Transcript

The Church's teaching on the Blessed Virgin Mary can be a stumbling block for many converts to the faith.

For some, it seems unbiblical or unwarranted, and to others, it can be even downright idolatrous.

Devotion to Mary, some will say, distracts from devotion to Christ.

But what we come to find within the Church's practice is that devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is in accord with the revelation of Scripture and the plan of God.

So consider some initial arguments for the Church's practice.

Each of us has a mother in the order of nature.

Why not then in the order of grace?

For indeed, we have a mother in Heaven.

Shall the devoted religious heart live without a woman to love?

We also notice that Christian language is very heavy on family life.

God reveals Himself as a provident Father, and Jesus Christ refers to Himself as the Son of God.

Why shouldn't there then be a mother in our spiritual life?

We also pause to note that love is not either/or.

When we're born into this world, we don't have to choose whether or not we love our mother or our father more.

Spiritual love is not a scarce commodity.

But rather, by loving generously, we have more with which to love.

True devotion to Mary, in fact, ensures a deeper fidelity to Christ and to His plan for our lives.

So then, let's take a moment to consider the central mysteries of Mary's life.

Before all else, we hail her as the Mother of God.

This is the greatest grace accorded to the Virgin, for it speaks to what is most distinct and important about her, namely that the second Person of the Holy Trinity, the only begotten Son of the Father, took flesh in her womb.

Mary welcomed the incarnation on behalf of humanity by speaking the words, Let it be done unto me according to Thy word.

Now, to best fulfill her role as the Mother of the Redeemer, the Lord fills her with every grace and blessing.

Mary enjoys the greatest degree of grace and glory of any saint, because she has the most exalted vocation, to bear the God Man.

We might say that God loves her more than anyone else, for He gives her the greatest of graces.

We can appreciate how this fits within the divine plan, such that Mary has a very great degree of grace and glory so that she can conceive our Lord in holiness and surround Him with devotion.

As Dante once wrote, She has the face that most resembles that of Christ.

As a result, Mary is exempt from every sin, even light faults, what we might call venial sins.

Additionally, the Church teaches that she miraculously remained a virgin before, during, and after the Nativity of our Lord.

We call this doctrine that of perpetual virginity.

What is more, we profess that Mary was immaculately conceived.

That is to say that she never contracted original sin.

Mary was preserved from all stain of sin from the first moment of her conception.

We profess that she was saved by the foreseen merits of her Son.

So, where most, nay, all, are liberated from the effects of sin and from original sin, Mary was preserved.

As the French author George Bernanos once said, Mary is younger than sin.

The next doctrine to which we devote our attention, then, is that of the Assumption.

We pause to recognize that Christ rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven.

And because of His great love, He does not suffer His beloved to know corruption.

And as He loves Mary most, He affords her a privileged share in His exaltation.

So, she is assumed body and soul into Heaven to reign gloriously with her Son.

Let's turn now to consider the practice of praying to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

What do we say to venerating her and the saints and asking them to intercede on our behalf?

We can appreciate how the description of Mary's graces begins to get at why we might venerate and pray to her, for her grace is not only for herself, it is for the whole Church.

Consider that scene at the foot of the Cross, where our Lord pauses to address His mother and His beloved disciple.

In that exchange, He encourages St. John to behold His mother.

There, we recognize that Mary is not only the Mother of God, she has truly become the mother of the Church.

So just as she received the grace to form the God Man in her womb, so she has the grace to form us after the pattern of her Son.

Listen to the very beautiful words of Saint Louis de Montfort: Mary is called by Saint Augustine, and is in fact, the living mold of God.

In her was the God Man formed, and in her alone can man become like unto God.

Whoever is in this mold and allows himself to be shaped there takes on the appearance of Jesus Christ.

So it's for this reason that we pray to Mary to intercede for us.

We pause to recognize that God could carry out all of His plans directly.

The incarnation, the redemption, sanctification of souls, all of this He could do without coworkers or instruments.

But He deems it better to involve men in His divine plan, because in so doing, He imparts to us the very dignity of causing, of acting as secondary instruments or secondary causes in His divine work.

And so the Lord uses intermediaries, not because He needs them, but because He is good.

And so we appeal to Mary and the saints to intercede on our behalf, namely that they apply the merits of their lives and that they might continue to work within God's plan for our salvation.

What is more, the saints have promised to help.

As Saint Therese said as she lay dying, I want to spend my Heaven doing good on Earth.

And as Saint Dominic said to his brothers before his death, Do not weep for me, for I will be of more use to you after my death.

And so, in addition to asking the saints' intercession, we also venerate them, because God has made the saints glorious, and so they're worthy of our veneration.

Here, we acknowledge a difference between the adoration and sacrifice which pertains to God alone and the kind of veneration which is proper to the saints.

So part of belonging to a church means to be drawn in bonds of charity with others.

We're part of a mystical body with Christ as our head, and we go to God together.

Some are especially inspiring and encouraging, and these become our patrons and our intercessors, our beloved saints.

Devotion is, after all, a matter of friendship as these saints accompany us through our Christian lives and to the praise and worship of God.