While visiting the Monestary of Santa Catalina in Arequipa, I came across a great room of three halls (in the shape of a Cross) lined with art work from over the last several centuries. Some of it was simply breathtaking. (The above photo would be at the foot of these three long hallways). 
My pictures didn't come out very well because we were not permitted to use a flash, but you can see here an interesting set of paintings. The one above is a picture of God creating the world, and the one below it is a series of paintings about the Garden of Eden. Now take a closer look at the second painting....
Do you notice anything curious? Or perhaps suspicious? The picture portrays God the Father instructing Adam & Eve regarding the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil. But who is that behind the Father? Here is a close up...
That's right. The Blessed Virgin Mary. What is she doing there? in the Garden of Eden at the creation of the world? My Bible doesn't say anything about that.
My (American) Roman Catholic friends will tell me that this is simply a misguided artist and this isn't official Roman Catholic teaching. But I think Rome sends mixed signals. For example, the RCC Catechism 971 says, "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship." Then in the next breath it says that the devotion given to Mary is different than the adoration given to the Trinity. 
And then there's folks like Scott Hahn, the poster-child for protestant converts to Rome. He is everywhere acknowledged as one of the great communicators and popularizers of Rome's teachings. I have his book, Hail, Holy Queen, and have been reading it. Listen to what he says, "God is a family...God's covenant family is perfect lacking nothing. The Church looks to God as Father, Jesus as Brother...What's missing, then? In truth, nothing. Every family needs a mother. For a family is incomplete without a loving mother." Hence, Mary. [pp. 19, 27; italics added.]
He goes on to speak of her "mystical marriage to God who is at once her Father, her Spouse, and her Son" (p. 38). You'd almost get the notion that she is the third member of the Trinity. But, he didn't say that, did he? He didn't have to. If we worship the Father & the Son, why not worship the Mother? Why not give her divine attributes if she is a part of the divine family? In reality, lots of folks do. They understand perfectly clearly what is being said.
It is not uncommon to talk to folks here in Peru who treat Mary as the third member of the Trinity. Or better yet, as the mediator between humanity and an angry Father and angry Son. BUT, the above picture and endorsed and celebrated Roman teachers are indicative of the omnipresent tendency within Roman Catholicism to exalt Mary. 
Or take the example of the influential St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787), bishop and Doctor of the Roman Church. From his book, The Glories of Mary, (which I also have and which can still be bought on Amazon; it has a Five Star rating, BTW!) in which he teaches among other things the omnipotency of Mary (p. 96), he offers this prayer in a section of teaching called, "Mary is an Advocate Who is Able to Save Everybody",
"We are great sinners, but God has enriched you with mercy and power far greater than our iniquities. You are both able and willing to save us; and the more unworthy we are, the more we shall hope in you in order to reach heaven ourselves and to glorify you there...You have only to open your lips and ask your son. He will deny you nothing. Pray, then, O Mary, pray for us!"
Or his prayer from the Catholic Forum:
"I worship thee, great Queen...; most of all do I thank thee for having saved me from hell, which I had so often deserved. I love thee, Lady most worthy of all love, and, by the love which I bear thee, I promise ever in the future to serve thee, and to do what in me lies to win others to thy love. In thee I put all my trust, all my hope of salvation."
[Aside: How is it that Martin Luther was condemned as a heretic and anathematized, and Ligouri is celebrated, canonized (made into a Saint) by Pope Gregory XVI in 1831 and made a Doctor of the RCC in 1871 by Pope Pius IX? Come on, Rome!!!]
Now, for the average Protestant, or for that matter, for any Christian who takes the Scriptures seriously, this is beyond just plain silly. This is pretty much a textbook case of, say, blasphemy. This makes every fiber of our being cringe. When will the Pope B16 come out and quash this nonsense??? Of course, the answer is he can't, at least without losing his power base.
