How's your relationship with Mary?

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

How Marian are you in your Catholicism? I'll give my testimony later in the thread if it happens to be a active thread.

Do you walk with her, talk to her, venerate her and bless her or do you have a hard time embracing her as your mother?

Please share your life with Mary with OBOB or for some reason your lack of Marian piety.

 

[Michie]

*subscribing*

 

[Sword of the Lord]

I'm one of the ultra traditional Confessional Lutherans who believes in ever-virgin. I meditate on the Pre-Trent Hail Mary, calling her blessed as foretold. I don't believe she can hear me and I don't hear from her, so I can't say there's a relationship beyond reverent veneration.

And that's your Wittenberg Catholic brother's take.

 

[AvilaSurfer]

I talk to her every hour. There's an app for that.

 

[JesusLovesOurLady]

I'm very close to Our Lady, however I can't go into detail right now, I've only just returned from Vancouver.

I'll go into more detail tomorrow.

 

[Davidnic]

Commenting so I remember to post tomorrow.

 

[Gnarwhal]

If I'm honest, I'm still getting comfortable with this part of my faith. I really cherish her as the Mother of my Lord, but I'm still shedding 25+ years of Protestant reflexes. I often pray the Hail Mary when I go to Mass or when I'm going about my day and I'm struggling with something, or someone else needs prayer.

But I'm still wrestling with myself to realize that Marian devotion doesn't mean Christ isn't the center of my faith. If that makes sense? I'm really tired, so maybe it doesn't... I guess to sum it up, I understand love and reverence for Mary, and devotion to her, intellectually, but emotionally and spiritually I'm playing catch up.

 

[Rhamiel]

Brown scapular
Try to pray the rosary daily
Going on a pilgrimage to Fatima in about a month

 

[Davidnic]

I think my devotion to Mary is shaped by a few things. We have a family history going all the way back (according to family stories) of a relative in the fleet at Lepanto. Because of that in every generation of my family a boy takes the first, middle or Confirmation name of that relative to honor him. So you will find Gabriel all over our family tree in various places. Also losing my own mother when I was a child connects to my turning to Christ through our Lady. I remember praying the day she died to Christ that He introduce her to His mother, because as a child I felt that moms would know how to show other moms around.

When we were children we were taught about Mary as the model on how to follow Christ. That all glory for her comes from Christ. This was taught by my mother reading the Maginificant to us before bed. And she would explain what it meant. My mom would explain the mysteries of the Rosary as the life of Christ through the eyes of Mary. Her explanation is where I still get my example that when we are often offered a child to hold for the first time we are scared but usually the mother says, don't worry I will show you how to hold him. This was what my mom taught us about Mary. That Christ is a precious gift and as the perfect example of how to follow Him from her free choice to be His mother to the foot of the cross and beyond...Mary teaches us how to hold Him in our hearts.

We did daily rosaries and when my mother was ill I developed a personal devotion to the seven sorrows of Mary that I keep to this day.

One of the cruelest things about death is that over time, time takes the voice of the person you love from your memory. I can remember my mother's voice only when I hear or sing three songs that she sang often. O Little Town of Bethlehem, Away in A Manger and O Sanctissima. I have sung O Sanctissima every day since she died when I was ten. And when I hear it or sing it, I hear her singing it in my head...perfectly as if she was here. I consider this one of the blessings from Christ, through his mother, that has been given to me in my life.

My father has a less theological devotion to Mary. She was his mother as much as his mother on earth. His love for her never went into explaining her position in theology. It was devotion in the pure sense of the word. The love for her was the love he showed the mother of his children, his mother and his mother in law...and his grandmother in law. My father respected nothing...nothing on this earth...like he did the concept and role of motherhood. It was something to be served and marveled at in its mystery. His love for Mary informed and guided his actions toward the mothers in his life and his daughter. In a way he was a child and Knight of Mary and extended that devotion to other moms and all women.

