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Non-Catholics Section: Marian (Honor)

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Non-Catholics Section:

Marian (Honor)

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Do You Reject the Catholic Church's Practice of Giving Honor to Jesus' Mother Mary?

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Do You Reject the Catholic Church's Practice of Giving Honor to Jesus' Mother Mary?

Consider:

* Why do you reject the practice of giving honor to Jesus' mother Mary when Mary herself, pregnant with Jesus and in the presence of the Holy Spirit, prophesied that all generations will call her blessed (see Lk. 1:48)? Why is it that an angel called Mary "blessed", St. Elizabeth called Mary "blessed" and Mary herself, pregnant with Christ, said "all generations will call [her] blessed", yet you think it is somehow wrong to call her blessed? Or, why do you fail to call her blessed in fulfillment of her own prophecy? 

* Why do you reject the practice of giving honor to Jesus' mother considering that Jesus Himself - in fulfillment of the commandment - honored His mother?

* Why do you reject the practice of giving honor to Jesus' mother Mary when Scripture tells us that the angel gave her honor, greeting her has "Hail, full of grace", telling her that "The Lord is with thee", and calling her blessed among women (see Lk. 1:28)? It is unheard of for an angel - who by nature is greater than a human - to give a human being such great praise! Further, a quick count of the number of times "Hail" was applied to a person in Holy Scripture (NAB translation) reveals: "Hail" is applied to Jesus four times [once by the betrayer Judas as he betrayed Christ (Mt. 26:49), and three times as mockery during the crucifixion (Mt. 27:29, Mk. 15:18, Jn. 19:3), and to Mary one time (by the angel in Lk 1:28)].

* Why do you reject the practice of giving honor to Jesus' mother Mary when St. Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist [about whom Jesus says there is "none greater than John the Baptist" among those born of women (see Mt. 11:11)] gave her honor, calling her "blessed" and "most blessed" (see Lk. 1:42, 45), and speaking "in a loud voice" (Lk. 1:42)? Remember also that St. Elizabeth spoke this way upon being filled with the Holy Spirit (Lk. 1:41).

* Why do you reject the practice of giving honor to Mary when Scripture tells us to "Honor your father and your mother" (Ex. 20:12)? Do you not consider Mary to be your mother? Do you ignore the fact that Jesus gave Mary to "the disciple whom he loved" (see Jn. 19:25-27)? Are you meaning to admit that Rv. 12:17 doesn't include you, that you are not Mary's "offspring" (one who "keep[s] God's commandments and bear[s] witness to Jesus")? If you are not Mary's "offspring", whose side do you suppose you are on? Do you not see that Scripture shows only two sides to this great battle - Mary's and the devil's? If one is not on Mary's side, one must be on the devil's side!

* Why do you reject the practice of giving honor to Jesus' mother Mary, who is clearly indicated as queen (see Rv. 12:1)? Would you also refuse to give an earthly queen due honor? Would a wise person show great honor to an earthly king, yet snub his mother?

* Do you think that by not honoring Christ's mother you are somehow pleasing Christ? Do you not rather think He would be more pleased that you honored His mother? Would you be offended if someone praised your beloved mother? Would you be insulted or angry or resentful? Would you not rather be honored yourself? "Let us not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the praise we lavish on the Mother; for the more she is honored, the greater is the glory of her Son." (St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church)

* If the Blessed Virgin Mary shouldn't be honored, why does Marian art trace back even to the Apostolic age? Why is there archeological evidence of devotion to Mary at least from the beginning of the second century? 

* Do you not realize that - by God's design - each and every person's redemption depended upon Mary's fiat? If not for her, Jesus could not have become man and could not have died on the cross. Have you ever considered that Mary's actions made it possible for you to enjoy eternal life with God? Are you not thankful for that? Do you remember that Scripture teaches that when Christ healed persons and only one of them returned to give thanks, Jesus inquired about the other nine (see Lk. 17:17)? 

* Are you unaware of the extraordinary suffering that Christ's passion and death caused His mother Mary? Do you not see the need to express your gratitude to her?

