HOW EXCESSIVE IS THE WORSHIP OF MARY?
By LLOYD I. CASTRO
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS posed by Rene Laurentin in his book, Mary’s Place in the Church, echo the
concern of thinking Catholics about the development of the Marian
movement. On pages 27 to 28, Laurentin
writes:
“There is no doubt that the
Marian movement is fruitful, fertile and prosperous, but would it not be true
to say that its abundance is excessive, its intensity, and its development
specialized and partly pathological? If
something of the sort is true, should it not be remedied both for the good of
Catholic theology and for the honour of the Virgin Mary?”
Laurentin wonders whether the development of the Marian
movement has become excessive, unhealthy, and partly pathological. He suggest that, if it has, then it should be
remedied because of its harm on Catholic theology and on Mary’s honor itself.
This article aims to answer Laurentin’s question by
presenting six Catholic doctrines, beliefs and/or claims and comparing to the
teachings of the Holy Scriptures, which is the authority on God’s truth.
1. Mary’s approval in Christ’s redemption
This is one claim that makes the
recognition of Mary excessive, unhealthy, and partly pathological, according to
Laurentin:
“Thus
according to certain theories which have, it must be added, had little success,
since Christ was not a human person, the consent of Mary, who was no more than
a creature, was necessary to ratify the redemption in the name of
humanity. According to others, she is
for this same reason closer to us and more merciful than Christ himself.”
(p. 77)
How far has the Catholic veneration of
Mary gone? Laurentin reveals that
certain theories, surely Catholic in origin, allege that Mary’s authorization
was needed in Christ’s act of redemption.
This completely opposes the following proclamation of God:
“The LORD
says, ‘It was my will that he should suffer; his death was a sacrifice to bring
forgiveness. And so he will see his
descendants; he will live a long life, and through him my purpose will
succeed’.” (Is. 53:10, Today’s
English Version)
This biblical passage is a prophecy about
the suffering and death of Christ. It is
God who willed that Christ must suffer and die for the forgiveness of sins. There is not a single reference in the Bible,
explicit or implicit, to the necessity of Mary’s approval to Christ’s act of
redemption.
2. Salvation
depends on Mary
In his book Mary and the Priest, Mark J. Lyons expresses bewilderment to this
allegation:
“It is bewildering to realize that
salvation of the whole world, of millions yet unborn, depended on a little
maiden, no more than fourteen years of age, going through the great adventure
of motherhood.” (p. 64)
Not only is this Catholic teaching that
salvation depends on Mary bewildering, but it is also totally alien to the
Bible. The Savior introduced by the
Bible is the One whom Mary gave birth to—our Lord Jesus Christ:
“For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Lk. 2:11, New King James Version)
3. Mary is now in heaven
Otto Semmelroth, author of Mary, Archetype of the Church, alleges
that, “except for Christ—Mary is the only human
being dwelling body and soul in eternal glory in Heaven” (p. 161).
This teaching is not in consonance with
the Scriptures. Henri Daniel-Rops, author
of The Book of May, testifies that the so-called Assumption of Mary into heaven
is found nowhere in the whole of the Bible:
“What is even
more astonishing is the thought that some of the great festivals of Our Lady
are of very uncertain origin. An example
is that of November 21, the Presentation of Our lady In the Temple. Now the Assumption of Our Lady is something
unknown to the Gospel, nor is it mentioned at all in the book of the Acts of
the Apostles which says nothing whatever of Mary after the Pentecost.”
(p. 36)
Checking the Bible to see if there is any
mention in it about Mary ascending to heaven after her death will lead to the
conclusion that the Catholic doctrine of the Assumption is merely an
assumption.
4. God is subject
to Mary
The Catholic Church teaches
through its so-called saints that God is subject to Mary. Catholic saint Louis Mary De Monfort in his
work, True Devotion to Mary, writes:
“When the
saints tell us that all things in heaven and on earth, including God Himself,
are subjected to the Blessed Virgin, they mean that the authority God gave her
is so great that she appears to have the same powers as the Trinity, and that
her prayers and requests have such an effect upon God that He receives them as
commands.” (p. 9)
Catholic saint Louis Mary De Monfort is
one with his fellow “saints” in teaching that God is subject to Mary. He is saying simply that Mary commands God,
or that God allows Himself to be commanded by a human being.
But according to the Bible, the Father is
the One above all—not Mary:
“One God and
Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Eph.
