{"id":42149,"date":"2013-10-31T09:43:27","date_gmt":"2013-10-31T14:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=42149"},"modified":"2013-10-31T10:27:19","modified_gmt":"2013-10-31T15:27:19","slug":"love-mary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/10\/love-mary\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Love Mary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mary<\/a>

Mary Mother of the Eucharist, by Marc Thicke<\/p><\/div>\n

For many Protestants, the subject of Mary is a touchy one. When Our Blessed Mother is brought up in conversation, statements such as, \u201cHow dare you worship Mary!\u201d and \u201cYou idolater\/heathen\/other damning names!\u201d usually come up.<\/p>\n

And honestly, when I was a lukewarm Catholic, I didn\u2019t really get the whole \u201cMary-business\u201d either. I mean, I understood the power of her intercession and all of that, but I was kinda like, \u201cYa, Mary\u2019s cool and all, but I don\u2019t want to get too into her otherwise those Protestants might start yelling mean things at me again.\u201d<\/p>\n

(I\u2019m kidding about the whole Protestant yelling thing, of course. I love you guys! \ud83d\ude09 )<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t until I really started getting into my faith that I began to understand who Mary is and why she\u2019s so important to salvation history. The Catholic Church holds Mary in such high regard because she said yes to God when everything else was against her, without a second thought. I could try to poorly explain to you the reasons why the Church honors Our Blessed Mother, Her being the new Eve, Mother of the living God, etc.<\/p>\n

But the reason why I love Mary is this: She gave me Jesus.<\/strong><\/em> She gave to me the One who saved my life, my Savior. She gave to me the One whom I love the most.<\/p>\n

Without Mary, who knows what terrible state this world would be in? Can you imagine a world without Jesus? Without Him, our world would be full of chaos and unrest. But with Him, we can experience peace and joy.<\/p>\n

How could I ever be more grateful to Her? And the thing is, even though She\u2019s given so much to us already, Our Mother didn\u2019t just stop giving after she said yes to God. She is constantly interceding for us in Heaven, and because Her will is so in-line with God\u2019s, her intercession is truly powerful. All we have to do is ask, and Our Blessed Mother comes to us with open arms.<\/p>\n

How beautiful is the woman who literally brings God into the world. And if we let Her, Mary can bring us so close to her Son. When the pregnant Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, Elizabeth\u2019s womb literally leapt with joy at knowing that they were in the presence of our Lord. This instance wasn\u2019t exclusive to Elizabeth. If we ask, Mary can bring us so much closer to Jesus.<\/p>\n

Mary Teaches and Loves Us<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Mary can teach us how to be a servant of God. She risked everything for a promise that God made her: her husband, her future, even her life. But instead of begrudgingly accepting God\u2019s plan, Mary is beyond joyful to serve, saying, \u201cMy soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid\u2019s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.\u201d (Luke 1:46-49) And because of her humility and faithfulness to His plan, God made Mary the Queen of Heaven (Revelations 12:1).<\/p>\n

Mary also teaches us how to suffer gracefully. Her life was by no means easy. I mean, experiencing the pains of labor in a dingy stable in the midst of a bunch of stinky animals after being rejected by all the inns in town despite being very, very pregnant is not exactly an ideal situation. And just the thought of how Mary must have felt at the death of our Lord absolutely breaks my heart. After being assured that her Son would be one day be King, after being so proud of His accomplishments and His ministry, she saw her beloved Son be brutally beaten and hung from a cross, a punishment for the worst of criminals. She witnessed first hand Our Lord, the perfect Creator of the universe who loves us infinitely more than we imagine, be mercilessly murdered by soldiers who mocked him unceasingly. Her only Son was taken from her at a moment\u2019s notice.<\/p>\n

I imagine the Holy Family, Mary, Joseph and Jesus, to be such a joyful, happy, God-loving family. I imagine them to be a household of laughter and happiness, as are families who truly love God. All of that peace and joy, laughter and love, was taken away from her at a moment\u2019s notice. When Good Friday and Holy Saturday come around every year, I reflect on the utter despair, misery and hopelessness Mary must\u2019ve experienced. A home of pure love was taken away from her, and Mary was left alone with nothing.<\/p>\n

