1. Why do Catholics adore Mary, who is just a human being?

We do not adore Mary; we venerate and honor her. Why? The angel calls Her “full of grace,” and one who “has found favor with God” (Lk 1:28, 30); Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit calls Her “blessed among women” (v. 41); and Mary Herself declares that “all generations shall call me blessed” (v. 48). Catholics who follow the Bible, always call Her blessed. Do you?

2. Why do Catholics call Mary the “Mother of God”? Wouldn’t this mean Mary existed before God, that she is older than God, etc.?

We call Mary Mother of God because she gave birth to Jesus Christ, who is God. We follow the Spirit-filled Elizabeth who declared in Luke 1:43: “why should the ‘MOTHER OF MY LORD’ come to me?” Jesus is True God and True man – two natures in one undivided person. By being the Mother of Christ, Mary is also the Mother of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Mary did not give birth merely to a human nature, but to a person, the Son of God who took from Her flesh a pure human nature. Lk 1:35: “the child to be born shall be called SON OF GOD.” Gal 4:4: “God sent His Son, born of a woman.” If Jesus is truly God-made-man, then Mary is truly the Mother of God. Obviously, Mary did not exist before God. Jesus is the Son of God from all eternity, who became also the Son of Mary in time.

3. Why do Catholics believe Mary was immaculately conceived? Romans 3:23 says that “ALL HAVE SINNED and are deprived of the glory of God.”

Because Mary is full of grace, highly favored. Lk 1:37: “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” She is the “woman” of Gen 3:15 whose enmity with Satan and sin is absolute. She is the Ark of the Covenant (Ex 25:11-21) made to hold the living Word of God – a holy tabernacle made not of the purest gold, but of the purest flesh. St. Paul is emphasizing the universal aspect of sin extending to Jews and Gentiles alike. Babies have not sinned; Adam and Eve before the fall had not sinned; Jesus never sinned. These are some exceptions that fall outside St. Paul’s condemnation. Mary is another.

We must understand that the word “all” (‘pas’ in greek) can have different meanings, as it does in english. There are many examples in the Bible were we can see this, for example, St. Paul said “all Israel will be saved”(Rom.11:26), but we know that many will not be saved. St. Paul said that “All must die”, but we know that there were people who did not experienced death (e.g. Enoch and Elijah).

4. If Mary never sinned, She doesn’t need a Savior. So why does Mary say in Luke 1:47: “my spirit rejoices in God MY SAVIOR.”

Mary was saved by the merits of Christ, just as we are. The only difference between Mary and all others Christians was that Mary was saved in anticipation of the merits of Christ, while we are saved following the merits of Christ. We are freed from original sin at our baptism (Redemptive Salvation), while Mary was preserved from original sin at conception (Preventive Salvation).

5. Why do Catholics believe that Mary was a Perpetual Virgin? Matt. 13:55-56 says that Jesus had brothers and sisters.

Most Protestants are shocked to learn that the famous Protestant reformers Martin Luther, John Calvin and Zwingli all believed in the perpetual virginity of Mary. Neither Hebrew nor Aramaic, the language spoken by Christ and His disciples, have separate words for “brother,” “cousin,” “near- relative,” etc. For example, in the Old Testament, Lot is called Abraham’s “brother” (Gen 14:14). Yet we know that Lot was Abraham’s nephew (Gen

11:27). The Jews used the word “brother” for any near relative, without necessarily meaning “blood- brothers.”

Christ had “adelphoi” the greek word for brother which could also mean cousin, nephew, relatives, and fellow countryman. In Mat.13:55-56 four men are named as brothers (adelphoi) of the Lord: James, Joseph, Simon, and Jude. Further, in John 19:25 we read “Standing in the foot of the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, MARY THE WIFE OF CLEOPHAS, and Mary of Magdala.” Cross reference this with Mat.27:56 “Among them at the cross were Mary Magdalene and MARY THE MOTHER OF JAMES AND JOSEPH..”. We see that atleast two of the men mentioned in Mat.13 were definitely not siblings of Jesus (although they are called adelphoi): they were Jesus’ cousins – sons of their mother’s sister. Mary had no other children than Jesus.

6. Why do Catholics believe that Mary was Assumed body and soul into heaven?

Scripture does not record the Assumption of Mary, so we depend on Apostolic Tradition for our belief. Because not all things are written in the Bible. However, the Assumption is not anti-scriptural. In fact, Scripture gives every indication that such a thing could occur. Consider the unusual ends of certain righteous people: Enoch, who was taken to heaven without dying (Heb 11:5); and Elijah, who was taken into heaven by a fiery chariot (2 King 2:11). Matthew 27:52 suggests a bodily assumption before the Second Coming, and most Protestants believe in the “Rapture” based on the events described in 1 Thess 4:17 and 1 Cor 15:52. Mary is simply the first to be “raptured.” St. John also saw in his vision a “woman” in Heaven (Revelation 12:1).

