Q. How is Mary revered?
A. The Church strongly encourages and recommends devotion to Our Lady. Vatican II affirms this and calls Mary 'Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.' [Lumen Gentium, 62]. The council said that the devotion to the Blessed Virgin should be 'generously fostered, and the practices and exercises of devotion toward her ' should be highly esteemed' and that doctrinal decrees about Mary should be 'religiously observed.' [LG, 67] Mary 'occupies a place in the Church which is the highest after Christ and also closest to us.' [LG, 54]. Mary is always to be honored.
When we choose to pray to Mary, we are asking her to pray for us and for others. The best and most ancient Marian prayer, the 'Hail Mary' makes it clear that we are asking her to 'pray for us sinners.' We seek her intercessory prayers; we do not seek any action from her acting on her own, since she has no power of her own. In genuine apparitions, Mary has always pointed to Christ.
It does not take anything away from the honor due to Mary when we point out that she is subordinate to Christ, who is both her son and her savior. Christ is divine; Mary is not. Christ is creator; Mary is creature. Christ is true God and true Man. Mary is only human. 'The Church does not hesitate to profess this subordinate role of Mary '. [LG, 62].
All this sounds theological, but it is also very practical. Our devotion to Jesus in Eucharistic adoration, and especially during the Eucharistic Sacrifice itself, must take priority over any devotion to Mary. This does not disrespect Mary. It does make it clear that every laudable quality and attribute of Mary comes from her relationship to Jesus. Practically, we should never prefer Mary over Christ. We should never pass by the Blessed Sacrament without expressing reverence and devotion, and then go to kneel at Mary's shrine. And we should certainly never give higher priority to a prayer at Mary's shrine than we give to attending Mass. The Mass is, after all, the highest and best and most complete form of prayer. It takes priority over all other forms of prayer in the Church, so much so that even confessions ought not occur in the Church while Mass is going on.
Here at St. John's we are blessed with so many opportunities to pray. But we must keep our priorities straight. Mass has the highest priority. Worship of the Sacred Eucharist outside of Mass has the second priority. And only then is devotion to Mary given a place. When I see people hurrying through the lower church, even while Mass is going on, going to light a candle at the Lourdes shrine, I wonder 'what are they thinking?' The Lord of the Universe, their creator and redeemer, is here for their adoration. But they by-pass the Lord, seeming to ignore Him, to ask some favor of Mary. What does Mary think of the people who try to honor her while ignoring her Son and Redeemer?
