This Mary - the mother of God - has always been so important in my life. When I was growing up, I often felt alone and unloved. I would go and let Mary, whom I imagined as my Mother, hold me, comfort me. I would even talk to her, and I knew she was there, stroking my hair, and being my "Mother". I prayed to her. She was who I could relate to as someone who would hear me and care about me and I felt comfort from that.
Then one day, I was "baptized in the Holy Spirit" after a Life in the Spirit Seminar. Everything changed. I knew God, the creator of the whole universe, the God who supposedly sat on His throne in the heavenlies and was so untouchable - I knew HE loved me. I felt His love. He became my heavenly Father. And Jesus was alive!!! The Holy Spirit was revealing truths to me - then and He still is. The Bible came alive to me. It really is the word of God. He speaks to me through it. What an amazing life this is! One of the readings I read and still read often is Chapter 2 of the book of John. Verse 5 is important: "His mother instructed those waiting on table, 'Do whatever He tells you.' "
That is what I feel Mary did for me. I know she was with me through out my life, but when the time was ready she led me to Him and said "do whatever HE tells you to do." I believe that is Mary's role. Leading us to Jesus. She gave birth to Him - brought Him into our world. She was with Him to the bitter end of His life. She buried him behind the big stone. She was there when He came out of that grave. She was among those who witnessed Him walking amongst us. She was in the upper room with the other followers of Jesus, praying in the spirit for the Holy Spirit to come down on them as Jesus had promised, and they would receive power from on high.
Mary is a model for my life. And I do try to do whatever He tells me. Jesus is my Lord and Savior! Mary pointed the way.
14 comments:
WOW MOM, I never thought of Mary that way before..HOW magnificent this message is! I am so glad you found comfort in Mary, and then were lead to Jesus...I hope you know YOU ARE LOVED...I love you, Mom. Thank you for sharing this.
I have never thouoght of Mary like that. I felt more like people idolized her. And it was/is confusing to me because God said "I am a jealous god" We aren't supposed to put anyone or anything ahead or above Him. So, when I was a child I watched and listened to others around me pray to Mary, light candles to Mary and speak of her like she was a god. She wasn't. And I couldn't reconcile a jealous God and a people who put Mary way up there on a pedestal. I have always had a problem with that.
Now I have learned something from your heart that gives me pause to reflect. I don't know that I could ever pray to her, but I like to think of her role in Jesus ministry. I have always wondered what she must have thought, being a girl giving birth to our Lord, caring for him, educating him, disciplining him... Amazing.
Aunt Lonnie, I am blessed to read your heartfelt post. I appreciate that you took the time to explain this to me.
Thanks for the posts. You give me encouragement to keep doing this. Thanks.
I meant to include this thought:
We HONOR Mary as the Mother of God, and all she did to bring HIM to us and lead us to Him. Before I knew Jesus, I prayed to Mary, but now that I know Him, He is the one I pray to.
What about the rosary? The rosary is such a wonderful tool for meditation on prayer. She is still leading us to Him, even in this prayer. The prayers of the rosary are all out of the scriptures. "Our Father, who art in heaven . . . ", "Hail Mary, full of grace . . . ", and the mysteries that begin each decade, are all scriptures for us to ponder while we pray. The rosary is a beautiful prayer tool!
You are right to be careful not to worship Mary. And it is so true that our God is a jealous God. We worship God, we honor Mary.
So, do you believe in intercession of the virgin Mary Aunt Lonnie?
Because that is what i was just taught in my RCIA class. That we can pray to Mary to pray for us. Just wondering, DID anyone see my post....am i way off base here?
I never knew you had all these memories, ideas and thoughts about Mary. So it is wonderful that you are writing it here, where it will be kept forever, and read by many. This is your purpose. Keep up the great work. Now, for the answer to Terry's questions?
I do believe in the prayers of intercession to Mary. She, being the mother of our Lord, has a great influence on Him. Just as when any of my children come to me with a request, or a problem, whatever - I will do everything I can to help them or do what I can to get what they want for them. I think Mary is that way with all of us, too! My intercessory prayers are directed to Jesus as the intercessor, but I always remember Mary directing us to "do what He tells you to do." What did you learn about this in your class, Terry? Any other thoughts on this?