7. Why did the Catholic Church invent the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, and the Bodily Assumption in 1950?

The Catholic Church officially defined the doctrines in 1854, and 1950, respectively, but she did not “invent” them at that time, any more than she “invented” the doctrine of the Trinity when she officially defined it in 325, or “invented” the New Testament when she officially determined the canon in 393 and 397. The Catholic Church was merely codifying a belief which has always existed since the early Church and found in the writings of the early Church Fathers.

8. Is a Catholic required to believe in the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary?

Yes. All Catholics are required to believe everything that the Church proposes for our belief. Officially- defined doctrines are called “articles of faith” which every Catholic must believe in order to be a faithful Catholic. When these two doctrines were infallibly defined, they became “articles of faith” and binding upon every Catholic.

9. Is a Catholic required to believe in the Church- approved apparitions of Mary, such as Fatima and Lourdes?

No. Catholics have the assurance of the Church that these revelations are orthodox and worthy of belief, but they are not doctrine, and therefore a Catholic is free to disbelieve even in the officially approved apparitions.

10. Why do Catholics pray to Mary?

1Tim. 2:15 says “there is ONE mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ.”For the same reason we pray for one another’s needs: “the prayer of a righteous person is very powerful” (James 5:16). Because Jesus is the one mediator between earth and heaven, we intercede for one another as members of Christ’s body. If fellow saints praying for us on earth do not destroy Christ’s role as the one mediator, neither do the glorified living saints praying for us in heaven. Mary is the greatest saint and greatest intercessor. Why wouldn’t you pray to Her?

11. Why do Catholics call Mary “Blessed” and honor her with prayers and devotions, like the Rosary?

Because Scripture calls Her “blessed” and promises that all generations will invoke Her by that title (see Question 1). We honor Mary because of Her great privileges: She was conceived without sin, became the Mother of God while remaining a virgin, and was assumed bodily into heaven. There She reigns as Queen of Heaven and Earth, Mother of the Church, God’s greatest creature and mankind’s greatest boast. We honor Her because Jesus honored Her perfectly (obeying the fourth commandment) and we are called to imitate Jesus.

12. Is the “Hail Mary” found in Scripture?

Yes. “HAIL, FULL OF GRACE, THE LORD IS WITH YOU!” (Luke 1:28). “BLESSED ART THOU AMONG WOMEN, AND BLESSED IS THE FRUIT OF THY WOMB” (v. 42) – JESUS. HOLY MARY – “you have found favor with God” (v. 30) – MOTHER OF GOD – “mother of my Lord” (v. 43) – PRAY FOR US SINNERS – (as we pray for one another) – NOW AND AT THE HOUR OF OUR DEATH.

13. Isn’t the Rosary a kind of repetitious prayer condemned by Jesus in Mt 6:7?

In Mt 6:7, Jesus is not condemning all repeated prayers, only repeated prayer “in the manner of the pagans.” Jesus is teaching Christians that they are not to pray with the pagan attitude that the more you repeat a prayer the more likely you are to be heard (see 1 Kings 18:25-29 for an example of this pagan mentality). A Christian who thinks he needs to repeat a prayer in order to be heard in heaven has a problem with faith – this is the error Jesus is correcting. Notice that Jesus repeats the same prayer three times in the Garden of Gethsemani (Mt 26:44). The publican who humbly repeated the prayer, “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Lk. 18:13) went home justified. The four living creatures in heaven repeat day and night, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come” (Rev. 4:8). These verses show that prayer repeated with the proper attitude is very pleasing to God. The Rosary, recited devoutly, fulfills part of the Biblical exhortation to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17).

14. Aren’t Catholics superstitious for believing that medals of Mary and relics of saints can perform miracles?

The Catholic Church teaches that only God can perform a true miracle. But we also know that God can either act directly or through secondary agents, like people. God sometimes even performs miracles through inanimate objects in order to show the intercessory power of a particular saint. A man came back to life when he contacted the bones of the holy prophet Elisha (2 Kings 13:20-21). God performed miraculous cures through Peter’s shadow (Act 5:15-16) and through handkerchiefs that had touched St. Paul (Acts 19:11-12), obviously showing the great intercessory power of St. Peter and St. Paul. Medals of our Lady and relics of saints have no power to cause miracles in themselves. Rather, God performs miracles through these medals and relics to show the great intercessory power of Mary andthe saints.

by Clive Fernandez