Post by teresahrc on Apr 28, 2009 19:52:35 GMT -5
Why should Christians talk about Mary? Why do Catholics honor Mary so much?
Not only is she the first Christian(and the first to hear the gospel, and know the 3 persons of the Holy Trinity), but she is also the mother of our savior. No one else spent as much time with Jesus as Mary did. No human (I can almost guarantee) has ever loved Jesus as much as Mary did (and still does).
Jesus followed the Law of Moses perfectly, and among the greatest of those commandments is "Honor your Father and your Mother..." Jesus honors His Father, God, and He also honors His Mother, Mary.
There is no reason to think that Jesus would ever dishonor His Mother, nor ever want anyone else to.
That said, what was the Incarnation all about? What does it mean that Christ is "the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being"? (See Hebrews 1)
Because I'm an artist, I like to think about radiance, color, light and images. I sometimes compare Mary to a prism. God is very often describe as "light" and in this physical world, light is what enables us to see. It also enables us to see color. In fact, without light, color does not exist. Light is not visible, but it makes things visible. However, light can be dispersed into the color spectrum through means such as a prism. (or rain + sunshine to make a rainbow) I'm sure that the rainbow after the flood was a prototype, if you will, for the incarnation of Christ.
Anyway, the prism is what the light passes through, and then it is dispersed into the color spectrum. The light is not intrinsically changed in this process, but it becomes visible to our eyes in the form of a "rainbow". It is definitely a flawed analogy, but I love talking about light and color.
So, the prism (Mary) is not the light, but without it, we would not be able to see the light.
27And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
28As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
(Ezekiel 1)
peace
teresa
Not only is she the first Christian(and the first to hear the gospel, and know the 3 persons of the Holy Trinity), but she is also the mother of our savior. No one else spent as much time with Jesus as Mary did. No human (I can almost guarantee) has ever loved Jesus as much as Mary did (and still does).
Jesus followed the Law of Moses perfectly, and among the greatest of those commandments is "Honor your Father and your Mother..." Jesus honors His Father, God, and He also honors His Mother, Mary.
There is no reason to think that Jesus would ever dishonor His Mother, nor ever want anyone else to.
That said, what was the Incarnation all about? What does it mean that Christ is "the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being"? (See Hebrews 1)
Because I'm an artist, I like to think about radiance, color, light and images. I sometimes compare Mary to a prism. God is very often describe as "light" and in this physical world, light is what enables us to see. It also enables us to see color. In fact, without light, color does not exist. Light is not visible, but it makes things visible. However, light can be dispersed into the color spectrum through means such as a prism. (or rain + sunshine to make a rainbow) I'm sure that the rainbow after the flood was a prototype, if you will, for the incarnation of Christ.
Anyway, the prism is what the light passes through, and then it is dispersed into the color spectrum. The light is not intrinsically changed in this process, but it becomes visible to our eyes in the form of a "rainbow". It is definitely a flawed analogy, but I love talking about light and color.
So, the prism (Mary) is not the light, but without it, we would not be able to see the light.
27And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
28As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
(Ezekiel 1)
peace
teresa