So what do we do? I think most Protestants swing to the other extreme and have nothing to do with Mary, the mother of Jesus. I think this is a mistake. Just like Christians love and honor St. Paul, or St. Peter, or St. Augustine, or St. Anselm, or St. John Calvin, so we can love and honor Santa Maria. Jesus loved her and honored her. And there is no reason we cannot do this. Just because people abuse her (and I do think the above would qualify for this--I think she would be embarrassed!) doesn't mean that we should leave her to their abuse. We need nothing less than a Reformation of true honor and true love for Mary. If you are interested, I recently read a simple, balanced, & sane approach to the subject of Mary. It is called The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus by Scot McKnight. He says from the start that this is a book about Mary for Protestants, though I'm convinced that it would be a welcome relief for weary and misled Roman Catholics. I enthusiastically recommend it.
"Why write a book for Protestants about Mary? Here's why: Because the story about the real Mary has never been told. The Mary of the Bible has been hijacked by theological controversies whereby she has become a Rorschach inkblot in which theologians find whatever they wish to find. In the midst of this controversy the real Mary has been left behind. It is time to let her story be told again....Because the real Mary always leads us to Jesus."
Mary is indeed blessed among women, she whose soul glorified the Lord and whose spirit rejoiced in God her Savior (the Magnificat, Luke 2). Any serious Christian can and ought to join their voice in calling her blessed.
7 comments:
I guess it wouldn't further the conversation to post some quotes from some of the reformers who believed the same Marian dogmas that the Catholic Church recognizes....
I can't say I agree with your trying to paint Catholics in a box...that we worship Mary as the 4th member of the Trinity.
I encourage anybody to read "Hail, Holy Queen" in its entirety and see for yourself if Catholics think Mary is part of the Trinity or a deity. Or, you can read over 2000 years of church history...none of which deify her or call her anything close to the Trinity.
Luckily, the Roman Catholic Church defined the Trinity as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit centuries before the same Catholic Church canonized the New Testament, and luckily the Reformers didn't shake off that truth during the reformation.
The Church that defined and protected the doctrine of the trinity against heresies for over a millenia before the reformation came along is now trying to add Mary as part of it? I don't think so.
Allow be to fill in the [...]s of your quotation from "Hail, Holy Queen."
It starts on page 19...
"This sing name, then, reveals Who God is from all eternity. He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit." --Notice no Mary within the Trinity.
"God is a family since He has Himself fatherhood, sonship, and the essence of the family, which is love." ---Again, that is the sentence you quoted. No mention of Mary being in the Trinity.
"God alone possesses the essential attributes of a family, and the Trinity ALONE possesses them in their perfection." (Emphasis added.)
Now...page 27 which you quoted.
"What's missing then? IN TRUTH NOTHING. Every family needs a mother; only Christ could choose HIs own, and He chose providentially for His entire covenant family. Now, everything He has HE shares with us. His divine life is ours; His home is our home; His Father is our Father; His brothers are our brothers; and His mother is our mother, too."
Hahn's point is simply that Jesus chose to give us his mother. Not that she is part of the Trinty. It makes perfect sense it light of the final words that Jesus spoke on the cross...."Behold your mother!"
Hope you don't mind me steeping in on this...I don't think you are trying to be dishonest but Hahn, nor any Good Catholic, thinks Mary is in the Trinity.
Having said that...I am the first to admit that there are some abuses in Marian devotion especially in Latin America. Believe it or not, the Church does correct it and reign it in when it happens.
Peace,
Sean
God's covenant family is perfect lacking nothing.
Hey Sean
I don't mind your contribution at all. Glad you left your comments.
My point simply is that their is a difference b/t the official RCC doctrine and what RCC let's exist in their church. Nor am I trying to paint all Romanists with the same brush. But there are abuses. At any moment, the Pope could speak out against these abuses, and he doesn't. Abusers get made doctors and saints.
Re: Scott Hahn. I'm not saying that he denies the Holy Trinity. His logic is faulty when teaching about Mary's role in God's family. Mary is NOT the bride of Christ, the Church is. If God is an eternal family, and if the Father and the Son are eternal, and nothing is missing in this family except the one thing that is missing: the Mother, then functionally this translates, at least in Hispanic contexts where Mary is THE most important religious figure in Christianity, as a functional 4th member, if not the 3rd member of the Trinity. Certainly a / THE mediator. This is that atmosphere that I breathe, and if the Pope is the vicar of Christ, he should deal with this abuse of Mary.
