How to respond to old devotions that refer to Mary “worship”?

question-markA reader writes:

How does a Catholic answer this devotion that uses the word worship?

I would say it is a private devotion that is not binding on Catholics.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ThyshainaMariaMartina17/posts/CKLH4UykXPD?pid=6207924185574319314&oid=116480916868136707341

The word “worship” originally referred to showing honor to someone in a general way.

Thus some British officials are still referred to as “Your worship” (note that Han Solo calls Princess Leia this to annoy her).

Over time, the word “worship” has come in popular speech to be associated with the specific form of honor due to God, however, this was not originally the connotation that the word had.

As a result, particularly in older works, you find it used in a broader sense. In these cases, it does not connote the worship due to God but the honor due to men.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

6 thoughts on “How to respond to old devotions that refer to Mary “worship”?”

  1. I have a friend who is a native Spanish speaker. He said in Spanish there we 10 different words to describe one thing, and in English one word could mean 10 different things.

  2. It seems simple logic, that if there is only one God, and Mary is the mother of God, that Mary came before God.

    1. It seems simple logic: If Jesus is God, and Mary is His Mother, then Mary is the Mother of God, not the ORIGINATOR of God.

  4. William Kirby: In Jeremiah’s day the phrase “queen of heaven” meant something different. It was a reference to a pagan goddess. Today, in a Christian context, the term’s meaning is different.

Comments are closed.