"[W]hat anguish unutterable must have filled the soul of this Mother, when raising up her eyes, she sees the mangled Body of her Son, stretched upon the cross, with His face all covered with blood, and His head wreathed with a crown of thorns!" (Gueranger)

"Thirty-three years ago Mary looked down at His sacred face; now He looks down at her. In Bethlehem heaven looked up into the face of earth; now the roles are reversed. Earth looks up into the face of heaven - but a heaven marred by the scars of earth. He loved her above all the creatures of earth, for she was His Mother and the Mother of us all. He saw her first on coming to earth; He shall see her last on leaving it. Their eyes meet, all aglow with life, speaking a language all their own. There is a rupture of a heart through a rapture of love, then a bowed head, a broken heart. Back to the hands of God He gives, pure and sinless, His spirit, in loud and ringing voice that trumpets eternal victory. And Mary stands alone a Childless Mother. Jesus is dead!" (Archbishop Fulton Sheen)

"With this fourth dolor no word is spoken; one sees only the shimmering steel of the Sword, for terror is speechless. The Sword He drove into His Own heart made Him shed drops of blood, like beads in the Rosary of redemption over every inch of that Jerusalem roadway; but the Sword He drove into her soul made her identify herself with His redemptive sufferings, forced her to tread the streets over her own Son's blood. His wounds bled; hers did not. Mothers, seeing their sons suffer, wish it could be their own blood instead of their sons' that is shed. In her case, it was her blood that He shed. Every crimson drop of that blood, every cell of that flesh, she had given to Him. Jesus had no human father. It was always her blood that He was shedding; it was [her] blood that she was treading." (Archbishop Fulton Sheen)

"I bless, praise, and highly commend you, holy and immaculate Virgin Mary, for taking your sorrowful station at the foot of Jesus' Cross, where you stood for a long time careworn and afflicted, transfixed by the sword of sorrow, as foretold by Simeon; for your many tears, which you abundantly shed; for the great loyalty and unwavering allegiance you manifested to your dying Son in his most dire moment; for the acute heartbreak you felt the instant he died; for your tear-filled countenance when you saw him hanging dead before your eyes; for your blessed embrace when in your Mother's arms you received him from the Cross and amid laments clasped him to your breast; for your dolorous journey to the sepulcher, walking behind those who bore that sacred corpse and seeing it placed in a tomb with a large stone sealing it" (Thomas a Kempis)

If someone you knew gave up their own child so that you and your loved ones could live, would you not honor that person? Would you refuse your gratitude? Well, Mary did give up her Son so that you and your loved ones might live and you refuse to honor her or give her gratitude!

* Do you actually imagine that you could honor Mary more than God already has? "She bore God, yet your honor is to be believed to add so much to her glory?"

* Do you really not see that the woman who was found worthy to be the mother of the Jesus - that is, God! - is worthy of your honor? How can you not think the woman who is "Daughter to the Father, Spouse to the Holy Spirit, and Mother of the Son" deserves honor? Have you not realized that of all the people who have ever lived, Jesus was the only one to choose His own mother. Do you seriously think He'd pick one who wasn't worthy of honor?

* If the Ark in the Old Testament which held the written words of God was to be so revered, how much more should the Ark which actually contained God Himself be revered? 

* When one loves God, should not one also love those whom He loves? "For it is the nature of love, to love when it feels itself loved, and to love all things loved of its beloved. So when the soul has by degrees known the love of its Creator toward it, it loves Him, and loving Him, loves all things whatsoever that God loves." (St. Catherine of Siena)

* Are we to believe that Mary gave flesh to Jesus (who was conceived in her by the Holy Spirit!), carried Him for nine months, fed Him, loved Him, cared for Him, protected Him, taught Him, had authority over Him, was obeyed by Him... and is now "nothing special" to Christ?

* Why is it you would reverence the tomb that Christ's body was laid in for a few days, but reject the womb from which Christ received his very flesh?

* Why is it your non-Catholic 'Christian' religion pays so little mind to the woman who gave Christ life, brought him into the world, nourished and protected him, raised him, suffered for him (cf. Lk. 2:35), sought and received His first public miracle at her own request (Jn. 2:1-11), was with Him in His Passion, death, burial, and ascension, and was also used as God's instrument in the sanctification of St. John the Baptist in the womb (cf. Lk. 1:41), and who prayed with the Apostles on Pentecost? How can you ignore this precious woman who spent more time with Christ than anyone else on earth and whom all generations are to call blessed (Lk. 1:48)? The very woman that gave Christ (human) life!