Jesus would.
G&P,
John
Well...it may sound like a cop-out but it isn't as easy as that may sound. The Catholic church is much bigger, obviously, than the PCA. If a PCA church somewhere were doing something heretical every PCA member in America would know about it via email in 2-3 days. Unfortunately, the Catholic Church isn't that efficient. The Pope can't address every problem that exists in the church in a lifetime...although he does when he can, for example, recently re-affirming that Pro-Choice politicians ought not receive the blessed sacrament.
However, I've seen first hand the church try to stamp out weird Marian stuff...several times pamplets have been stuck in the hand-outs at parishes I've been to which sternly admonished some of the faithful for pilgraming to various parts of the state to view supposed Marian images on freeway underpasses etc.
Vatican 2 took the issue head on...I quote from Vatican Two Excerpts from Chapter VIII: Our Lady:
"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 originates not in any inner necessity but in the disposition of God. It 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.
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.
The Church does not hesitate to profess this subordinate role of Mary, which it constantly experiences and recommends to the heartfelt attention of the faithful, so that encouraged by this maternal help they may the more closely adhere to the Mediator and Redeemer."
Vatican 2, by the way, falls under the infallible charism of the church...as defined by the church of course.
I can't speak to the quote from St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori but I suspect that something is lost in translation. Clearly, worship of anything other than God is heresy.
As I eluded to earlier, the Reformed Christians ought to reclaim their historical veneration of the blessed virgin. Luther had about as deep a devotion to her as any Catholic.
Well, my friend, if I was in your position, this is exactly what I would have to say. But I'm not as generous as your estimation that this is only a minor problem in some obscure part of the RCC. Mariolatry is so widespread that it cannot be missed or overlook. I'm not talking about veneration. And this is one of the key issues that still divides.
I wouldn't put my eggs in the basket that Liguori has been mistranslated. Why not make an official inquiry through your channels to the Pope asking for an investigation? If he did say these things and didn't recant them, then B16 ought to reverse his predecessor's mistake of making him a Doctor & Saint of Rome and condemn him as a heretic. Your quote from Vat2 is nice, but a well publicized heresy trial would do far more to clean out this flagrant abuse--if it is an abuse--of RCC doctrine.
I 'heart' Santa Maria. And I'm praying for B16. He could do a lot to reform & revive his sphere of influence.
Ferg
Glad to hear that you are praying for Benedict. He is praying for you too. And, of course, he can do much to correct the abuses of practice in the church. I too hope he does. What you call "Mariolotry" isn't the only problem. I'd be the first to admit that. I appreciate that you realize the distinction between "Mariolotry" and veneration.
I'll take a closer look at Liguori and give you a full report.
Also, for me, when you encounter an active Catholic in Peru (one who at least goes to Mass every Sunday) ask him/her if they think Mary is God. If you ever find one that answers in the affirmative I'll buy you a brew when and if you're ever back in Houston. (We'll go by the honor system).
Actually, in a Divine sense Mary would have been praying to God at the moment of creation, as would I, and you and anyone else who has prayed to God.
God is "I am",always in the present. To whom there is no past, no future, only the present now. It is that present nowness that centers the Western and Eastern Catholic and Orthodox view of the Eucharist because it presents again the body and blood of Christ, as has been done since the Last Supper, to be fully present (body, blood, soul and divinity) without making it a resacrificing of Christ. To God there is always and only the now. Time is a human construct, the divine exists outside of time. All of human history occurs in the divine now. But on this notion I digress, it is off topic, but gives a good example of what may be the point to the picture.
This may be what the painter was trying to show, but without the painter to answer for it, it's a pretty picture and not worth getting bent out of shape about.
It is a great puzzle why Mary was included, but prayer is a great peace in that puzzle. May the Holy Spirit bring you understanding and wisdom as you contemplate this.
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