Tuesday, April 20, 2021

PROTESTANT ERROR: STOP PRAYING TO MARY AND THE SAINTS

For 1600 years no one not even the Protestant reformer leaders like Luther and Calvin questioned the attributes of the Blessed Virgin Mary given to her by the Catholic Church and her role in the life of Christians. All Christians of the Catholic Church are united in praying to her and for her help and intercession in their needs. It is only the modern Protestants who have invented more black propaganda to entice Catholics to join them in their rebellion, errors, and false beliefs that have blasphemed, attacked and maligned the Blessed Virgin Mary taunting the Catholics who have devotion to her.

The problem of modern protestants is they have been so brainwashed and have lived in errors for too long they no longer see, hear, and believe that true Christianity is a Communion of all the people of God that includes foremost the first Christian and the mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, all the Apostles, all the Angels, all the Saints who have gone up to heaven, all the priests and bishops and the believers and faithful Catholics the only true Christians who are still living and are persevering in the only true church of Jesus Christ, the Catholic Church. This is the body of Christ the one church outside of which no one will be saved.

The church from the beginning is meant to be communal, united as one body so that we who are still in a journey in this life is united with those who have gone ahead of us in heaven. In Romans 12:4-8 St. Paul point to this very important unity in diversity of gifts from the Holy Spirit "For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, (to provide for others) do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully."

Does the Blessed Virgin Mary have a role in the salvation works of Jesus Christ according to the will of the Father? The Protevangelium in Genesis 3:15 is the first announcement of the good news of salvation. The word Proevangelium is a compound word of two greek words "prot" means "first" and "Evangelium" means "good news". The significance of the Protoevangelium as the first Gospel is the decree of God and his first promise to send a savior to humans, the seed of the woman. And what does it say "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

The Catholic Church has always taught that the woman of Genesis 3:15 refers primarily to Mary while her seed refers to Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior. Therefore, the text in Genesis foreshadows the sign the Lord gives to King Achaz through Isaiah 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." Any theologian agrees that the woman and her seed spoken in Genesis 3:15 is Mary and Jesus since the same prophecy of Isaiah is spoken by the angel at the incarnation of the Son of God in Matthew 1:22-23 "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means, “God with us”). What has been spoken of through the prophets are confirmed by the New Testament Gospel that the woman referred to in Genesis 3:15 is non-other but the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Since the Blessed Virgin Mary is the woman in the first Gospel, Jesus who is the fulfillment of the prophets and the laws in the Old Testament has always called her in his public ministry according to the scriptures as "woman". Jesus who according to the Gospel of Luke grew up in wisdom and was obedient to his mother Mary and foster father Joseph apparently only called her woman in public in reference to her role in the salvation plan and works of God as the "woman" who will be in opposition or enmity against satan who will be crushed by her son Jesus according to the decree of God saying "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed". It is clear the battle is not only waged against Satan by Jesus but also by his mother Mary. They are together in opposition to the devil and its seed. In truth, they were really together. 

In the New Testament, one will notice that the Blessed Virgin Mary was always there with Jesus in silence except in the "wedding at the Cana" where Jesus showed his miraculous power when he turned water into the best wine served to the wedding guests at the intercession of his mother Mary. Its the only scene in the Gospel where Jesus and his Mother Mary have a conversation. Let us revisit that scene in the bible John 2:1-5 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to Him, “They have no more wine.”, “Woman, why does this concern us?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”

Let's look closely and imagine the scene apparently mother and son are sitting beside each other and the mother notified her son Jesus the wedding celebration has run out of wine. "Woman, why does this CONCERN US?" Jesus did not say "why does this concern me" but he used "us" that included the mother. This incident shows how close Jesus and his mother Mary were to each other. At that point in time, only the mother knew the power of her son Jesus Christ which she may have seen in their private moments together as mother and son in their home in Nazareth. In fact Jesus even somehow protested with "My hour has not yet come" which we can interpret safely that a public display of awesome miraculous power will expose him to the public. Yet the mother Mary was insistent calling the servants and saying to them pointing to her Son Jesus, "Do whatever He tells you". The wedding at the Cana is a powerful biblical Testament, that the Blessed Virgin Mary can intercede for us to God since Jesus is God. If she can change the mind of the Lord on something that he believed did not concern them both, she can change his mind on many things especially on what concern Jesus most, the salvation of mankind. It is for this reason that even in the early days of the Church, Christians pray to Mary for intercession and help.

The only mediator between God and Man is Jesus 1 Timothy 2:5 so why make Mary a Co-Redemptrix. The co-redemptrix, mediatrix or similar title is not an official teaching of the Catholic Church. It is a pious belief by some Catholic theologians but it is not an official doctrine or dogma. Just because you hear and read it from Catholics it is to be considered a dogma or doctrine. You are therefore wrong. The Catholic doctrine is consistent with the biblical teaching, there is the only mediator between God and Man, Jesus Christ.

Mediatrix of all graces is a title that the Roman Catholic Church gives to the Blessed Virgin Mary; as the Mother of God, it includes the understanding that she mediates the Divine Grace. In addition to Mediatrix, other titles are given to her in the Church: Advocate, Helper, Benefactress.

Copyright © 2020 by Ekklesia Katholes (Acts 9:31)
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