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Helen
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| Joined: | Tue Dec 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | Rock Springs, Wyoming USA |
| Posts: | 14 |
| First Name: | Helen | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | I was brought up Independent Fundamental Baptist, at about 25 ... |
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Posted: Thu Dec 7th, 2006 02:17 pm |
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Well, here I go. My first foray into the forum!
I chose to start with Mary because really she is the only topic that makes me doubt. I know this isn't unusual for protestants with my back ground.
I have read a lot about Mary and really I haven't had trouble understanding and believing what Catholics believe and say about her. Where I run into trouble, is when it comes time to pray to her. Several months ago when I was really at what I would consider a crisis point in my spiritual journey, I purchased an inexpensive rosary and began to pray. At the time, it was an act of desperation, I was in so much spiritual pain that I found it very difficult to talk to God. I just didn't know what to say to Him that I hadn't said ten thousand times before and the words were just no longer there. I had been using a little Benedictine prayer book and that helped me immensely and I had picked up a book on the rosary and I felt compelled to begin to pray it. I can not tell you the absolute terror when I first prayed the rosary. Of course I have always been taught and believed that this was heresy. But I was a desperate woman! I took comfort in the fact that it was Jesus life I was meditating on and by the time I got to the end, I found that I could finally pour out my heart to the Father. I prayed the rosary frequently after that and always I felt more peaceful and at ease when I was done. This seems like evidence of the benefits. But there is this little seed of doubt and fear that remains. Really I have been taught not to trust feelings or my heart when it comes to spiritual things. I want to embrace Mary as my mother I want to ask her to pray for me, but there is a part of it that seems sac religious to me. I am terrified of offending a sovereign God by praying to a human person. Or giving anyone but God adoration. There is a part of me that feels as though I am being unfaithful when I pray to her. I feel afraid. My soul is wounded by years of a kind of spiritual abuse which has left me confused and doubtful. If I could trust my experience, it would tell me that it is only the weekly visit to the adoration chapel and praying the rosary and chaplet of divine mercy that has helped me endure the pressure cooker I'm in right now. But from the age of about 7, I have had the verse from the Psalms that says "there is a way that seems right to a man and the end is death." drilled into me. Maybe all anyone of you can do is pray for me, and I would be so grateful for that! But if there is an ex- fundamentalist or Baptist out there that can give me some advise I would be grateful for that too. I hope that this hasn't been to rambling
Helen
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HELEN
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CajunRick
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Posted: Thu Dec 7th, 2006 03:04 pm |
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Helen wrote: Well, here I go. My first foray into the forum!
Welcome! I hope you'll be comfortable here. I promise we'll be gentle! 
I chose to start with Mary because really she is the only topic that makes me doubt. I know this isn't unusual for protestants with my back ground.
That's a serious understatement! 
I took comfort in the fact that it was Jesus life I was meditating on and by the time I got to the end, I found that I could finally pour out my heart to the Father. I prayed the rosary frequently after that and always I felt more peaceful and at ease when I was done. This seems like evidence of the benefits. But there is this little seed of doubt and fear that remains.
Considering your Protestant indoctrination, that certainly isn't surprising.
Really I have been taught not to trust feelings or my heart when it comes to spiritual things. I want to embrace Mary as my mother I want to ask her to pray for me, but there is a part of it that seems sac religious to me. I am terrified of offending a sovereign God by praying to a human person. Or giving anyone but God adoration.
We venerate Mary; adoration is reserved to God alone, including Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. We give Mary the highest possible honor given to a human because of her sinless gift of absolute willingness to do God's will. The honor is due her because of her son, not in her own right. She is special to us because she is special to God. Our belief is based on scripture which states that all generations will call her blessed (Luke 1:48).
Catholics, Orthodox, and Muslims agree that Mary was sinless through her entire life, from the moment of her conception until she was taken bodily into heaven. Even the majority of Protestants agreed, including Martin Luther and King Henry VIII. Only in recent times has Mary been "downgraded" in Protestant thinking.
