American Unitarian Conference Forum

Hmm, interesting...

"The Three Great Hail Mary's"
"While St. Mechtilde was beseeching the glorious Virgin to assist her in her hour of death, Our Lady appeared to her and said:  'I will certainly.  But I also want you to say three special Hail Mary's to me every day.
    
"'The first will be in honor of God the Father, Whose omnipotence raised my soul so high above every other creature that after God I have the greatest power in heaven and on earth.  In the hour of your death I will use that power of God the Father to keep any hostile power far from you.

>> So Mary is higher than Christ?  After all, God the Father raised her to such a station... and requires devotion? 

  "''The second Hail Mary will be said in honor of the Son of God Who communicated His inscrutable wisdom to me.  In the hour of your death I will fill your soul with the light of that wisdom so that all the darkness of ignorance and error will be dispelled.

>> Christ just communicates wisdom....but she is higher?

"'The third Hail Mary will be in honor of God the Holy Spirit Who filled my soul with the sweetness of His love and tenderness and mercy.  In your last hour I will then change the bitterness of death into divine sweetness and delight.' "

>> She utilizes the Holy Spirit....but she is higher?

Pray these Great Hail Mary's Daily!!!

No wonder the Protestants get upset!  Then again...if the vision is true..they will be joining the Unitarians in Hell...though maybe a different circle !  

Funny how the word "worship" is so malleable, no?

You know we Unitarians get our own air-conditioned sweet in the cosmic bunsen burner...we heretics don't screw around!

"Funny how the word "worship" is so malleable, no?"

How so?

From Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary

"WORSHIP

Acknowledgment of another's worth, dignity, or superior position. In religion, worship is given either to God, and then it is adoration, or to the angels and saints, and it is called veneration...."

Seems like another case of word play...a distinction without a difference.

I think the Eastern Orthodox have no problem with Wisdom / Sophia as Mary.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_(wisdom) - if you can trust Wiki...not.

"Eastern Orthodoxy

In the mystical theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church wisdom is understood as the Divine Logos who became incarnate as Jesus Christ.[1]

In the Holy Family, Sophia is often seen as being represented by the Theotokos (Virgin Mary). Sophia is expressed as the Holy Wisdom of God and the saints, obtained through humility, and Mary the Theotokos is the first and greatest of all saints. In Eastern Orthodoxy humility is the highest wisdom and is to be sought more than any other virtue. It is humility that cultivates not only the Holy Wisdom, but humility (in contrast to knowledge) is the defining quality that grants people salvation and entrance into Heaven."

I agree that Mary does, subconsciously, represent the feminine Divine for many Catholics.

Re: worship, Catholics & Orthodox make a difference between dulia and latria. Dulia is what we would call veneration in English, a special honor reserved for saints (and hyperdulia a special honor for Mary) while latria represents the sacrificial (via the offering of the Eucharist) worship of God. We often forget that for what I call "liturgical, apostolic" Christians, the celebration of Communion is not a symbolic one, but a literal offering of Jesus to the Father. Rather odd in my opinion, but there you go.

"God the Father, Whose omnipotence raised my soul so high above every other creature...after God I have the greatest power in heaven and on earth"

This is a stunning statement.....Mary is second to the Father....no mention of the Son or H.S......

Or..is God the Father to refer to all...but that is poor use of the term in a trinitarian theology.

Well it does say "after God" which in trinitarian thought means the Trinity; so in the same sentence she is referring both to a particular person of the Trinity, and to the entire Trinitarian Godhead. She also says that she is high above every creature-that is to say-every created thing. And any good creedalist knows, that Christ was begotton, not made, and is one in being with the Father...and that the Holy Spirit is the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son (if you are Catholic, just the father if you are Orthodox).

This, is why I've always been in one form or another, a strict monotheist. So silly!

Well said Logan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fuXqPYyGH8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zs0X7aRWPs

Thanks for the article Logan....interesting perspective.

Similar to the concept of Adam Kadmon

http://www.newkabbalah.com/adam.html

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.j...1&letter=A