4:6, NKJV)
5. Mary is
worshiped
The blasphemous belief that God
is subject to Mary is accompanied by the profane act of worshiping her. In fact, the Catholic Church worships her
more than it does God and Christ. This
is the testimony of F.C.H. Dreyer and E. Weller:
“THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH in actual fact
worships Mary, the mother of Jesus, more than it worships either God or
Christ.” (Roman Catholicism in the
Light of Scripture, p. 179)
This is in stark contrast with the
teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ on who the true worship. In John 4:23, , He explicitly declares:
“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” (NKJV)
Christ declares that the true worshipers
worship the Father, whom He, the Son, recognized and introduced as the only
true God (Jn. 17:1, 3). He did not say
that it is His mother. So, those who
worship Mary are certainly not true worshipers and their worship is false.
The way the Catholic Church justifies its
worship of Mary all the more proves that it indeed worships her. Jesuit priest John A. Hardon, author of The Catholic Catechism, attempts to draw
the line between the worship of Mary and of God:
“… The technical name for the worship of
God is adoration or latreutic worship (from the ancient Greek word latreia, which meant the service given
to the gods). The lesser form of
veneration given to the angels and saints that Catholicism recognizes has the
theological name of dulia (from the Greek term douleia, which means the respect shown to a master by his
servant). The Blessed Virgin is said to
be honored with hyperdulia, i.e., a higher form of what is essentially the same
veneration paid to other creatures among the saints but in essence unlike the
adoration given only to God.” (p. 442)
Whatever terminologies Catholic
authorities may use to distinguish their worship of Mary from that of God, the
fact remains that the Catholic Church worships her. Hardon admits that they honor Mary with
hyperdulia, a form of veneration or worship higher than that paid to the
Catholic saints. So , she is not the
only creature the Catholic Church worships but also its “saints” who number by
the thousands. That is a direct affront
to God (Exo. 20:3-5; Rom. 1:23, 25).
6. Queen of Heaven
So high is Roman Catholicism’s
exaltation of Mary that it has crowned her Queen of Heaven and more. In his book Glories and Virtues of Mary, Catholic priest, J. Alberione, tries
to show the imagined extent of Mary’s domain:
“Mary is the Queen of heaven and earth;
she is the Queen of purgatory, of the missions, of the rosary, of peace—the
universal Queen.” (p. 165)
Jeremiah 7:18-20 records God’s
pronouncement against people who worship the false goddess called the Queen of
Heaven:
“The children
gather firewood, the men build fires, and the women mix dough to bake cakes for
the goddess they call the Queen of Heaven.
They also pour out offerings of wine to other gods, in order to hurt
me. But am I really the one they are
hurting? No, they are hurting themselves
and bringing shame on themselves. And so
I, the Sovereign LORD, will pour out my fierce anger on this Temple. I will pour it out on people and animals
alike, and even on the trees and the crops.
My anger will be like a fire that no one can put out.” (TEV)
God abhors the worship the Catholic Church
renders to Mary, whom it exalts as the Queen of Heaven. This is one of the roots causes of His curse
of pestilence in this world.
Recognition of Mary should not go beyond
what is written in the Bible. To
criticize the Catholic Church’s excessive regard of her is not equivalent to
defaming her person. Mary, the mother of
Jesus, has nothing to do with the Mary being portrayed by the Catholic Church.
Marian veneration is excessive because it
is against the teaching of the Bible. In
fact, thinking Catholics have felt its destructive threat to Catholic theology
itself, or what sound teaching is left of it, if any. *
References:
Alberione, Very Rev. J. Glories
and Virtues
of Mary. Philippines: St. Paul Publication, n.d.
Daniel-Rops, Henri. The
Book of Mary.
Garden City, New York: Doubleday &
Company, Inc. 1960.
De Monfort, St. Louis Mary.
True Devotion To Mary. Bay Shore,
New York: Monfort Publications, 1985.
Dreyer, F.C.A. and E. Welles.
Roman Catholicism in the Light of
Scripture.
Chicago: The Moody Bible Institute, 1960.
Hardon, John A., S.J. The Catholic Catechism.
New York, New York: Doubleday Dell
Publishing Group, Inc., 1981.
Laurentin, Rene. Mary’s
Place in the Church.
London: Burns & Oates, 1965.
Lyons, Rev. Mark J. Mary
and the Priest.
Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1963
Semmelroth, Otto. Mary, Archetype of the Church.
Ireland: M.H. Gill and Son Ltd., 1963
Copied from PASUGO GO’S MESSAGE/August
2002/Pages 9-11/Volume 54/Number 8/ISSN 0116-1636
*René Laurentin>>>>>>>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Laurentin]