It was something to watch. A big strong navy man and coal miner but in the presence of my grandmothers he was humble and extended to them every service. And may the Lord help you if you did not show them respect. His love of my sister, to this day, has made me a better father to my daughter. And his example and love for me has made me a better father to my son and husband to my wife. He loved our Lady with abandon and through her approached and served Christ. I did not realize it until I thought back later in life but when my grandmothers were elderly he would not stand as they sat in their chairs (unable to stand) unless they asked him to go get something. And he would not sit as they were. He knelt next to them, his hand on one of theirs as they talked. Or he would sit at their feet. But so often in his visits he would just kneel next to their chair, meeting their eyes and talking to them while holding one of their hands. This reflection has led me more deeply to consider him in his spiritual life, truly, a Knight of Mary.

So I was blessed with this twofold vision of Our Lady in my life. My mother, who explained with love and sound theology the place of Our Lady in relation to Christ. She also suffered much toward her death was clear that she joined her sufferings to Christ but also held the idea of the sufferings of our Lady deeply in her heart as she died. And my father who served Christ through our Lady in a way that still guides me today.

For my part she figures in my prayer life to Christ and the Rosary is paramount in those devotions. I try hard to honor and replicate what was given to me so I can pass it to my children. Mary is part of our entire day and serves as a magnification of Christ in our life.

 

[JesusLovesOurLady]

I think most people know this already but, I've had a bad childhood, and didn't get along with my mother. My mother had many moral short-comings, because of that, I developed many wounds in childhood including a sexual perversion that I'm only now, just overcoming.

Once as a teenager, I remember looking at images of Our Lady, and thinking about, how wonderful it would be if I had a mother like her, but it wouldn't be until years of living as an apostate Deist and sexual pervert, that I would finally start praying to her and giving her the honour she deserves. As I mentioned in another thread, one of the key things that led to my reversion to the Faith, was stumbling across an article written by an ex-gay man. One the things that the ex-gay man recommended to males struggling with same-sex attraction, was devotion to St. Joseph, because the vast majority of men who suffer with same-sex attraction, developed their attractions from bad relationships with their fathers. This inspired me -I didn't do this until my reversion- to turn to Mary for healing from my own wounds which stemmed from my bad relationship with my mother.

My favourite titles of Our Lady are, Mother of God, Our Lady of Fatima, and Our Lady of Sorrows. I especially love Our Lady Sorrows, because she is sort of the opposite of my own mother, my mother is weak and cowardly, while Our Lady of Sorrows is strong and brave, she never complained, she never ran away. My mother was also very strict and unforgiving, yet Our Lady of Sorrows happily embraces us as her children, despite the fact that we cruelly put her Son to death! It is because of my devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows that I am renewing my Marian Consecration in the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. I've recently reached a new level of closeness with Our Lady, you can read about it here: 33 Day Marian Consecration Journal: Our Lady's Intentions | Christian Forums

I'm currently doing an Our Lady of the Miracle campaign for the conversion of my mother, as well as my father. (see here: Our Lady of the Miracle Campaign: Mother of my parents) See here: My devotion to Our Lady includes, saying a rosary at least once a day, as well as the Chaplet of the Little Crown (see here: The Chaplet of the Little Crown) and the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows. I have also done Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary (see here: What Is Total Consecration To Jesus Through Mary? | Christian Forums) and consecrated myself on May 31st 2017. (see here: 33 Day Marian Consecration Journal: Consecrated! | Christian Forums) I'm actually planning on, sometime in the future, writing a meditative book on Our Lady as the Living Temple if the Lord. I'm currently reading The Marian Option by Carrie Gress (see here: https://www.amazon.com/Marian-Optio...=1503865246&sr=1-1&keywords=the+marian+option) which is an inspiring book, I highly recommend it, I'll be posting a review and recommendation on this book, once I've finished reading it.

I own several statues and images of Our Lady, and plan on buying an Our Lady of Fatima statue for my new apartment that I'm moving into. I'll conclude this post, by sharing with everyone, my own shrine to Our Lady, I've got in my bedroom:

 

[LivingWordUnity]

I only know what the Church teaches about the Blessed Virgin Mary. So, even though I haven't had a direct spiritual encounter with her (to my knowledge), I believe that she cares about me.

