"Marian Devotion"

Marian devotion usually consists of reciting the rosary which is a set of prayers making up 5 decades. We dedicate prayers to her so she prays for us and draw us closer to Jesus. This link tells the benefits and promises of the rosary http://tomsdomain.com/rosary/

The swords piercing her hearts comes from that one prophecy when Jesus and Mary took the child Jesus before Simeon. Simeon was told that he would not die until he saw the messiah, when he realized Jesus was the messiah he knew the prophecy was fulfilled. While they were there he said to mary "and your own soul a sword shall pierce". This referred to when Mary had to later watch her own son be tortured and crucified, the sorrow in her heart was as if a sword had pierced it. Also her heart is the "Immaculate heart of Mary" and Jesus's is the "Sacred Heart."

There are two other popular devotions, called the Angelus(used all year excpet from Easter to Pentecost, and the Regenus Caeli(sp?), which is used during easter season.

The Angelus:

The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary; and she concieved of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be done unto me according to thy word.

Hail Mary...

(kneel)The Word was made flesh; and dwelt among us(stand)

Hail Mary...

Let us pray.
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Mark, peace and joy be with you my friend,

Here are a couple exerts that answers some of the more common questions regarding Mary.....
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15. Why honor Mary?
Sacred Scripture tells us that Mary was distinctly set apart from all women; “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” [Luke 1:28], “most blessed are you among women, and blessed in the fruit of your womb.” [Luke 1:42]. These words alone are a powerful testimony to the degree of holiness Mary had. To be full of God’s grace is to be living completely in the spirit and not of the flesh; it is to be living without the tarnish of sin. The Church also affirms that Mary remained a virgin throughout her life; “Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin The angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you" [Luke 1:34].

Not only does Scripture give light to Mary’s sinlessness and virginity, but it also forshadows the wonderous graces God bestowed upon her when He spoke to the serpent, saying; “I will put enmities between thee and the woman and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” [Gen 3:15] And further; "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" [ Rev 12:1] Mary said; “From now on all generations will call me blessed.” [Luke 1:48]

It only makes sense that God would choose and bless such a person to bear His Son. She gave birth to the second person of the Holy Trinity in His fullness; God the Son. Thus, since we know that Jesus is God, we rightly call Mary, Mother of God. It is in this way that Catholics venerate (honor) Mary, but in no way do we worship her, and in no way do we elevate her to a fourth person of the Holy Trinity. She is not divine by nature like Christ is, yet she is God’s most perfect created creature; she is queen of heaven and spouse of the Holy Spirit through the grace of God.

It is through the continual revelation of Christ’s Church that we know God has given Mary special graces which she pours out to others through her prayers for us. Since Mary is most blessed above of all people, her petitions carry more weight than all the angels and saints in heaven. She has brought billions of people to know Christ more profoundly, and she will continue doing so as only the mother of God could. It is in this way, that as our love of Christ grows, so too should our devotion to Mary. Even the original Protestant reformers were all in agreement on this point.

"Is Christ only to be adored? Or is the holy Mother of God rather not to be honored? This is the woman who crushed the Serpent's head. Hear us. For your Son denies you nothing." [Martin Luther, last sermon in 1546]

"The more the honor and love of Christ increases among men, so much the esteem and honor given to Mary should grow." [Ulrich Zwingli]

"It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son, granted her the highest honor." [John Calvin]



16. Isn’t praying to Mary like worship her?
No. Let me first clarify that, as a Catholic, we understand “pray” to merely mean “communicate”. Now, let us first look at what we say to Mary when we pray to her. In the beginning and throughout most of the Hail Mary prayer, all we do is repeat what is already directly stated in the Bible at the Annunciation (Luke 1:28, 42). The only request we make to Mary is in the final words of the prayer; “pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

So you see, when we pray to Mary, all we are doing is asking her to pray for us. We know that through her motherly love, she will undoubtedly petition to God on our behalf. This is all the Hail Mary prayer is; a request for Mary’s prayers. It is really no different than asking our friends and family to pray for us, except unlike people on earth, Mary is now in heaven. And unlike those in heaven, Mary is the one person blessed beyond all other created beings; blessed with the highest honor of bringing our savior into the world.


17. Why can’t I just pray directly to God?
We do pray directly to God: When we pray to Mary we are really praying through her, to God. Everything that Mary is and everything that Mary does, points to her Son Jesus Christ. One may ask why this is beneficial as compared to praying to God alone. To answer this, one must truly understand the profound power prayer in order to understand why we ask for the petitions from others. We must remember that we are all part of the body of Christ, and so by praying for the good of others, we are essentially praying for the good of the entire Body of Christ. It is so natural and so essential to the spiritual well being of us all. And if we find such value the prayers of other people on earth, imagine the value in the prayers of the one person in heaven who is such a perfect channel of God’s graces that she brought His Son into the world! What powerful and profound spiritual family to have, is it not?

The Lord's Envoy said:

Can someone explain this statement. I take it Mary appeared to St. Dominic and Alan and told them this?

