Today I am going to touch one of the most debated topics in the world,yeah,
I know many have already talked about it and I am confirming that I am
just giving my insight in to the same. I remember drawing a picture of the Virgin Mary and I even
have a statue of her in my room. A certain person raised an allegation
that I was trying to do idol worship and praying to Mary, who is not God,
which according to the Bible is the worst of all sins. Well, let me tell him
and others who think like that what is my opinion on the same.
To begin with, Virgin Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, no historian,
no politician, no human, living or non living being can ever change this
fact. If thereis one person in this life who has suffered the most for us,
it will be a mother only. She bears us in her womb for nine months, suffers
great pain and discomfort in giving birth and growing us up.So Jesus, though
the son of God and God Himself in human form, needed a mother to give
birth to him and raise him. Mary was chosen by God himself to become the'
mother of Jesus (well here the bible is my proof.) SO God could have
chosen anyone with all his mighty powers to become the mother of Christ,
or even give human form to the child Jesus as a matter of fact without a
mother giving birth to him; yet God decided that a woman, who He favoured,
had the great privilege in giving birth to His son in earth. It is God
who honoured her, who are we to dishonour a person who God Himself has
honoured? And above all, a mother is the one most closest to a child and
Jesus has this connection with Mary and this indeed suggests that God
Himself finds favour in her and Mary has the right to be venerated.
Now the million dollar question, is Mary God to be prayed to, my answer will
be 'No', I never say I pray to as I do to God. But then again, we have proof
that she is one person who has won favour with God. The angel Gabriel salutes
her during the annunciation as "Hail, thou that art highly favoured,
the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women." These bible verses
clearly shows Mary has won special favour with God by rightful living and
she is blessed among women, which makes her place extremely special in
the hearts of Christians (beleivers of Mary). Let me cite a small example
here, if someone asks me something that I am in confusion whether to do or
not, I may not do it owing to the fact that what I may do may not be for
the overall good (hence doubting whether to do or not). Again, I may consult
with a good freind/companion on his/her views on the same and act according
to that as I know that person I can beleive in. So obviously the decisions
that we take can be indeed be influenced/helped by those who we love or those
who love us. Often we make hard decisions which may even hurt us to keep our
freinds or loved ones happy. In the same way, we request Mary for her
intercession in our prayers so that she can request God on our behalf to help
us, so we make sure our prayers are being heard. Again, some often question
me, we can pray directly to God, no need of intermediate persons; but again,
in childhood, sometimes when we need something from our father which we
are a bit afraid to take up, we ask our mother to take up, who at a very
suitable time presents it to the father and mostly gets it done (unless it's
not genuine). In the same way, being the Mother of Jesus, she can take
things to God on our behalf and request to hear our prayers to God. The
world is filled with sins and the intercession of Mary can definitely help
us to regain our faith in God.
Another question is regarding statues of the Virgin, Jesus and other saints
seen exquisitely in Catholic churches and in public places where people
kneel in front of them, light candles, say prayers etc: I am also against
idol worship, but the thing here is we are not worshipping the mre idol but
the idol is a replica of the person in front of us, for us to see and feel
the presence of that person. How good it will be if you have a photograph of
a person with you while you can talk to that person, rather than simply
look in to air and converse with them, let alone many prefer face to face
conversations rather than phone conversations, all of this owing to the
fact that when our eyes see something, our whole mind can concentrate on
that thing, so when we see a statue of the Virgin, we remember her and the
hardships that she suffered in bringing Christ to this world.
A great inspiration that we can from the Virgin is the fact that she had
beleif, beyond anyone in the God, that whatever happens to her is by the
will of God and she was ready to face the consequences. When she was not
even married or known a man, she agreed to carry Jesus in her womb by
saying :"Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to
thy word". At an ancient time like that (even now), how many of us would
beleive a virgin could give birth to a child, the society could have marked
her as a prostitue and stoned to death, the most horrid of all and yet
she beleived in God's decision more than hers or anyone else's. Thus by
asking the intercession of Mary we prove that we have a faith in her,
like she had a faith in the Lord, a faith that nothing bad will happen,
a faith which is unshaken whatever happens. Things may not always go as
we planned or as we like, but the thing is God knows everything and his
plan is bigger and better for everyone, Mary teaches us that and with
her we beleive to beleive in God whatever be the situation.
There are people who want their eyes closed all the time even after proofs
are showered in front of them, to them what can I say:"To wake up a person
who is asleep is possible, but what shall I do one who pretends to be asleep?"
They ask like how I can be so sure about the intercession of the Virgin is
truly powerful; I just ask one question:" If your mother asks you something
that you can do, will you do it or not?"..This is the same case with Jesus.
If you ask me for a Biblical example the wedding at Canah where Jesus transformed
water in to wine on Mary's request is the finest example of the same. The
time of Jesus to start doing miracles haven't arrived and He tells this
to herbut again, considering the request came from a mother who beleives her
son, He did that and it's considered to be the first miracle of Jesus on earth.
Thus even Jesus proves that Mary, as his mother has a great influence on
him and the genuine requests made on our behalf by her will not be negelcted.
She is our lady of miracles, behold her, for she is the one who asks the
Lord and the Lord provides whatever she asks for.
Another great quality that the Virgin shows us that gained her the immense
popularity is her virtue, her humbleness, even after being the mother of
Christ, she is all the more humble and beleives it's Lord's decision to
choose her and not her decision to choose the Lord. She was well aware of
the fact that she was going to be the mother of Christ, a position many
women wanted, a role only one woman in the entire mankind would ever receive,
this was the position given to Mary by God. How great would be the feeling
to give birth to the creator of the entire universe, Christ being the
redeemer, Mary the redeemed. Before you say a word against the Virgin,
think how will you please the son by offending and abusing his mother?
She is the door of salvation that opens to Jesus, without her how can you
ever appeal to God, by not honouring his greatest beleiver, how can you
honour him? Mary says in the bible that generations will call her blessed
and describes her as the servant of God, that's what we study from Mary.
Even after knowing she got the prime position as a woman, she went across
to serve Elizabeth as she was pregnant with John the baptist.
Mary, the name itself drives salvation, like a mother unites with her child,
through blood and body, Christ has joined himslef with Mary, both physically
and spiritually. She stands as a mother to entire humankind, gentle and mild,
as a rescue point for sinners, a redeemer of souls, a proof that the humblest
will receive the greatest honours and the mother of God. Behold her in times
of trouble and you will see a mother's protection cover you, she weeps with
you and her soul wishes everyone should be redeemed. Avoid the arrogance and
behold our mother, for she is the only woman who can lead us to salvation.
Above views are totally mine and not for any controversies. These are knowledges
shared across by various saints, the Church and a few I have received while
praying the rosary. Put your beleif in her and she will never let you down.
As I call her 'Mama' she is there for me, for you and for anyone who calls
up on her, her intercession gives me power, a sinner like me stands in front
of God through her prayers and I beleive in Totus Tus (Totally yours) Mama.
