Marian Monday: What does it mean to venerate Mary?

Mary is the Mother of God, she was immaculately conceived, she was perpetually a virgin, and  she was assumed, body and soul, into Heaven. We concluded by noting that we do not worship Mary.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO VENERATE MARY?

• Because Mary freely chose to cooperate with God’s plan, we have so much to learn from her! All Mary does is to point us to Jesus. So when we seek to learn more about Mary, we’re going to end up learning more about Jesus. Any form of piety or devotion toward the Mother of God will actually help us in our relationship with the Son.
• The honor we give to God (and only God) is formally named “adoration.” This is the highest honor we can give. However, the honor we give to the saints (including Mary) is called “veneration.” The honor we give to Mary and the saints doesn’t “take away” from the honor we give to God. In fact, it actually fosters it and helps increase the honor we give to God.
• The Early Church always turned to the Blessed Mother when it needed special intercession. This never meant that Christians “worshiped” Mary. It meant they understood that Mary played a special role in the life of the Church. She is not only the Mother of Jesus but also our Mother!

We must keep in mind the words of St. Maximilian Kolbe: “Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.”