We were invited to another church down the road, but it split on the one and only day we attended. A standing vote of who wanted the preacher to stay, led by the preacher, ended his term there and he walked out in the middle of the service. Followed by all of the people who wanted him to stay.
During this time, I had just finished reading This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti, which is about a battle between good and evil over a little country church. I was pretty sure I just witnessed it in real time and was horrified. I went "back" to the Catholic Church, and have been there ever since.
There are a lot of things that come to mind when people hear the word "Catholic" and from the many conversations I've had and heard from others, "Mary worship" is one of them. I've never had a strong Marian devotion and I could easily see why people might think that. If you stumbled into a church with an image of Mary behind the altar and people kneeling in front of it, it looks like Mary is the "be all and end all", subject and object, and final destination for whatever prayers they are praying "to" her. From this perspective, the only reasonable conclusion is that whoever is kneeling there is sinning greatly, guilty of idolatry, and can only find hope for salvation in repenting, and pleading on the mercy of God.
The other perspective is from the inside. It is based on the understanding that it was "the mystery of the Incarnation which brought Mary into the fullness of the Trinitarian life. Her unique relations with the three divine Persons began when the Angel told her that she was to be the Mother of the Son of the Most High and would be so by the power of the Holy Spirit. She was, from that moment, the beloved Daughter of the Father, the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, and the Mother of the Word." (Sr. Elizabeth of the Trinity)
We understand that Mary was entrusted to us by Jesus himself at the foot of the cross. "When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home." (John 19:26-27)
We understand that because Jesus came to us through Mary that she can also lead us back to Him, and in fact, desires nothing other than this. This is her raison d'etre. She refuses to be an end unto herself and if she were less pure and loving, like me, she might even find the idea laughable.
We understand that when we say we are praying "to" Mary, what we mean is that we are talking to her and asking her for her prayers. Just like we ask each other on earth to pray for us, for everything under the sun.
I didn't stumble into a church, find Mary behind an altar, and recoil. I flew to Mexico City on purpose, to find her there. I asked her to help me love her, and help me to love Jesus as she loves Him. She is known as "Our Lady of Guadalupe" and looks like this. Based on the fact that I just wrote about her for the first time since the inception of this blog seven years ago, I think she said yes.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
