WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN MARY by Mrs. James A. O'Connor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 27, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 17.

WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN MARY.

By Mrs. James A. O'Connor

BY MRS. JAMES A. O'CONNOR.

LEST some should think that I have had closer relations with convent life than that of a guest, it is right to say I was never a nun, and never in my life had I a desire to be one. I have been whole days for weeks at a time in the convent with my aunt, who is a nun, but as no one was ever allowed to stay there overnight except the nuns and their servants, I went to the house of my uncle, Father Batt. O'Connor, the parish priest, to sleep, as it was only a few blocks from the convent. I did not go to the convent school, but I frequently joined the sisters in their devotions, and attended mass in their little chapel several times. In their devotions they offered more prayers to Mary and Joseph than to Jesus.

When I was a very little child, before I could repeat the Lord's Prayer, my aunt had me enrolled in the scapular of the blessed Virgin Mary. She took upon herself the task of saying the prayers until I was old enough to say them myself. But when I could say them, to my surprise I had no taste for such prayers. In this respect my younger sister was very different. She wore the scapular, and was also enrolled as a child of Mary. She was a very lovely girl, who died in her sixteenth year, and when dead she was dressed in the uniform worn by the sodality of the children of Mary, a white dress and light blue mantle, which had to be purchased from the sisters, who make money by all these things, and never miss a chance to do so. Then all the girl members followed the remains to the cemetery, reciting the rosary of the Virgin Mary on the way, and praying for her soul that she might be delivered from purgatory, though I heard the priest to whom she went to confession say to mother after her death, "If there is a heaven, Helen entered there the moment the spirit left the body." Then why did he not tell the girls not to pray for her, that they could do her no good, as she was saved? And why did that same man take money from my mother to say masses for my sister's soul?

My Roman Catholic friends, why will you not make use of the faculties God has given you in religious matters as well as in secular, and see that the whole system is money making? If purgatory were done away with, as it is the greatest source of revenue, they would be out hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly. Therefore they keep it up, though I have no doubt there are large numbers of priests who do not believe in it any more than I do.

There are a great many good Christians who say that the Roman Catholics do not need conversion, and that their church is a true branch of the Christian church. We can see by the following prayer to the Virgin Mary how much astray they are. It is taken from one of the Catholic prayer books, the New Raccolta, page 285, approved by Cardinal Gibbons and Archbishop Ryan, and pronounced authentic by the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences and Holy Relics. It is called St. Alphonsus Liguori's prayer:—

"Most holy and immaculate Virgin! O my mother! the queen of the world, the advocate, hope, and refuge of sinners! I, the most wretched among them, now come to thee. I worship thee, great queen, and give thee thanks for the many favors thou hast bestowed on me in the past; most of all do I thank thee for having saved me from hell, which I had so often deserved. I love thee, lady most worthy of all love, and, by the love which I bear thee, I promise ever in the future to serve thee, and to do what in me lies to win others to thy love. In thee I put all my trust, all my hope of salvation. Receive me as thy servant, and cover me with the mantle of thy protection, thou who art the mother of mercy! And since thou hast so much power with God, deliver me from all temptation, or at least obtain for me the grace ever to overcome them. From thee I ask a true love of Jesus Christ, and the grace of a happy death. And my mother! by thy love for God, I beseech thee to be at all times my helper, but, above all, at the last moment of my life. Leave me not until you see me safe in heaven, there for endless ages to bless thee, and sing thy praises. Amen."

The prayer book from which I copy the above says Pope Pius IX. granted 300 days' indulgence to all the faithful every time they say this prayer.

After reading the above one can say, What need have we of a Saviour when we have Mary to go to? She is called "queen of the world," "advocate," "hope," and "refuge of sinners," in fact, only for her the whole world would be lost. It takes all the glory, power, and praise from Jesus Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and man, and who says, "No man can come unto the Father but by me; I am the door, the way, and the life; I am the good Shepherd; my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; come unto me, and I will give you rest." All through God's word we find that Jesus alone has power to save us. "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." "Whosoever will may come to him." "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." "He is able to save to the uttermost," and he is willing to save all who come to him.

But he is a jealous God, who wants no one to come between himself and the souls he died to save. The Virgin Mary, or any other being, has no power, authority, or right to come between us and the Saviour. However good and holy she may have been on earth, and I believe she was blessed among women, she had not divine power; if she had, she would have been a goddess; yet no one calls her that, though they style her the mother of God. True, she was the mother of the humanity of the Saviour, but she was not the mother of his divinity; no created being could be that; and she needed a Saviour just as much as we do. She said herself, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." If she could save us, she certainly could save herself, and she would not have called upon Jesus as her God and Saviour.

In the same book of prayers and indulgences many other prayers are offered to her in worship and adoration, for which indulgences are granted.—Converted Catholic.