Pope Francis, who is “well known for his affinity for expressions of popular piety and his Marian devotion, is amping up efforts to honor the Virgin Mary this month through a series of weekly prayers at St. Peter’s Basilica,” according to Crux.com.
In addition to the Vatican events, Crux.com reports he has “also encouraged believers to make individual acts of prayer, specifically praying for peace in Ukraine.”
This is troubling.
If you live in a region where false Mary worship is rising, you’ll notice that Jezebel’s witchcrafts rise again in May. That’s because of the traditional May Crowning ritual that takes place to honor the Virgin Mary as “the Queen of May.”
Essentially, this means there is a hyperfocus on devotions to Mary. There are two problems with this. First, Mary doesn’t want or expect our devotion — she wants and expects us to worship the Son of God, Jesus. Second, by treating Mary as an idol, we’re empowering the spirit of Jezebel.
Although the Bible describes the mother of Jesus as “highly favored” (see Luke 1:28), that doesn’t mean she is supposed to be worshipped. In fact, the Greek word for favored in this verse is charitoo. Charitoo means “grace.”
God honored Mary with blessings and grace, and we should respect her as the mother of Jesus but not exalt her by crowning her in rituals. We’re supposed to throw our crowns at Jesus’ feet (see Revelation 4:10), not place them on Mary’s head.
Listen to the rest in my podcast Praying the News. {eoa}
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