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42. The Power of the rosary, Not “Vain Repetition”
The rosary is the most powerful Catholic devotion in existence. It was given to the Church through Saint Dominic, who, in a vision, had received it from the Blessed Virgin as a powerful means of converting the world.
Many people who misunderstand the rosary, mistakenly think it emphasizes Mary to much, while emphasizing Jesus too little. This is a clear distortion of the truth. First, at its center, the prayer is really a meditation on the life and passion of Jesus Christ; each meditation (Mystery) is a different Biblical event in Our Savior’s life. Secondly, everything that Mary is and everything that Mary does, points to her Son Jesus Christ. It is the sole desire of Mary to bring us closer to her Son, and by praying to her, we are obtaining the powerful graces of her petitions, especially when we pray the rosary.
Virtually all of the most prominent saints were devoted to Our Lady, and likewise, to the rosary.Padre Pio called the rosary the “Atomic Bomb” of prayers, and would carry it with him wherever he went. It is truly unlike any other prayer. It was not only given to us by Mary herself, but it is also the only devotion that is multi-dimensional in that it is both vocal and meditative. The surface contains repetitions of two divine prayers (one of which was given to us by Christ himself, and the other by an angel at the angelic salutation), and below the surface, meditations on various events in the life of Jesus Christ.

Those who misunderstand it try to use the Bible against it, calling it a “vain repetition” (Matt 6:7). But this is a clear case of Scriptural distortion (it is no surprise that the things most cherished by God are often the most profaned and misunderstood by the world). The Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary are love prayers that are deeply unitive. Each time we say them we give God a rose in praise and adoration, and we give Mary a rose in gratitude for her intercessions. So considering a prayer is a single act of love, why then, would we want to say it just once? If we truly love God, we would want to let Him know with every breath we take. The Bible commands us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17) and keeping a practice of regular prayer is an essential means of conforming our hearts to God’s as we seek His face.

In all the countless documented apparitions of Mary, she would often make it a point to let us know how powerful this prayer is. In one instance, for example, there was a certain pious lady who thought she was living a holy life, and when advised during confession to start saying the rosary, she refused, making the excuse that she had no time for it. That night she fell into ecstasy and Mary appeared to her. Holding a scale before her, Mary placed all the good works and penances the woman had done on one balance of the scale, while placing all her sins and imperfections on the other side. The tray of her good works was greatly outweighed by that of her sins and imperfections. Mary then took the single rosary the woman had once said and dropped it on the tray of her good works. The rosary was so heavy that it outweighed all her sins as well as all her good works. Mary then reproved the woman for refusing to say the rosary. From that day forward, the woman said the rosary devotedly and eventually rose to Christian perfection.


Being the most powerful devotion, the rosary is quite fittingly the most difficult to say well. Our minds will inevitably wonder at times, and by keeping focused on the mysteries at hand, we not only experience the best graces from the rosary, it will also strengthen our will. When saying the rosary, it is important to remember that we are human and should not expect to say it perfectly every time. God places more value on the effort we put forth, than the final results.

Just because everything written in this thread is so important to remember sometimes I'm bumping it up.

bump

Mark,
Think of Marian Devotion as anything that calls on the name of our Blessed Mother for her intercesions; this includes the prayers incorporated within the rosary, other prayers, novena's, etc.

The rosary, however, is the most powerfull devotion in the Church, and so I would highly recommend this beautiful and divine prayer over anything else manmade.

The awareness of Mary's intercessory and maternal presence is a source of much joy and great spiritual growth; we indeed posess a complete spiritual family, Father and Mother. St. Louis De Montfort predicts that at the end of our age, the world will see the greatest saints it has ever known; their spirituality will surpass those of saints long past, and it will be because of a deeper devotion to Mary, and thus, a deeper adoration and union with her Son.

May the Lord give you His peace!

-Davide

Also keep in mind that devotion to Mary gives light to truth of the "communion of saints", as professed in the Apostles Creed, which of course predicated Nicene Creed. The communion of saints is a very true and real gift; heaven and earth are not totally isolated from one another, but we indeed can request the prayers of anyone in heaven (As described in revelation, incense represents the prayers of the saints rising up to heaven). This is why we also pray to other saints and angels (Michael the Archangel, for example) to petition them for their prayers as well.

"The fervent prayers of the righteous is very powerfull." [James 5:16]
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Great thread, I'm glad you guys take the time to explain this stuff even though it's asked pretty often.

I don't know it, but a popular devotion is the PRayer to St. Michael the Archangel.

The Lord's Envoy said:

You pray to angels as well? Never knew that.

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Yep. We pray mostly to the "big three", the ones mentioned in Scripture - Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, but also to our own guardian angel, and to the angels as a group.

The three named archangels have their own feast days: St. Gabriel, March 24, St. Michael, May 8, and St. Raphael, October 24. St. Michael has a second feast on September 29, along with all the Angels, and the Holy Guardian Angels have a feast day on October 2.

Raphael is in the Book of Tobit.

Raphael is in the Book of Tobit.

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I thought he was one of the turtles...

The idea of Marian Devotion is based on the fact that as Jesus came to us through Mary, we can go to Him through her. Mary lived a perfect life, devoid of all sin, and therefore doesn't take any glory for herself but directs all praise and devotion to her Son, as is the nature of perfection.