Very good post. I am going to read it again!
Good timing, I just corrected some typos and added minor, non-essential clarifications.
No, I have not finished Christian Gnosis yet. I have really got to rein in this awful habit of mine of book jumping. It's garbage.
I used to do that too, but it got to the point where I was reading seven books at a time, only a few pages from each a day, and I felt completely overwhelmed, as if I would never finish any of them. One book at a time is much better. But with that said, I don't only read from one book a day - nor do I think one should do so. I think it is good to have one primary book to work through at a time, but there should always be a kind of liturgical reading to accompany this - daily Bible reading, daily litanies or frequent novenas, or daily reading from the Summa (if one is interested in that sort of thing), etc. Maybe something like daily Bible reading goes without saying, but I just want to be careful to stress that, by favouring reading one book, start to finish, at a time, I don't mean to exclude other works that are in a way perpetual.
Also, straight up gotta find this work by Eigido. Sounds stellar.
Yeah let me know if you find it, definitely sounds interesting.
I really hadn't ever made the connection to Mary. That's opening some doors for me at the moment and validating what had been one of the last real things I need to work out about Catholicism - Marion doctrine. It is not that I find it idolatrous. I am beyond that by far. It was really about trying to get the theological underpinnings. I am glad you went to the trouble.
This is exciting. Those who grow up in American / Protestant culture typically have three almost intuitive misgivings about Catholicism - the papacy, the Eucharist, and Mary. We've already discussed the first two extensively. Mary is a gem all on her own, and I would gladly speak of her at any time! For now I'll just say that the significance of Mary has a depth easily rivalling the depths of the most esoteric doctrines. Dante describes how souls "on the ascent", when first entering or preparing to enter heaven, have to meet Mary first - for to go from death straight to God would be far too overwhelming. The reflected light of Mary serves as a means of adjusting, of readying oneself, for the Divine. There are just so many points of profound significance with her. That she was Immaculately Conceived, meaning spared from ever being stained with original sin; it was still Christ's Blood that spared her from this, but it did so in a unique and most beautiful way. That she was chosen to be the veritable Mother of God - not the Mother of Jesus, but of God, for Jesus Christ is a Divine Person who took on a human nature, and mothers are not mothers of natures, but of Persons, and so Mary is inextricably tied to the mystery of the Incarnation, and as such, is truly a Mother of the Divine, the Theotokos, God-bearer. She has a completely unique relationship to God, and furthermore to all Three Divine Persons individually: she is the daughter of the Father (which is not unique to her), but she is also the Mother of the Son, and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. To be related to all Three Persons in such a way is an honour beyond description. Per Revelation 12:1 (biblegateway.com) she has been coronated as Queen of Heaven and Earth, placing her above all the angels as well as above all men. Then there is the immense love God has for Mary, unrivalled by any other creature. Of course, as Aquinas teaches, there can be two kinds of love in this context: per se, and with respect to the goods willed to different creatures. Per se, God loves all souls equally, insofar as He wills them at all to begin with, and wills the same ultimate end, namely, union with Him. But in terms of temporal distinctions, who has been honoured by gifts more than Mary? Blessed to be the Mother and "handmaid of the Lord" (Luke 1:38 (biblegateway.com)), blessed to be Queen of Heaven and Earth, blessed to be one to whom Jesus Christ Himself was subject, per the verse quoted in my last reply, blessed to be truly "full of grace" (Luke 1:28 (biblegateway.com)) and to be addressed as such by an angel - is there any doubt that God would will to work His greatest works through her, as He wills to accomplish so much of His will through creatures? And then there is the unique role that Mary's suffering at seeing Jesus suffer actually contributed to His suffering during His Passion (known as Mary's Compassion) and how this therefore figured into the salvation of the world itself.
Oh I could go on...those who approach Mary for help cannot help but find her Son.
I think that the instantaneous hang-up, which is not so much intellectual as it is merely reactive, is the notion of praying through her. As you mentioned, I was raised with a protestant background, and you only pray to Christ. I mean, there is a kind of nondescript reference to The Father, where people often pray the word 'God', but without clear designation of the Father. It always felt as if (and as if it became imprinted on me this way) you prayed to the Father when you said God, and to Jesus at any other point. There wasn't really any theological discussion on the trinity at any point. What I was exposed to in the Church of God was a lot of psychology, really - a lot to do with the struggles of life, whether these were emotional, financial, marital, etc., with a reference to some scripture to back up the 'therapy session'. Needless to say, it felt barren for myself and a few others. Of course, you know that some people just aren't inclined to the intellectual aspects of things anyway, so such a complaint would never occur to them. If the so-called sermon was enough to get their 'feels' engaged, they were good for the week.
Revelation 8:3-4 (biblegateway.com) refers to angels receiving prayers from the saints and then offering them to God. Tradition understands that the saints and angels of heaven play this mediating role, insofar as they purify our prayers before they reach God - which is obviously an explanation that has to be understood in context. It's not as if God is blind to our prayers before they are "purified", but rather, it is just another case of God willing to accomplish His will through creatures, through the Elohim (of which He is not Himself entirely separate, but in which He is immanent, as the im (inverted mi) part indicates).
Revelation 5:8-14 (biblegateway.com) shows the same kind of thing, but this time the "elders" are receiving and offering the prayers.
Likewise there is James 5:16 (biblegateway.com), where Scripture commands us to pray for one another, and affirms that the prayers of the righteous "availeth much". Who is more righteous than Mary? Or are we to pretend that only those still alive can pray for us? Recall the Threefold Body of Christ and the Threefold form of the Church - Church Militant, Church Suffering, Church Triumphant: all one Church. In the Apostle's Creed, which we pray in every Mass, we affirm our belief in "the communion of saints". This does not exclude the saints in heaven; if anything, it refers to them most of all, since they alone "can sin no more", since they have the benefit of the full vision of God in the Beatific Vision.
And Jesus Himself communed with the dead at the Transfiguration, speaking to Elijah and Moses (Matthew 17:3 (biblegateway.com)).
And of course the Books of the Bible canonized by the Church, but which Protestants conveniently threw out lend support to this notion of praying for the dead:
43 And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection,
44 (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,)
45 And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them.
46 It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.
(2 Maccabees 12:43-46 (biblegateway.com))
which is the Scriptural basis for Purgatory. But if we of the Church Militant, for whom salvation is not yet guaranteed, can pray for the Church Suffering, for whom salvation is guaranteed, all the more should the Church Suffering, and most of all the Church Triumphant, be able to pray for us. We are all one Church, one communion of faithful, and we are in this together.
So praying to Mary is nothing more than asking a person, a saint no less, that we know to be exceedingly holy, to pray for us to God. That James verse makes clear that God wills that we do more than just ask Him directly for help; He wills that we ask His saints for their prayers also, and Mary is the best choice in this regard. God's love for Mary is so great that it is nothing but pleasing to Him when His faithful approach her to ask for help, and Mary's love for the Lord is so unwavering and complete that she can scarcely help but lead us to her Son.
(post is archived)