 

[Multifavs]

I try, but I could probably do better. I do believe what the Catholic Church teaches about Mary, but I'm not sure if I'm really devoted enough. I keep two rosaries in my room, but I have not prayed using them very much, probably either because of lack of time or just because I forget to.
I do pray the Hail Mary every night before I go to sleep, and recently I started saying it three times instead of once. I need to do my best.

 

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

Thanks everyone for sharing.
I myself pray to her daily, not necessarily formal but more so like everyday chatting. She is rather involved in my life.

I say a occasional rosary and a angelus, but I'm more devoted to the daily walk with Mary than any formal piety.
She is my mom so often times I feel that we're closer than the formal piety requires.

I like the latin seasonal hymns though.

 

[Bob Crowley]

As an ex-Protestant, like another poster on here, it took me a while to understand the Marian aspect of things.

That said, I don't say the rosary, but do say a few Hail Mary's each day (er.... provided I don't forget). As far as I'm concerned, I think she can hear me, and St. Paul said we're surrounded by a great crowd of witnesses, so I don't know why Mary wouldn't be one of them.

I was probably helped by a couple of comments by two people. One was my old Protestant pastor who thought the Marian apparitions were a "judgement on a divided church" and that "there's been a lot of them". I don't think he had a devotion to Mary himself, but he certainly accepted the apparitions.

The other one was the Catholic psychiatrist I go to for a chin way now and again. Like me, he's a convert from Protestantism (he's been Catholic a lot longer than I have) and he once said "It took me years to work out where Mary fits into the scheme of things. She prays for the souls in Purgatory."

I also know, partly from reading that exorcists claim demons NEVER blaspheme Mary, and a couple of personal experiences, that God won't allow even the devil to blaspheme the woman He chose as the Mother of God the Son.

But in my spiritual life in general, my "devotion to Mary" needs a bit of a kick start. I'd probably be a bit more enthusiastic if I had some spiritual experiences which I could pin down to her, just as I've had some spiritual experiences which I think can be sheeted home to God or an angel.

Mind you that doesn't mean I always like God, so possibly Marian experiences would not be a guarantee of increased fidelity. But at least I'd then know she's real from personal experience, just as I know God and the devil are real as an absolute fact eg. my father turned up the night he died, apologised for 20 years of deliberate cruelty and the deliberate destruction of my confidence, we talked and argued, and at the end he disappeared. But just before he disappeared again, he gave this almighty, terrifying scream, and it was obvious something was coming for him.

That was 38 years ago now and I still remember his terror. The devil exists all right.

But meanwhile, I certainly believe Mary is the Queen of Heaven, the woman with the sun and the twelve stars as described in Revelation, and I could do a lot more to cultivate my relationship with her.

 

[AvilaSurfer]

I've read a lot of Aquinas and Augustine. They both seem to agree that not only is she the Queen of Heaven, but a warrior at least as feared as Michael when it comes to battling Satan.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

I've read a lot of Aquinas and Augustine. They both seem to agree that not only is she the Queen of Heaven, but a warrior at least as feared as Michael when it comes to battling Satan.

Just as Jesus performed his first miracle at her request, Jesus' Second Coming will happen at her request. And that's when Satan will experience his final defeat.

 

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

Just as Jesus performed his first miracle at her request, Jesus' Second Coming will happen at her request. And that's when Satan will experience his final defeat.

Revelation 12:1
And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

 

[JesusLovesOurLady]

Revelation 12:1
And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

Revelations 12, is my favourite passage in the entire Bible.

 

[JesusLovesOurLady]

By the way, as mentioned in my testimony, my favourite titles for Our Lady are, Mother of God, Our Lady of Fatima, and Our Lady of Sorrows. I was wondering if any of you have any favourite titles for Our Lady?

 

[AvilaSurfer]

-(s)