* How can you not honor Mary? How is you feel you would have any chance of salvation without her role in it? How can you not honor the woman who brought forth God?

* "Do you somehow think it's not a big thing to be made Mother of God? Do you really think no honor should be paid to such a woman?" How is it you can think it's wrong to honor Jesus' mother Mary, but be willing to accord a mere celebrity or sports figure honor?

* Do you reject the concept of honoring Mary because Jesus referred to her as "woman" (see Jn. 2:4, Jn. 19:26)? Can you not see that this may be seen as a title of honor? In the Gospel of John, Chapter 2, Jesus calls Mary "Woman" right before he performs his first public miracle - the very miracle that would cause his disciples to believe in him (see Jn. 2:11) - at Mary's request and even though He said that His hour had not come (see Jn. 2:4) and even though He seemed to say "no" to her request. At the foot of the Cross, He calls his mother "Woman" before giving her to the disciple that he loved - to be his mother! Is it not clear that Mary is "the woman" of Gen. 3:15, the mortal enemy of Satan?

* Do you reject the concept of honoring Mary because Jesus seemed to 'deny' her in certain passages of Scripture (e.g. Mt. 12:46-50, Mk. 3:31-35, Lk. 11:27-28)? Can you not see the true context of Jesus' statements - i.e. that He is teaching that it is the following of His commands, not blood relationships which are important? Can you not see how Mary is herself included - to an eminent degree - and not excluded, in the remark that "rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it" (Lk. 11:28)? Can you not see how Christ greatly honors Mary in Scripture by performing a miracle at her request "before His hour had come" (Jn. 2:4)? That He makes provision for her at the foot of the Cross (Jn. 19:27)? That He fulfils the commandment of honoring His mother? As various saints have said concerning Jesus' perceived 'denials' of his Mother Mary...

"In this answer ['rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it' (Lk. 11:28)] He sought not to disown His mother, but to show that His birth would have profited her nothing, had she not been really fruitful in works and faith." (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church)

"['And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?' (Mk. 3:33)] He does not therefore say this, as denying His mother, but as showing that He is worthy of honor, not only because she bore Christ, but on account of her possessing every other virtue." (St. Theophylact) 

"['But he answered and said to him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?' (Mt.12:48)] Nor does He overthrow the duty of filial submission, which is conveyed in the command, Honor your father and your mother, but shows that He owes more to the mysteries and relationship of His Father, than of His mother; as it follows, 'And stretching out his hand to his disciples, He said, Behold my mother and my brethren'." (St. Ambrose, Doctor of the Church)

"['Then one said to him, Behold, your mother and your brethren stand without, desiring to speak with you.' (Mt. 12:47)]; He that delivers this message, seems to me not to do it casually and without meaning, but as setting a snare for Him, whether He would prefer flesh and blood to the spiritual work; and thus the Lord refused to go out, not because He disowned His mother and His brethren, but that He might confound him that had laid this snare for Him." (St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church)

"['And he answered and said to them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.' (Lk. 8:21)] But some take this to mean that certain men, hating Christ's teaching, and mocking at Him for His doctrine, said, Your mother and your brethren stand without wishing to see you; as if thereby to show His [so-called] meanness of birth. And He therefore knowing their hearts gave them this answer, that meanness of birth harms not, but if a man, though of [perceived] low birth, hear the word of God, He reckons him as His kinsman. Because however hearing only saves no one, but rather condemns, He adds, and does it; for it becomes us both to hear and to do. But by the word of God He means His own teaching, for all the words which He Himself spoke were from His Father." (St. Theophylact)

"The moral teacher who gives himself an example to others, when about to enjoin upon others, that he who has not left father and mother, is not worthy of the Son of God, first submits Himself to this precept, not that He denies the claims of filial piety...but because He knows that He is more bound to obey His Father's mysteries than the feelings of His mother. Nor however are His parents harshly rejected, but the bonds of the mind are shown to be more sacred than those of the body. Therefore in this place ['And he answered and said to them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.' (Lk. 8:21)] He does not disown His mother, (as some heretics say, eagerly catching at His speech,) since she is also acknowledged from the cross; but the law of heavenly ordinances is preferred to earthly affection." (St. Ambrose, Doctor of the Church)

