Mary and the saints

Choose an option and you are told at once whether it was right. The answer and the reason wait behind “Show the answer”.

A watercolor of Mary carrying the child in one arm with her other hand open to the side, followed by three people each holding a lit oil lamp

Why does the Church give Mary the title “Mother of God”?
1. Because Mary gave birth to God's divine nature, so that God came into existence only then
2. Because Mary takes a fourth place within the Trinity
3. Because the one Mary bore is a single person who is true man and true God at once
4. Because Mary gave birth only to the human nature of Jesus, so the one right title for her is “the Mother of Christ”
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Answer ③ Because the one Mary bore is a single person who is true man and true God at once
A mother gives birth to a person, not to a nature. The one Mary bore is the Son of God made flesh, one person, and so she is the Mother of God. Lean toward the fourth answer and you have the explanation of Nestorius that the Council of Ephesus rejected; the first makes Mary the source of the divine nature, which is a plain mistake.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 466, 495
What does the dogma of the Immaculate Conception mean?
1. That Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, with no man involved
2. That from the first instant of her own conception Mary was kept free of original sin, the merits of Christ being applied to her beforehand
3. That Mary had no need of salvation
4. That Mary was taken up to heaven without going through death
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Answer ② That from the first instant of her own conception Mary was kept free of original sin, the merits of Christ being applied to her beforehand
The Immaculate Conception points to Mary's own conception, not to the conception of Jesus. Reading it as the first answer is the commonest confusion, and the fourth mixes it up with the dogma of the Assumption. The third is wrong as well — Mary too was saved by the redemption her Son won; she simply received that salvation beforehand, and in the fullest way.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 490-493
The “brothers of Jesus” in the Gospels are other children Mary gave birth to.
1. Yes
2. No
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Answer ② No
The Church confesses the perpetual virginity of Mary. “Brother” in Scripture is a wide word that stretches to cousins and other close relatives, and two of the men named that way, James and Joseph, are introduced in the Gospels themselves as the sons of a different Mary.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 499-501
Which of these best states what the dogma of the Assumption tells us?
1. The dogma has settled that Mary never went through death at all
2. Mary rose to heaven by her own power, exactly as Jesus did
3. In heaven Mary received the divine nature and became God
4. Mary was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, and this shows us in advance the resurrection the whole Church hopes for
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Answer ④ Mary was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, and this shows us in advance the resurrection the whole Church hopes for
The Assumption is a gift given to Mary alone and, at the same time, an advance showing of the resurrection promised to all of us. The first answer speaks as though the dogma had settled a point it deliberately left open; the second mixes up the Son, who ascended by his own power, with the mother, who was taken up by God; the third inflates veneration into adoration.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 966, 974
The veneration offered to Mary and the saints is different in its very nature from the adoration offered to God alone.
1. Yes
2. No
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Answer ① Yes
Adoration is given to the Creator alone, while veneration honors what God's grace has brought about inside a human being. The difference is one of kind, not of degree, so however great the veneration offered to Mary, it never turns into adoration.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 971, 2132
What are we doing when we ask the saints to pray?
1. Asking them to plead with God on our behalf
2. Looking for another channel, because the mediation of Christ on its own falls short
3. Asking them to hand grace out themselves, without it passing through God
4. Looking for a short cut that is answered faster than asking God directly
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Answer ① Asking them to plead with God on our behalf
Asking the saints is asking for their intercession — the same thing in kind as asking the person beside you to pray for you. The other three turn a saint into a source of grace or into a short cut, and they blur the one mediation of Christ.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 956, 2683
Who does “the communion of saints” include?
1. Only those the Church has canonized
2. Everyone — those on pilgrimage on earth, those being purified, and those already in the glory of heaven
3. Only those baptized in the Church on earth
4. Only the saints in heaven and the souls being purified; the Church on earth has no part in it
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Answer ② Everyone — those on pilgrimage on earth, those being purified, and those already in the glory of heaven
The communion means that the whole Church, in all three of its states, is joined as one body in Christ, giving help and receiving it. The first answer is the common misunderstanding that narrows “saint” down to those officially canonized; the fourth cuts the Church on earth away and leaves the exchange running one way only.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 954-955, 962
When the Church calls Mary “Mediatrix”, it means that something is added to the one mediation of Christ, or put in its place.
1. Yes
2. No
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Answer ② No
Mary's motherly office flows out of the one mediation of Christ and rests entirely upon it. So a prayer that asks Mary takes nothing away from what belongs to Christ; it is a road that brings you to him.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 970