So if scripture, Catholics, Orthodox, Muslims, and the Protestant "reformers" themselves all agreed on the honor due to Mary, how could it possibly be a problem?
And from the standpoint of our Savior, Jesus was a Jew boy. How could he not want you to love his mama?
There is a part of me that feels as though I am being unfaithful when I pray to her. I feel afraid. My soul is wounded by years of a kind of spiritual abuse which has left me confused and doubtful.
Why don't you just ask yourself whether Jesus as the perfect Son would want you to love his mother? Talk to him and ask him to let you know what he wants. Don't "pray" to Mary right now, just talk to her. Ask her to show you her Son. That's all she wants to do.
When we pray the rosary, we begin and end each decade with prayer to God. We start with the Our Father, the prayer Jesus himself gave us. We end with a doxology: Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. Certainly there can be no objection there.
The Hail Mary itself is half scripture: Hail [Mary], full of grace. The Lord is with you (Luke 1:28). Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, [Jesus] (Luke 1:48). The second part is simply a request that she pray for us. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Which part is objectionable? Is it that it is repeated 10 times? Initially, this was based on the 150 psalms. Now it helps us to clear our minds and focus on the Mysteries, which are the scriptural highlights of the birth (Joyful), life (Luminous), death (Sorrowful), and resurrection (Glorious) of Jesus. I really don't see how any Christian can have a problem with the rosary.
If I could trust my experience, it would tell me that it is only the weekly visit to the adoration chapel and praying the rosary and chaplet of divine mercy that has helped me endure the pressure cooker I'm in right now. But from the age of about 7, I have had the verse from the Psalms that says "there is a way that seems right to a man and the end is death."
So do what Jesus did. Love his mother, talk to her, and listen to her. How could he fault you for doing exactly what he did?
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Helen
Member
| Joined: | Tue Dec 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | Rock Springs, Wyoming USA |
| Posts: | 14 |
| First Name: | Helen | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | I was brought up Independent Fundamental Baptist, at about 25 ... |
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Posted: Fri Dec 8th, 2006 01:58 am |
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| Thank you for those encouraging words! I'm wondering, is there a book you could recommend? I have read Scott Hahn's book about Mary.
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HELEN
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lia
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| Joined: | Mon Dec 11th, 2006 |
| Location: | Quezon City, Philippines |
| Posts: | 98 |
| First Name: | lia | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Cradle Catholic |
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Posted: Wed Dec 20th, 2006 12:30 am |
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Helen,
Maybe this will also help. What is PRAYER for you? Is it only "worship"?
For Catholics to "pray" means to "to talk". I think that's why Protestants always misunderstand Catholics when we say "we pray to Mary".... and we do. We talk to her. Because we believe she is alive in heaven just like the saints. Don't we "pray to each other"? But we WORSHIP God, only.
Maybe it's the degree (intensity) of prayers that we have in Catholicism that confuses Protestants. Like the hyper dulia and dulia. (I don't know if I got spellings, right )
God bless!
Lia
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Man can't b forced 2 accept the truth.He can b drawn toward the truth only by his own nature, that is, by his own freedom w/c commits him 2 search sincerely 4 truth & when he finds it, 2 adhere 2 it both in his conviction & his behavior.-- JP2
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bjbouwer
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| Joined: | Mon Oct 9th, 2006 |
| Location: | Wisconsin USA |
| Posts: | 57 |
| First Name: | Bonnie | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Christian Scientist, pinball Christian, RCC in 2006 |
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Posted: Wed Dec 20th, 2006 12:57 am |
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I don't know if this would help, but I discovered that the problem wasn't so much Mary as it was the Communion of Saints. It took a while of wrestling to realize this. Once the C of Saints was settled, talking to Mary wasn't such a serious issue.
Getting these issues settled can take time.
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Bonnie in WI
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