* Do you reject the Catholic Church's practice of giving honor to Jesus' mother Mary because you think it's idolatry? If so, you should know that the Catholic Church in no way promotes or sanctions idolatry. The truth is that while faithful Catholics give the highest veneration to the Blessed Virgin Mary, they never put her above God, put her as equal to God, put her in opposition to God, or confuse her with God. Rather, they venerate her as the highest creature of God. Technically speaking, the "Worship of Hyperdulia" refers to the highest degree of veneration allowed to a creature. It is paid to the Blessed Virgin Mary alone. This special homage paid to the Blessed Virgin is not to be confused with the "Worship of Latria" (given to God alone), but is more closely related to the "Worship of Dulia", the veneration due to the angels and saints. Mary, of course, is the greatest creature of all, surpassing all the angels and saints. While faithful Catholics acknowledge the Blessed Virgin Mary as the greatest creature in all of God's creation, they admit an infinite difference between her and God. Should you come across the term "worship" used in connection with the Blessed Virgin, this should not to be confused with the worship paid to God alone. Rather, it refers to the highest degree of veneration due a creature. As expressed by St. Thomas Aquinas, "Since, therefore, the Blessed Virgin is a mere rational creature, the worship of latria is not due to her, but only that of dulia: but in a higher degree than to other creatures, inasmuch as she is the Mother of God. For this reason we say that not any kind of dulia is due to her, but hyperdulia." Finally, should a Catholic actually "worship" Mary in an idolatrous sense, that person's actions would be condemned by the Church as a mortal sin (and worthy of eternal punishment if unrepented). 

* "How could you ever consider any legitimate honor paid to Mary to be excessive? How could one ever honor Mary enough given her relationship to the Blessed Trinity, and also in light of her role in our salvation?"

* Have you ever considered that Mary did not stop being Jesus' Mother after His birth, that she will continue to be his mother for all eternity? 

* How can you not consider it a duty to honor Jesus' mother Mary? By God's design, you may receive redemption only because she cooperated with God's will.

* Do you not realize that the ultimate reason that the Catholic Church honors Mary is because she is the Mother of God?

* God honored Mary, the angel honored Mary, St. Elizabeth honored Mary, but you won't?


Closing Quotations...

"Death through Eve, life through Mary." (St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church)

"That which is given to the Mother redounds to the Son; the honor given to the Queen is honor bestowed on the King." (St. Ildephonsus)

"[H]uman words are not able to describe her who became the Mother of God" (St. Maximilian Kolbe) 

"It was through the Virgin Mary that God assumed human nature and joined the race of the sons of Adam." (Pope Pius XII)

"Your honor and dignity surpass the whole of creation; your greatness places you above the angels." (St. Germanus)

"For the honor which we give to her is referred to Him Who was made incarnate of her." (St. John of Damascus, Doctor of the Church)

"For no single individual can even be imagined who has ever contributed or ever will contribute so much towards reconciling man with God [as Mary]." (Pope Leo XIII)

"I have never read of any saint who did not have a special devotion to the glorious Virgin" (St. Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church, 13th century A.D.)

"Hail, God's palace; hail, tabernacle of the Most High; hail, house of God; hail, His holy vestments; hail, handmaid of God!" (St. Francis of Assisi)

"Let us not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the praise we lavish on the Mother; for the more she is honored, the greater is the glory of her Son." (St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church) 

"As God he produced Mary; as man he was produced by Mary. He himself was both father and son to his mother Mary." (Eleventh Council of Toledo, 675 A.D.)

"Neither did He pass through the Virgin as through a channel, but was truly made flesh of her, and was truly nourished with her milk" (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Doctor of the Church, c. 350 A.D.)

"Him whom the heavens cannot contain, the womb of one woman bore. She ruled our Ruler; she carried Him in whom we are; she gave milk to our Bread." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, 5th century A.D.)

