I'm Orthodox, so this isn't an attack on the veneration of Mary because we also venerate her and love her. She is the most perfect Saint. However we don't see her as Divine.
I notice this Catholic tendency to map the Divine qualities of our Lord onto the Theotokos (literally: God-bearer, what we call Mary) and turn her into a Divine being herself when she was in fact completely human just like me. This is most apparent in the Catholic practice of choosing a body part of hers such as her heart and venerating that specifically. If she was a great woman, but simply woman (human) how could her heart be Divine and sacred? Why is her "sacred heart" venerated?
Also, can a Catholic explain to me the logic of viewing Mary as coredemptrix? I read on a Catholic blog that her tears when she went to Christ on the cross mingled with Christ's blood and thus became as much part of our salvation as his blood did. I regard the notion that Mary having a hand in our actual salvation (not Mary interceding on our behalf and asking God to save us, but being able to save us herded) as heresy since it turns her into a God or demigod like figure.
Again, we LOVE Mary and we love the saints. We venerate them and we pray for their intercession on our behalf, but the saints (Theotokos included) were human and can not save us.
I'm very interested in hearing a Catholic expand upon this.
Hey, Sir. I'm not Catholic exactly, but do try with God's help to live as a Catholic Christian inwardly, and am still learning and studying. At first, and for quite a number of years, the idea of Mary as co-redemptrix just bugged and puzzled me. I came to the knowledge of Christ in a Baptist setting, and most things Catholic just struck me as "extra" or just plain odd.
What I have found is that the best way for this ex-Protestant to understand Catholic and Orthodox theologies (both the theologies and doctrines that these Churches share, and the ones that they do not), is to pray my way through them. How does Mary save us? It could be said that through her prayers, mercy, grace, and intercession, she shows us to and unites us with her Son. And in this way she has a place in our salvation. Through the merits of her blessedness and purity, too there must also be grace and mercy for us.
Scripture bears witness of her that "And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed". The pierced heart of Mary and the pierced side and heart of Jesus seem to be connected, as the piercing of Mary's heart would have been at her Son's death on the cross, and that water and blood gushed from the side of Jesus, so her pierced heart, too, must have some merit and work in our salvation. Not of her own power, but the grace and love of God working through her humble "yes", and her willingness to let God's will be done in her life, and in ours.
