Mary: honored, not worshiped

01The worry

“Do Catholics worship Mary?”

Lots of Christians grew up hearing that Catholics worship Mary. If that’s what you were told, it’s an honest worry, and you deserve a straight answer in the Church’s own words.

Straight answer: no; worship belongs to God alone.¹ To adore God is to say He is God, the Creator and Savior, Lord of everything that exists. Mary would be the first to say so.⁶

The Church says honoring Mary “differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit.” Different category, not just a smaller amount.²

Then why honor her at all? Because the Bible did it first.

02The reason

Why Catholics honor her

An angel greets her: “The Lord is with you,” calling her “highly favored.”⁷ Her cousin Elizabeth shouts: “Blessed are you among women.” Catholics are just repeating them.⁸

“for he has looked at the humble state of his servant. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.”

And “Mother of God” is really a claim about Jesus: the baby she carried, who truly became her Son, was the Father’s eternal Son.¹⁰

That’s the pattern every time: what Catholics believe about Mary grows out of what they believe about Christ.¹¹

But the Bible says there’s only one mediator. Doesn’t Mary get in His way?

03The center

Christ is the one Mediator

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”

The Church agrees there’s one mediator, and says so plainly. Mary’s role “in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power.”¹⁴

Everything she does depends entirely on Christ and gets all its power from Him; she’s the moon, He’s the sun. No creature could ever be ranked alongside the Word made flesh.¹⁴

And the statues? That one comes up in pretty much every family.

04The statues

What about statues?

Nobody’s worshipping plaster: worship isn’t aimed at images as things. The honor given to an image goes to the person it shows, a “respectful veneration,” not the adoration owed to God alone.¹

Think of the photo of your grandma on your fridge. You’re not in love with the paper.

Back at Cana, Mary’s still standing with the servants.

05The instruction

“Whatsoever he shall say to you”

“His mother said to the servants, ‘Whatever he says to you, do it.’”

The servants fill six huge stone jars with water, and Jesus turns it into wine, the best of the night.¹⁶ It’s His first miracle, and His disciples believe in Him.¹⁷

Mary doesn’t point to herself. She points to her Son, and then she steps out of the way.

Her only instruction in the Gospels is about Him. It still is.