"Mary is blessed by Elisabeth with the same words as before by Gabriel ["blessed art thou among women"] to show that she was to be reverenced both by men and angels." (St. Bede the Venerable, Doctor of the Church)

"Choose which you will most admire, the most beneficent condescension of the Son, or the sublime dignity of the Mother. On each side it is a subject of wonder and astonishment; that a God should obey a woman is a humility beyond example, and that a woman commands a God, is a preeminence without a rival." (St. Bernard, Doctor of the Church)

"The only begotten Son of God at all times paid to his most holy Mother the most evident marks of honor... He associated her with himself in each of his first two miracles - the miracle of grace when, at the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in the womb of Elizabeth; the miracle of nature when he turned water into wine at the marriage feast of Cana." (Pope Leo XIII)

"God could have given us the Redeemer of the human race and the founder of the Faith in another way than through the Virgin, but since divine Providence has been pleased that we should have the man-God through Mary, who conceived him by the Holy Ghost and bore him in her womb, it only remains for us to receive Christ through the hands of Mary." (Pope St. Pius X)

"Moreover, one must remember that the Blood of Christ shed for our sake and those members in which He offers to His Father the wounds He received, the price of our liberty, are no other than the flesh and blood of the virgin, since the flesh of Jesus is the flesh of Mary, and however much it was exalted in the glory of His resurrection, nevertheless the nature of His flesh derived from Mary remained and still remains the same" (Pope Leo XIII, "Fidentem Piumque Animum", 1896 A.D.)

"The Ark contained the Tablets of the Law; Mary contained in her womb the heir of the Testament. The Ark bore the Law; Mary bore the Gospel. The Ark make the voice of God heard; Mary gave us the very Word of God. The Ark shone forth with the purest of gold; Mary shone forth both inwardly and outwardly with the splendor of virginity. The gold which adorned the Ark came from the interior of the earth; the gold with which Mary shown forth came from the mines of heaven." (St. Ambrose, Doctor of the Church)

"Let us once more devoutly reverence the mystery of Mary's Immaculate Conception: our Emmanuel loves to see His Mother honored. After all, is it not for Him and for His sake that this bright star was prepared from all eternity, and created when the happy time fixed by the divine decree came? When we honor the Immaculate Conception of Mary, it is really to the divine mystery of the Incarnation that we are paying our just homage. Jesus and Mary cannot be separated, for Isaias tells us that she is the branch and He the Flower (Is 11:1)." (Dom Gueranger)

"By divine decision, the new Eve, mother of the new generation of the living, is the irreducible enemy of Satan and, together with the Savior, has the task of defeating Satan and crushing his head. The pride of the rebellious angel is given a deadly blow, from the moment in which God makes use of a creature, and in particular a woman, to realize the plan of redemption entrusted to His Son. Satan has other and no less important reasons for nourishing a particular hatred against Mary. In this regard, it is interesting to report the testimony of exorcist priests, who agree that when the name of Mary is pronounced, a person possessed or disturbed by a demon manifests the most violent reactions." (Fr. Fanzaga)

"I answer that, Since latria is due to God alone, it is not due to a creature so far as we venerate a creature for its own sake. For though insensible creatures are not capable of being venerated for their own sake, yet the rational creature is capable of being venerated for its own sake. Consequently the worship of latria is not due to any mere rational creature for its own sake. Since, therefore, the Blessed Virgin is a mere rational creature, the worship of latria is not due to her, but only that of dulia: but in a higher degree than to other creatures, inasmuch as she is the Mother of God. For this reason we say that not any kind of dulia is due to her, but hyperdulia." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")

"It was through her that He became the bridge between the Divine and the human. If we take her away, then either God does not become man, or He that is born of her is man and not God. Without her we would no longer have Our Lord! If we have a box in which we keep our money, we know that one thing we must always give attention to is the key; we never think that the key is the money, but we know that without the key we cannot get our money. Our Blessed Mother is like they key. Without her we can never get to Our Lord, because He came through her. She is not to be compared to Our Lord, for she is a creature and He is a Creator. But if we lose her, we cannot get to Him. That is why we pay so much attention to her; without her we could never understand how that bridge was built between Heaven and earth." (Archbishop Fulton Sheen) 

