In Defense of Mary: Responding to Objections

In God's perfect providence, the Mother of Jesus is intended to be an instrument and symbol of profound unity. For along with the unity in grace that comes from sharing in the grace of Jesus Christ as our Brother, the Father also intended the universal (catholic) unity of all members of the human family by calling one woman, "Mother." And yet, because of her roles of being both Mother of God and Mother of the Church in its fullness, Mary has been perceived as an occasion for division.

Nothing breaks the heart of a mother more than division among her children, especially when she herself is posed as one of the principal reasons for the disunity! But in truth, Mary in her doctrine and devotion is a cause for division only when she reflects her Son, the sign of contradiction to the world (cf. Lk 2:34), and the Body of her Son, the Church, which has been entrusted with safeguarding the revelation of Christ without compromise until He comes again in glory.

Although it is not the intent of this particular article to give a comprehensive response to every objection of the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we would like to offer a basic response to ten of the more common objections to points of Marian doctrine and devotion.

General Objections

Objection 1: Objection to "Mariolatry"

Objection: Catholics worship Mary in a manner that violates the First Commandment, offering adoration to her through her images and statues; an adoration due to God alone.

Response: A distinction must be made between adoration (latria) and veneration (dulia). The Church has never taught that acts of adoration, the reverence and glory due to God alone, are to be given to Mary, but only an exceptional veneration (hyperdulia) because of her unique association with Jesus Christ in His work of redeeming humanity.

We must avoid misunderstandings that can arise through the use of the term "worship." Traditionally, "worship" has been used for both adoration and veneration, and the word itself simply indicates a worthiness of some type of honor or dignity (from the Old English, weorthscipe). Although prudence may encourage reserving the term worship exclusively for adoration because of the potential misunderstandings of today, the classical use of the term refers to a broader kind of honor and, hence, cannot be viewed as an example of giving adoration to Mary when the expression "worship of Mary" is used.

In regards to the "worshipping" of Marian statues and images, again we must distinguish. First of all, within the authentic Catholic Church there is no adoration given to Marian images (an act mistakenly perceived to model the pagan worship of idols). A painting or a statue of Mary serves the same purpose as a family photo on an office desk, or a statue of a public hero or statesman erected in a town square. The image serves as a reminder of the person the image represents, and thereby possesses a symbolic or representational value, not a true personal value in itself.

As the father gazes upon the photograph of his family on his desk at work and feels the warming of his heart at the thought of his wife and children, so too, an image of Jesus' Mother can evoke similar feelings of filial love and devotion to her. But, as is true of the family photo and the public memorial statue, the Marian statue or image possesses no intrinsic power nor personhood; it only conveys an image of a heavenly Spiritual Mother most deserving of our earthly devotion and love.

Objection 2: Objection Against Scriptural Bases of Marian Doctrine

Objection: How can Catholics accept Marian doctrines like the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption when they are not explicitly revealed in the Bible?

Response: This question implies a certain misunderstanding about the sources of Divine Revelation. The idea that all divinely revealed truths are explicitly contained in Scripture, is, in short, "unscriptural." Some will quote the Scripture passage of 2 Tim 3:16 to support the position known as sola scriptura (Scripture alone): "Everything in the scripture has been divinely inspired, and it has its uses: to instruct us, to expose our errors, to correct our faults, to educate in holy living."

While this inspired passage describes the great fruits of Sacred Scripture, it nowhere even infers that Scripture is the only source of revelation. In fact, John Henry Newman, in his writing, Inspiration in its Relation to Revelation, explains: "This passage furnishes no argument whatever that the Sacred Scripture, without Tradition, is the sole rule of faith; for although Sacred Scripture is profitable for these four ends, still it is not said to be sufficient. The Apostle (Paul) requires the aid of Tradition" (2 Thes 2:15). (1)

Moreover, it is explicitly taught in Scripture that the Bible is not the only source of Divine Revelation. The last Gospel ends with St. John telling us that everything Christ said and did is not recorded in Scripture (Jn 21:25), and St. Paul attests to much Christian teaching being handed down in the oral tradition of the Church (2 Thes 2:2).

Historically, one must remember that for the first decades of the Church, there were no New Testament writings (since the first estimated New Testament writing was St. Paul's Letter to the Thessalonians in approximately 51 A.D.). But there was the oral tradition of the Church which handed down the saving Gospel and doctrine of Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 2:42; 2 Thes 2:15).

Therefore, the proper question that should be asked regarding Marian doctrine is: "Can these Marian truths be found in the full sources of Divine Revelation, Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, as safeguarded by the Magisterium?" To this question, one can answer an emphatic "yes." For every Marian doctrine, we have at least implicit (and some explicit) Scripture references containing the revealed seed of the doctrine (i.e., the Immaculate Conception (Gen 3:15, Lk 1:28); the Assumption (Gen 3:15; Ps 131:8; Rev 11:19; Rev 12:1)); copious references from Sacred Tradition, and the de fide teachings of the Church's Magisterium, including explicit papal infallible definitions.

