We Are Called, But Can We Follow?

As Catholic Christians we are called to evangelize, to spread the Good News.  Admittedly, Catholics are not as good at this as our Protestant brethren.  We tend to be uncomfortable about discussing our faith with others, we don't go door-to-door sharing our message of God's love.  You also don't see too many Catholic programs on mainstream television, they are usually broadcast on the Eternal World Television Network (EWTN) or The Catholic Channel on satellite radio.  Why do you think we have such a tough time sharing our Faith? 

I believe the answer is twofold.  First, we have become poorly catechized as a church.  We, as Catholics, know less about our Church and what/why it teaches what it does ,than most atheists.  This leads to and intertwines with, the second.  That is, we find ourselves often defending our Church and what it teaches and believes from an onslaught of secularist thinking and false understandings by other churches and peoples.  I would like to discuss some of the major issues in society today that seem to be the hardest for people to understand, and difficult for most Catholics to explain because they just don't know. 

Over the next couple of blogs, I will lay down an explanation for these, to the average Protestant, as I have had them explained to me and learned through my own continued education in the Faith.  The topics will offer my best understanding on them, and what I go by when I explain to others.  They are:  contraception, Mary's place in the church, Confession, marriage (maybe mixed with contraception)/divorce, statues (idolatry), and the three parts of where our beliefs come from; The Majesterium, the Bible, and tradition.

Mary

Many Protestants misunderstand the position of honor the Catholic Church gives to Mary, the Mother of God.  They falsely believe that Catholics worship Mary and place her on an equal footing with God.  This is absolutely not true.  Yes, there is a prayer called The Hail Mary which we say a lot, especially if you say the Rosary regularly.  There is an important line in this prayer which, by the way, is taken from the Bible (Luke 1:42).  It says, "Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners...".  Note the request for prayers.  We are not praying to her as we would to God, we are asking her to intercede for us.  Now the arrow flies, that we don't need to have her pray for us, or the saints for that matter.  We can pray right to God!  Absolutely, you sure can.  But I pose this question then.  If there is no need to go to others, then why do people ask for "travel mercies", or please pray that my father gets better, or ask us to pray for them for any number of reasons?  If Jesus will listen to anyone, wouldn't he listen to his own mother?  We Catholics call on what we call, The Communion of Saints to help us in times of need.  That is why you will hear Catholics pray to saints for different reasons...asking for their help.

Here is a simple example that shows how our request for intercession from Mary works.  I had discontinued my son's allowance due to a lack of work performed.  After a while, he went to my wife to see if she would talk to me about getting his allowance back.  Why didn't he just go to me?  Why ask her?  He thought maybe she could sway me a little bit better than he could.  He needed her to intercede for him.

Mary is given the honor due her by her position in life.  As the Mother of God, she deserves to be revered and honored, not worshipped.  If a Catholic never said a Hail Mary his entire life...it would be OK.  It doesn't make him a bad Catholic.  Mary is given the honor we should all give to our mother's.

Next time I will take a look at statues and art and the misconceptions behind the Church's use of them.