“…it makes me sad to think of how many people, through this misunderstanding, have never been able to experience in their faith journey what Jesus Himself was able to experience – that is, the tender embrace and love of His Holy Mother Mary.”
In this edition of A Minute with Mary, Paul Elarde gives a brief overview of why the belief that Catholics worship Mary is an unfortunate misunderstanding.
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Transcript
Sometimes we hear people say that Catholics worship Mary. How should we intelligently respond to such a claim? Well, firstly Catholics never have and never will worship Mary or anyone other than God. Personally, I have never known of any Catholic ever who worshiped Mary; to Catholics it seems such a ridiculous thing to say! But I think confusion can come about because some people equate prayer and worship as the same thing. As soon as they see someone praying to Mary or the saints, they immediately regard it as worship. Let me assure you that Catholics do not worship Mary or the saints.
It is important to understand that for Catholics, we generally associate worship with Holy Mass or during Eucharistic adoration, although of course it’s not limited to these occasions. Prayer however, is regarded simply as communication. So while we pray to Mary and the saints – and without going into the technical Latin expressions – worship and adoration are reserved only for God. We use the lesser expressions like ‘honour’ for Mary and the saints.
But it makes me sad to think of how many people through this misunderstanding have never been able to experience in their faith journey, what Jesus Himself was able to experience – that is, the tender embrace and love of His Holy Mother Mary.