"Mary does not prevent our honoring Our Lord. Nothing is more cruel than to say that she takes souls away from Christ. That could mean that Our Lord chose a mother who is selfish, He Who is Love itself. If she kept us from her Son, we would disown her! But is not she, who is the Mother of Jesus, good enough for us sinners? We would never have had Our Divine Lord if He had not chosen her. We pray to the Heavenly Father, 'Give us this day our daily bread.' Though we ask God for our daily bread, we do not hate the farmer and the baker who help prepare it. Neither does the mother who gives the bread to her child dispense with the Heavenly Provider. If the only charge that Our Lord has against us on Judgement Day is that we loved His Mother - then we shall be very happy!" (Archbishop Fulton Sheen) 

"The Apostles had the advantage of only three years' teaching to prepare themselves for the establishment of His Kingdom, but the Blessed Mother had the advantage of thirty years. When one tries to imagine who much insight and inspiration would come from catching only a momentary glimpse of Wisdom Incarnate, one is appalled to think how much inspiration and wisdom Mary must have received from the years of communing with her Divine Son... If Our Blessed Lord after His Resurrection could so inspire the disciples of Emmaus in the interpretation of Scripture, then what must have been the thirty years' rehearsal of the Scriptures to His Mother, as explained to her how she was to be the new Eve, and how she was to share in His work of redemption beginning at Cana and ending at the Cross? Let those who think that the Church pays too much attention to Mary give heed to the fact that Our Blessed Lord Himself gave ten times as much of His life to her as He gave to His Apostles." (Archbishop Fulton Sheen)

"If Mary is the Mother of God, what wonder, then, that God has glorified and will glorify, though all ages, her power of intercession with him for all men? The Eternal Father has chosen Mary to be the mother of his only Son; the Holy Spirit chose her as his spouse. The Son, who has promised a throne in heaven to the apostles who preached his world, is bound in justice to do more for the Mother who bore him, the eternal Word. If we believe in honoring our mother, surely he believes in honoring and glorifying his. Now what honors, what prerogatives, should God bestow on her whom he has so favored, and who served him so devotedly! How should she be honored whom the King of Heaven deigns to honor!... How should Jesus reward the loving Mother who bore him, nursed him, saved him in his infancy from a most cruel death? Is there any honor too high for her whom God himself has so honored? Is there any glory too dazzling for her whom the God of glory has chosen for his dwelling place?" (Muller)

"The following praise was given to her in the same words both by the Archangel Gabriel and St. Elizabeth: 'Blessed art though amongst women.' Mary is truly called blessed above all other women, she having been herself always preserved from the least stain of sin, and having been the happy instrument of God in converting the maledictions laid on all mankind into blessings. When Judith had delivered Bethulia from temporal destruction, Ozias, the prince of the people, said to her 'Blessed art thou, daughter, above all women upon the face of the earth' (Judith 13:23). And 'the people all blessed her with one voice, saying: Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou are the joy of Israel, thou art the honor of our people.' How much more emphatically shall we, from our hearts, pronounce her blessed above all women who brought forth Him who is the author of all manner of spiritual and eternal blessings to us. She most justly said of herself, in the deepest sense of gratitude to the divine goodness, 'Behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed' (Lk. 1:48)" (Muller)

"Let us not be surprised, therefore, at the enthusiasm and profound respect wherewith the Church extols the Blessed Virgin and her prerogatives. Let us on the contrary be convinced that all the praise the Church can give her, and all the devotion she can ever bear towards her, are far below what is due to her as Mother of the Incarnate God. No mortal will ever be able to describe, or even comprehend, how great a glory accrues to her from this sublime dignity. For, as the glory of Mary comes from her being the Mother of God, one would have first to comprehend God himself in order to measure the greatness of her dignity. It is to God that Mary gave our human nature; it is God whom she had as her Child; it is God who gloried in rendering himself, inasmuch as he is Man, subject to her: hence, the true value of such a dignity possessed by a mere creature, can only be appreciated in proportion to our knowledge of the sovereign perfections of the great God, who thus deigns to make himself dependent upon that favored creature. Let us therefore bow down in deepest adoration before the Majesty of our God; let us therefore acknowledge that we cannot respect as it deserves the extraordinary dignity of her whom he chose for his Mother." (Dom Gueranger)

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