Mary understands suffering more than most of us do, and when we are going through difficult times, we can ask that she help us through them. You can talk to Mary when everyone else has left you, even when you feel as if God has left you. She understands your pain. She can comfort you when there seems to be nothing left to hold on to. She can teach you how to say yes to God\u2019s will, even when the consequences don\u2019t seem to be in your favor.<\/p>\n

So yes, these are my thoughts on the Virgin Mary. The truth is, someone can love Jesus without loving Mary, but nobody could ever love Mary without loving even more deeply her Son, Jesus.<\/p>\n

All I hope is that one day, I can be as faithful to God\u2019s plan for me as my beautiful Mother. I pray that one day I can bring Jesus to someone else, just as she has brought Him to me. So thank you, my Mother Mary, for being the beautiful, loving Mother to all of God\u2019s children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For many Protestants, the subject of Mary is a touchy one. When Our Blessed Mother is brought up in conversation, statements such as, \u201cHow dare you worship Mary!\u201d and \u201cYou idolater\/heathen\/other damning names!\u201d usually come up. And honestly, when I was a lukewarm Catholic, I didn\u2019t really get the whole \u201cMary-business\u201d either. I mean, I… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":150,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":183762,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/most-powerful-woman-in-the-world-national-geographic\/","url_meta":{"origin":42149,"position":0},"title":"The Most Powerful Woman in the World (A Response to the “National Geographic” Feature)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"December 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Everybody loves Mary. If you're a Catholic reading this on its original publication date, you have recently gone or will be going to Mass to honor her as the Immaculate Conception. (Otherwise, the next page you visit might be the closest parish's confession times.) You probably heard the same homily\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mary statue, sad","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/sxc_dogmadic-mary_sad-525x700.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/sxc_dogmadic-mary_sad-525x700.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/sxc_dogmadic-mary_sad-525x700.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":28236,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/review-looking-for-mary\/","url_meta":{"origin":42149,"position":1},"title":"Irreverent Mary (Review: “Looking for Mary, Or, The Blessed Mother and Me”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"December 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"People come to the Catholic faith through many avenues. As Dr. Robert Koons put it during his recent apologetics series at the University Catholic Center, where I work, there are \"many roads to Rome.\" Some roads are bumpy and long, and some are clear forks. Some roads, however, are more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/3245996399_2a1f41a5d9_z-298x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":993175,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/crowd-funding-hail-marys\/","url_meta":{"origin":42149,"position":2},"title":"Crowd Funding Hail Marys","author":"Shawn Rain Chapman","date":"July 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"After a week of losing sleep over the suffering of little children taken from their parents at the border, many days of speaking out and also of sending what money I could to organizations trying to help these separated families, I texted to one of my sisters in Carmel, still\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/36470683_2019920664715679_3544778840310022144_n-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1401913,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/mary-mother-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":42149,"position":3},"title":"Mary, Mother of God!","author":"Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez","date":"December 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"From the early centuries of the Church, Mary is called Mother of God \"Theotokos\", or \"God-Bearer.\u201d Mary, \u201cMother of God,\u201d is the first official title given to her by the Catholic Church and maybe her most essential and most powerful title, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/image5-123x190.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":147630,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/09\/chaplet-child-mary\/","url_meta":{"origin":42149,"position":4},"title":"Chaplet of the Child Mary","author":"Shawn Rain Chapman","date":"September 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The Chaplet of the Child Mary (to be prayed on ordinary rosary beads) written by me in honor of Our Lady's Birthday Make the sign of the cross and pray the Sh'ma, a prayer the little Mary would have grown up reciting every day with her Jewish family and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo Shawn Chapman","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/476622_3665381757608_1810148288_o-550x367.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/476622_3665381757608_1810148288_o-550x367.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/476622_3665381757608_1810148288_o-550x367.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":407843,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2017\/05\/why-mary\/","url_meta":{"origin":42149,"position":5},"title":"Why Mary?","author":"Rachel","date":"May 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In our culture and our American church, I come across this question quite often - Why Mary? Sometimes its connected to other related questions like: Can you ever pray too much to Mary? How do I know if I'm worshipping Mary or praying to her for intercession? Does praying to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/IMG_3818-550x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/IMG_3818-550x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/IMG_3818-550x576.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/150"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}