What’s the Big Deal About Mary?

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I’ve been hanging out a lot on reddit lately. 

A non-Catholic had asked yesterday as to why Catholics pray to Mary, and why so many Hail Mary’s are prayed in succession. 

What follows was my response.

Noted Protestant revivalist Jonathan Edwards had a term “the scarlet thread of salvation.” That means, we are saved, but that salvation is extremely fragile; it comes through only one Man, one sacrifice on the cross, and we are easily prone to ignore it–even though the weight of our eternal stake is at balance.

Catholics in particular recognize that Mary, too, is that slender thread. Because she said “Let it be done to me according to Thy will.” Because she said “Yes.” Had she said “Let me think about it… let me get back to you… don’t call me I’ll call you… do you need an answer right now?!? … etc.”, then Jesus would not have been born. And thus, the cross would not have been carried, there would have been no sacrificial Lamb, there would have been no triumph over death.

Catholics have a deeper Mariology, noting that Mary could not have said “Fiat” by her own willpower. She had to be “graced” to do so… “full of grace”–the actual words of Gabriel. And she could not be full of grace if she were born to original sin. Thus, the Catholic belief that Mary was “immaculately conceived.”

It should not shock you that God can create someone outside of original sin. He had done so twice before. Adam and Eve. The difference is that they were not conceived–but rather, created from the dust. Here, he was creating someone whose sole purpose was to bring Christ into the world. He was tilting the odds in His favor, so that she would say “yes.” But that does not preclude the fact that she is still mortal, a human, a created being, not in any way a deity.

Study the Hail Mary: half of it is Scripture. “Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee.” – Gabriel. “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb (Jesus)” – Elizabeth. The remainder of the prayer is simply asking for her to pray for you. She is not the receptor of our prayers, she is a power-antennae that directs these prayers directly to the throne room, because that’s how she is, and that’s the authority she has before Jesus (as being that Christ follows the Law perfectly, He would follow the fourth commandment perfectly as well).

Lastly, the rosary is not mere repetition of the same prayer (although [Psalm 136] proves that not all repetition is in vain). These prayers are guided by mysteries to focus upon; these mysteries tell a larger narrative about the life of Christ, as seen through the eyes of Mary. You may want to consider looking at a Biblical rosary, which focuses upon meditating upon noted passages that tell the bigger story of salvation.