily and equally God.
Since the Son of God is God and Mary carried Him as a human being in her womb, ultimately giving Him birth, she is the mother of God. She mothered Him in His acquired humanity. The Divine Son, eternal and without beginning, experienced an earthly beginning through Mary.
Mary is our mother by adoption. But she is the natural mother of God the Son. He is the fruit of her womb, Jesus.
Christ said on the cross seeing Mary that she was indeed His Mother, but not by birth, but by doing His way through the Holy Spirit.
yes.
not only this but they believe muslims can go to heaven because they love Mary. while blaspheming her Son saying He isn’t God’s Son.
In the Bible the enigmatic title "queen of heaven" appears only in Jeremiah 7:18, 44:17-19, 25 but similar titles occur throughout the Ancient Near East and apply to several goddesses. Anat is called the "Lady of Heaven" and the Canaanite Astarte (Ashtoreth in the Bible) and her Mesopotamian counterpart, Ishtar, also bear the title "Queen of Heaven". These goddesses are connected to the worship of the planet Venus; astral worship was particularly popular during the seventh century B.C. (2Ki 21:3; 23:11.
The exiled Judahites conceived of this queen as a fertility goddess (Jer 44:17 - 18), in whose image the women made "cakes" (v. 19). This cultic practice may also be indicated by a discovery at Mari of a baking mold in the form of a naked female with hands supporting her breasts- a well known fertility motif.
Moreover, Jeremiah's word for these cakes derives from the Akkadian for a type of bread that was often presented to Ishtar.
Jeremiah described how a family would gather wood, make a fire, prepare the bread, pour out libations and burn incense (7:18; 44:18).
Religious texts dedicated to Ishtar recount very similar steps. The Judahites were apparently following ritual practice associated with the Mesopotamian Ishtar (1Ki 11:5).
The queen of heaven exemplified the religious syncretism that plagued Israel for centuries and ultimately led to God's judgment upon his people.
Still today, believers in the God of the Bible are wise to beware of a gradual assimilation of unbiblical and even pagan concepts. The notion of a "queen of heaven" was just such an assimilation.
971, 517 and 516 call it Maritan prayer. That settles the ongoing debate that praying to Mary is not prayer. Says it right there in along with worship and feast day. If that is not worship...
Translation: Announcing the Opening of a New Thread for Catholic-Haters! Pile On!
Don't miss this Hit Parade of Catholic-Bashing!
People in heaven are all dead! They can't hear prayers!
How can Mary hear billions of prayers at the same time?
It's just a wafer!
Catholics worship a mere woman!
No wonder their priests molest children! They aren't allowed to marry!
What’s wrong with it?