Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jhpb@garage.att.com Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Fatima, Portugal, 1917 Message-ID: Date: 5 Jun 90 04:06:53 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Labs (Liberty Corner) Lines: 53 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Bob Fyfe wrote: > In some sense, I am now the blacksheep or rebel of my family - yes, even at > 34 years old! I've left the Catholic church... But I have a heart for many > who are in the Catholic church - my mother and brothers and sister and > aunts and uncles and... I could go on. I want them to know what Jesus said, > "Unless a man be born again...". I want to - with them - come to a conclusion > on the function of Mary. Does she have a function? If so, what is the > scriptural basis for it? I want to know! I have a mother, sister, niece, aunt > and cousin heading for Medjugorjia (sp?) in about 3 weeks. It's important > that I know the basis of why THEY are going. What do they hope to accomplish? > And yes, I did the obvious, I asked them? Believe it or not, I could not get > a straight answer... Some of the primary passages regarding our Lady are the following: the Annunciation: Here she accepts to become the mother of God. This is the foundation of all her dignities and privileges. the Visitation: St. John the Baptist is sanctified in his mother's womb at the sound of her greeting to St. Elizabeth. The Blessed Virgin is a channel of graces. Also, wherever she is, our Lord is. the wedding feast at Cana: Our Lord worked His first public miracle at her request. She effected this without any requests from the people in need, even. Her spirituality can be summed up in her own words: "Do whatever He tells you." at the foot of the Cross: Ever faithful to the Word Incarnate. There are many works dealing with Scripture regarding our Lady. The more famous ones are by the Fathers of the Church, the Doctors of the Church (e.g., St. Bernard, St. Thomas Aquinas). And of course, the magisterium, e.g., the general councils (Ephesus is an early one of interest) and modern Papal encyclicals (Leo XIII had several on the Rosary, for example). In a way, I can see what happened to you. I am about your age, and probably had the same experience of the Catholic Church that you had as a youth. When I finished my 12 years in the schools, I knew about as much about my religion as a 3rd grader should know. There was little sense of community, also, although that varied from parish to parish, I'm sure. In a certain sense, you never really did leave the Catholic Church; you've probably never even seen the real Catholic Church, just the remnants of what it once was. The destruction since Vatican II has been very great. I ended up with the great grace (for such it was) of stumbling on some Catholics who knew what they were about. Joe Buehler