Objections to Marian Doctrines

Objection 3: Objection to Mary as Intercessor and Spiritual Mother

Objection: Mary's role as intercessor and Spiritual Mother assumes an ability of Mary, and of the saints in general, to intercede from Heaven, which presupposes the complete knowledge and power of God Himself, and this in itself is not scriptural.

Response: The right and appropriateness both to venerate the saints and to seek their intercession are expressly taught by the Church (Council of Trent, D986, 984, 998 and Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, No. 51) and can be deduced from scriptural revelation, as in the case of the veneration of the angels (cf. Jos 5:l4;Dn 33:2; Tob 12:16).

The angels have a supernatural dignity worthy of honor which comes from their intimate union with God (cf. Mt 18:10). Since the saints are also intimately united with God (1 Cor 13:12; 1 Jn 3:2), then they also deserve our honor and veneration.

The Jewish people manifested faith in the intercession of saints as attested to by Judas the Maccabean (2 Mac 15:11-16), and in the ability of the angels and saints to offer prayers at the feet of God and support them with their intercession (cf. Tob 12:12; Rev 5:8, 8:3).

St. Paul asked for prayerful intercession from many other disciples (Rom 15:30; Col 4:3; 1 Thes 5:25) and also referred to his prayers for them (2 Thes 1:11). And since Heaven is a state of God's living saints (Mk 12:26-27), St. Paul can certainly continue his prayers for his fellow members of the Body of Christ.

Only a misconception about Heaven as a stagnant, isolated part of the Body of Christ, an assembly without concern or love for the rest of the Body still seeking the crown of heavenly glory, would lead to the conclusion that the saints do not continue their prayer and intercession for their beloved family on earth.

And since Mary is Mother of the Head and of the Body, her maternal intercession rightfully has an exalted ability to bring her earthly children closer to Jesus Christ. We see scripturally that Mary's intercession starts on earth with the wedding of Cana (Jn 2).

As for the need of having God's complete knowledge and power to hear prayers of the faithful on earth and to intercede, we must distinguish between having a divine nature and merely participating in providential acts through the power of God.

As is the case with the life of sanctifying grace in general, God allows creatures to participate in aspects of His life, knowledge, and power, without the creature being God Himself. The saints in Heaven do not have the restrictions of time and space which we experience on earth, but participate in God's experience of events as "one great eternal present."

The saints, therefore, have the privilege of being able to communicate with the faithful on earth, to hear our prayers and intercede on our behalf—all without being "gods," but by sharing in God's experience of reality. This is not so difficult to accept if we remember that the human ability to communicate intellectually and to pray for one another is also performed by the power of God's gifts of reason and grace.

Once again, Mary, being the Spiritual Mother of all humanity (Jn 19:26), would have a particular sharing in the one mediation of Jesus Christ (1 Tim 2:5) for the spiritual benefit of the human family. As Vatican II describes: "Taken up to heaven, she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation" (Lumen Gentium, No. 62).

Objection 4: Objection Against the Immaculate Conception

Objection: How could Mary be immaculately conceived and remain sinless throughout her earthly life when St. Paul says, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of Christ" (Rom 3:23)? Therefore all people need a savior and redeemer, including Mary.

Response: In regards to Mary's need for a redeemer, the Church wholeheartedly agrees. As we see in the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, Mary was redeemed by Christ precisely through her Immaculate Conception. Mary's reception of sanctifying grace at conception was an application of the graces merited by Jesus Christ on the Cross, and applied by God who, by nature, is out of time.

Mary's conception in sanctifying grace was a unique form of redemption, in fact a higher form of redemption, since through the merits of her Son she never had to receive a fallen human nature. Hence, Mary needed to be redeemed and was redeemed through a "preservative redemption," a redemption brought about through the merits of her Son on Calvary and applied to her at the moment of her conception.

This unique act of God made Mary the fitting Mother of the Word made flesh, giving Him an immaculate human nature in a fully maternal way, and meriting the title given to her by Gabriel, "full of grace" (Lk 1:28).

As to the words of St. Paul that "all have sinned" (Rom 3:23), the Church rightfully interprets this passage as a divinely revealed truth about the general masses that make up humanity. But since the teachings of St. Paul were primarily directed to spreading the Good News which had to precede an accurate understanding of Marian doctrine (Mary is who she is because of her Son), then clearly it would be inappropriate for St. Paul to make an explicit, exceptional clause about the Mother of Jesus in his teaching of the universal need for Redemption. This would be inappropriate before the people of the time had fundamental, doctrinal clarity about the basic message of the Gospel.

Clearly, St. Paul's intention in this passage of Romans was not a teaching on Marian doctrine, but a general instruction on the universal sin of humanity, and thereby the universal need for a redeemer.

Also, St. Paul's statement that "all have sinned" does not include infants before the age of reason who are incapable of sinning (since the children cannot yet choose in reason and freedom). The statement of St. Paul need not be all-inclusive to convey the divine truth that the sinning masses have unquestionable need for Our Lord, the one Redeemer of the world.