I have never found Biblical support of our desire to make Mary a prayerful intercessor. According to scripture, Jesus is our intercessor before God. I am just so uncomfortable with the whole practice. I appreciate the honor aspect of Mary's place in the Catholic faith. I can understand that. I hope I do not offend anyone, but I just don't know a Biblical foundation that would allow me to think that praying to Mary is okay. If you know where I can read it in the Bible, I would like to read it, truly. I am willing to read it. I would like to understand such a deep held belief.
In my Christian walk and as a Catholic, I have always believed we were not praying "to" but asking prayer "from" Mary and the Saints. I know it is in the bible somewhere that we pray with the angels & saints. Many Christians have a problem with the Catholic faith because they misunderstand this concept.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and beliefs here, Mickey and Linda. I am sorry, but I think I didn't get my point out there very good. I was trying to say that all my life I relied on Mary as my "savior", the one who could save me from my feelings of loneliness and lovelessness. But then she introduced me to Jesus and said "do what HE tells you to do"! From then on, my savior was Jesus Christ. He is the one I can lean on. He is the one I can ask and I know it will be given to me. He is the mediator. He intercedes for me and sits at the right hand of the Father.
In Timothy 2:1 Timothy urges that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered for all. Every day I pray intercessory prayers for all sorts of things, people, situations, etc., etc. And often I ask all the saints and angels to intercede to the Father with me. In other words, Mary, and saints - "I need help. Be sure Jesus and God hear me. Intercede with me on their behalf."
That scripture you are looking for, Linda, is in Hebrews 12:1 - "We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses" our loved ones who are in heaven, and all the saints and angels who are in the heavenlies. Mary is among those.
In 1Timothy 2:5 - "There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
Can any of you tell me the definition of "mediator" and "intercessor"?
I hope I have helped some of you see my thoughts. Mostly I am conveying my experiences with Mary as she led me to Jesus.
Thanks so much for your honest words. It is good to question all words. This is discerning, and discernment is very important in this day and age. It is good to help each other on our faith journeys.
Aunt Lonnie - I want you to know that I did understand your relationship with Mary and I thought it was beautiful. That is what I meant by "I never thought of Mary like that." I never stopped long enough to think of her the way that you do. I love your post here, your love for Mary, the way your belief about her comforted you and helped you through difficult times. I see that your feelings about her are what kept you "safe", so to speak. I don't mean to seem argumentative. I just never thought about any of that. My experiences and feelings led me in a whole different direction about my thoughts on Mary. Honor her, that I can understand and I can do. Thanks for putting the scriptures here for me to look up. I am going to do that as soon as I sign off.
I think this is all very "good" and thought provoking conversation. I have recently come to understand the Catholic Church's view of Mary and now understand why She is held is such high regard. I love what you all wrote here. I have learned that she is the MOTHER of all mothers. Not exactly like that, but she can be that mother that we all need at times. That we can ask her for intecessory prayers as well as all of the saints and our loved ones who are in heaven.....they are closest to God and they are closest to us. It is a mystery, there is some mystery involved in intecessory prayers. If you can, please go check out this article, http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/12/19/2317941/ferndale-boys-recovery-from-flesh.html (cut and paste this link) we talked about it at RCIA last night...we talked about all of this, seriously. It is just funny how that works, huh? i didn't say a word last night, just listened. And praying the rosary has brought me a sense of peace that i have never experienced before. It was awesome!! I am just rambling now. I am very excited about my walk in faith, I wish i had another active catholic family member closer to me that i could share it with. I went to the Immaculate Conception of Mary mass this last November and it was the most amazing experience...it truly touched/moved me. I was so moved and i don't really even know why. I just know that i feel a sense of understanding and peace. All of these bible verses that you have listed here Aunt Lonnie are the verses from our RCIA class last night. I learned, or at least this is my understanding today, that intecessory is petitioning for help to "plead your case" "pray for you or with you" and that meditating is “a go between - with peace in mind for the salvation of men". So Jesus is our only Salvation but he is not the only Intecessor that we have. Anyways, i have never been the text book type, probably never will be. That is why i am so appreciative of this Blog Aunt Lonnie. It makes learning fun and engaging and attainable.
Good stuff here, people...I am glad we are studying this together...how cool is that
yes, thanks everyone. I love the internet! I love the blogs! I love all of you!
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