Why Mother Mary is Honored?

Mother Mary is Saint and she is venerated by Catholics with love as part of our spiritual family, and they ask their aid and prayers because in the Book of Revelation we are told clearly that the prayers of the saints rise as incense before the Lord's throne (Rev. 5:8). However they believe salvation is through Christ our Lord. Saints in Heaven, and the angels in Heaven, share in Christ‘s role as a intercessor even though 1 Tim 2:5 reads as follows: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…”.. God seeks intercessors. We know this from Moses Prayer, Interceding For Israel(Exodus 32:11-13),Elijah Asks God to Reveal Himself to the People (I Kings 18:36-37), Daniel's Prayer, Identifying With The Sins Of His People. Daniel 9:4-19), Stephen's Prayer, For His Murderers, At The Point Of His Death.(Acts 7:60). Intercession among members of the body of Christ is pleasing to God (1 Tm 2:1-4) and even commanded by him (Jn 15:17).

1. Mary is the Mother of God. She was chosen out of all the women in the world that ever existed. Mary is the mother of Jesus because Jesus is God so Mary is the Mother of God. Mary was full of grace, without sin, Jesus can not be born of sinful women. She has been virgin, Pure, Godly conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-25). Mary was saved from all sin because She bore our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence she has to be sinless to give birth to Christ because Jesus can not exist by original sin of Adam. Mother Mary is the one who nursed, fed, taught Jesus Christ, she was made a pure vessel for the Word of the Lord. Galatians 4:4-5 says But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Mother Mary is the only woman who is mentioned both Old Testament (Gen 3:15, Isaiah 7:14) and New testament (Luke 1:26-38, Luke 2:22-30).

2. Isaiah 7:14 says that The Lord himself will give a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel,” Here we know that the mother of Christ would have to be a virgin. GOD needed Mary to be the vessel to give birth to His Divine Son.

3. Mary said her soul doth magnify the Lord, And her spirit hath rejoiced in God her Saviour.( Luke 1:46-47).Her mind was saturated in God's Word whom the Holy Spirit blessed her so abundantly.

4.In Luke 1:38Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. This shows Mary's humility and obedience to God and she herself responded to grace with faith. The way the description reads (Luke 1:35 )that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of the Highest will overshadow her, reminds me of Moses being overshadowed by the cloud on Mt. Sinai. Mary carried the Word of GOD, the Power of GOD, and the Bread come down from heaven.

5. Luke 1:48"...behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed...". Mary points us to Christ, she brings glory to God, and she exemplifies as a true disciple, a model for discernment and obedience to God.

6. Luke 1:28 says "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women." . Mary is the only person in the entire Bible to be called "Blessed among women”.

7.Mary is the only women who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and carried the Divine Person of GOD in her womb for nine months. Luke 1:35-38.

8. Mary is the only mother who gave us our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ and for us to imitate the example of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). Mary is not a distraction from Christ but a reflection of Christ.

9. Mary was twice called "Blessed" by Elizabeth, being filled with the Holy Spirit, in Luke 1:42- 45.

10. In Judith 13:18 says And Uzziah said to her, “O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, who created the heavens and the earth, who has guided you to strike the head of the leader of our enemies."

11. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby (John the Baptist) leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:41

12. Jesus obeyed the command to honor his mother(Matthew 15:4). One of Jesus’ last words as he hung on the cross were his words to Mary and to the apostle John. To Mary Jesus said, “Woman, here is your son,” and to John he said, “Here is your mother.” (John 19:26-27)

13. Mary is the one who, in the Lord's words, "heard the word of God and kept it." (Luke 11:28) Through her personal sinlessness she fulfilled all the hopes and prophecies of Israel. (Isaiah 7:14)

14. Mary is not a pagan earth goddess because she is the mother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. She was qualified to give birth to the sinless Son of God because God chose her and miraculously caused her to conceive by the "overshadowing" of the Holy Spirit.Luke 1:42 says she is blessed among women and has a favor from God. All generations will call her blessed (Luke 1:48).So definitely she is not a pagan Goddess.

By praying to saints and angels, the Catholic Church can not be accused as pagan worshippers. The Bible shows us the importance of the witness of angels and saints and the Bible teaches the communion of saints (Luke 12:8-9). Saints in heaven are as the angels of God, they are intimately involved in man's salvation under Jesus Christ. When one prays to them, they in turn pray to God who commonly grants His graces on their behalf and because of their close relationship with Him. The Bible also teaches that angels are present in the assemblies of the faithful.(Ref verses 1 corinthians 11:10,Hebrews 12:22-23,2 Thesslonains 1:10,Daniel 7:10,Matthew 25:31,1 corinthains 6:2,Romans 8:38-39,Psalms 90:11,Revelation 8:2-4).

15. 1 Timothy 2:1 says “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men. “So asking for intercessory prayer is a very biblical thing to do, especially from a holy person like Mary (James 5:16) because she is a Saint.