Yesterday the Church celebrated the Feast of the Birth of Mary and encouraged us to turn our hearts and our minds to her in a special way. She is, after all, the woman whose "yes" birthed Salvation to the world.
Sadly, however, far too many Catholics are leary of Mary. Some fear that a relationship with her will potentially diminish their relationship with Jesus Christ. They fear that to embrace Mary means to let go of Jesus.
Still other Catholics have fallen sway to the Marian misconceptions propagated by Protestantism and proclaimed by its members. They see devotion to her as unbiblical and in some way a sin against the First Commandment.
And finally, some Catholics believe Mary's intercession isn't important-- why bother if they can go straight to Jesus. After all, wasn't devotion to her simply the invention of misguided (or worse yet, corrupt) clerics from the Middle Ages? Who needs her anyway?
The plain fact is -- we all need Mary! Devotion to Mary is not capricious, it is abundantly beneficial. Devotion to her wasn't started by clerics in the Middle Ages, but by her Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible does not prove Marian devotion is non-essential but actually proves just the opposite .
Who Started Marian Devotion?
The simple answer to this question is "Jesus did!" In Luke's Gospel Our Lord is surrounded by a crowd which just saw Him expel a demon from a man unable to speak. A woman in the crowd, obviously moved by Jesus' words and action, exclaims, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you." He responds to her, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it."
Here, Jesus edifies His mother and extols her receptivity to God . He tells the woman from the crowd that Mary is indeed blessed, but not because her womb bore Him and her breasts suckled Him, but rather because of her heart's disposition toward the will of the Father -- her fiat is the ultimate measure of her holiness, not her biological function. Recall that theologians tell us Mary conceived Jesus in the womb of her heart through her "yes" to God before she conceived Him in the womb of her body.
By directing the crowd's attention toward the receptivity, trust, and surrender of His mother, Jesus gives her the ultimate tribute and holds her up to all as the archetype of the perfect disciple, the icon of the Christian life, the one "who hears the word of God and keeps it".
Our Lord's encouragement to embrace His mother is further exemplified by His words from the Cross: Speaking to His 
mother and indicating St. John, He says, "Woman, there is your son," and to St. John, "There is your mother" (John 19: 26-27). Scripture tells us that St. John took Our Lady into his home.
Here, St. John represents all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus. As members of His Mystical Body Mary is our spiritual mother whom Our Lord has entrusted to us. Like St. John, we are called to be devoted to her and to take her into the "home" of our heart.
Interstingly, even the early Reformers understood, appreciated, accepted, and embraced this mandate of Our Lord. Both Martin Luther and John Calvin, for example, professed a devotion to the Blessed Mother. These words of Martin Luther speak to the attitude of heart they expressed and cultivated: "Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of us all. If Christ be ours...all that He has must be ours, and His Mother also must be ours." Stunning words, and ones all of us should take to heart.
Do Catholics Worship Mary?
The simple answer to this question is "No! Catholics do not worship Mary." We do, however, praise her to the fullest extent a human person should receive praise. The Church calls this praise hyperdulia, a form of veneration reserved for the Blessed Mother because she is the most exalted of all creatures. Its counterparts are dulia, the veneration given to the saints and the servants of God, and latria, the praise and worship due to God and God alone.
No one should have a problem understanding this. In varying degrees we "praise" people all the time for their accomplishments and achievements, for their good actions and right judgments, for their kindnesses and courtesies, but there is only one to Whom we give our worship, adoration, and adulation -- Almighty God. Few, for example, would accuse a person of worshipping a child because we praised him for his good grades, nor would they accuse us of praising a ball player whose performance won the game.
Again, few would accuse a person of worshipping a firefighter who saved a life or a doctor who successfully performed a challenging surgery even though we might give them awards and celebrations. Why, then, should Catholics be accused of worshipping Mary when, by their very language and teaching they make a distinction in their veneration of her and their adoration of God?
Paragraph 971 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church says this about devotion to the Blessed Mother:
"...The Church rightly honors the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of 'Mother of God,' ...This very special devotion...differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration."
Why Do We Need Mary's Intercession?
The Catholic Church teaches that the sole mediator between God and man is Jesus Christ. However, the ninth article of the Apostle's Creed refers to the Communion of Saints. The Apostle's Creed was written by the apostles as a brief profession of the truths of the Faith to be used by those anticipating Baptism (Acts 8: 36-37).
This teaching states that all believers are united in the Mystical Body of Christ, and therefore, have a common concern for each other's salvation. The fact that some of these believers have left the earth is of no matter. Recall what it states in 1 Corinthians 15:22 -- "All are alive in Christ." Those who have attained eternal salvation are in a perfect position to pray for us and our needs.
In addition, Sacred Scripture is studded with many examples of secondary intercessors.Consider Abraham's intercession to God on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah, Mose's intercession to God on behalf of the Israelites, and Mary's intercession to Jesus on behalf of the wedding couple of Cana. In all of these cases, God responded to the prayers being lifted up on behalf of others.
Doesn't devotion to Mary detracts from Jesus?
All true Marian devotion leads us to Jesus Christ, not away from Him. If a devotion or practice to Our Lady does not lead us to Christ, it is not a true devotion as presented to us by the Catholic Church. This is the guiding principle upon which veneration to Our Lady must always be evaluated and it is the clear and consistent teaching of the Catholic Church. True Marian devotion is Christocentric (Christ-centered).
Consider the words of Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. They serve as examples of the catena (chain) of teaching the Church gives us in this regard:
"Devotion to the Virgin Mother of God does not stop with her, but has to be regarded as a help which of its very nature leads men to Christ." (Pope Paul VI, Nov. 21, 64)
...inspired by the teaching of St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, who explained in the following words Mary's role in the process of our configuration to Christ: "Our entire perfection consists in being conformed, united and consecrated to Jesus Christ. Hence the most perfect of all devotions is undoubtedly that which conforms, unites and consecrates us most perfectly to Jesus Christ. Now, since Mary is of all creatures the one most conformed to Jesus Christ, it follows that among all devotions that which most consecrates and conforms a soul to our Lord is devotion to Mary, his Holy Mother, and that the more a soul is consecrated to her the more will it be consecrated to Jesus Christ." (True Devotion) Never as in the Rosary do the life of Jesus and that of Mary appear so deeply joined. Mary lives only in Christ and for Christ! (John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 2002).
Christ is the supreme Teacher, the revealer and the one revealed. It is not just a question of learning what he taught but of “learning him”. In this regard could we have any better teacher than Mary? From the divine standpoint, the Spirit is the interior teacher who leads us to the full truth of Christ (cf. Jn 14:26; 15:26; 16:13). But among creatures no one knows Christ better than Mary; no one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of his mystery better than his Mother (John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 2002).
Marian devotion serves as a springboard to a deeper relationship with Our Lord, Jesus Christ. As our spiritual mother, she always leads us to her Son, Jesus Christ. As we consider who Mary is in the story of salvation and in the life of the Church, we would do well to ask ourselves this question -- Who do I say Mary is and who do I want her to be in my life with Christ? The answer we discover may well lead us in an ever-deepening experience of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
