By Annie-Rose Keith
Connecting Creed and Life
Editor’s note: For 2025, the weekly Connecting Faith and Life column will be renamed Connecting Creed and Life. To celebrate the 2025 Jubilee Year and the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the columns will consist of reflections on the Nicene Creed, corresponding with related paragraphs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).
“I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church” (cf. CCC 963-970, 971-975)
Before my hiatus on social media commenced, I was introduced to a young man who had converted to Christianity from atheism. What attracted me most to this person’s content was his genuine joy about finding his path towards Heaven. Like most of us, the Lord found him during a walk in nature, but this young man’s entire platform is based around “finding a church” or “finding a community.” He has several short-form videos discussing his visits to various Christian churches, but his heart (and that of his girlfriend’s) seems to be led back to our Catholic church.
As Catholics, we are not surprised by this. In fact, I found this rather refreshing to see this young man’s approach to our church with such genuine curiosity. The comment section is another story. There are a lot of hateful comments from confused souls … mostly about our Mother Mary and the Rosary. Certainly, there are your regular hate comments about the magisterium and liturgical misunderstandings, but a majority of the comments are directed towards “Mary worship” and “that rosary thing.”
Baffling, right? What did she do to deserve to be trolled like this?
As Catholics, we know that she absolutely did nothing to deserve hateful comments, but we also know that she is the Mother of God, so she is therefore a target for hateful comments from those who do not understand why she is so important to both our individual spiritual growth and the Church’s spiritual growth as a whole. She’s a constant figure in our lives, but if we take a step back and put ourselves in the shoes of perhaps our protestant brothers and sisters — what part does she play in our Church as a whole? How does she fit into the mystery of the Church?
She was present at all her son’s major events, but after his Ascension, she “aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers” (CCC 965). These prayers carried a particular strength because she is free of original sin. Her complete adherence to the father’s will, her son’s redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit throughout her life on earth meant/means that she is the “preeminent and … wholly unique member of the Church” (CCC 967). Therefore, the fruits from such a life on earth and the example she sets for us all means that she is a mother to us “in the order of grace” (CCC 968). Her motherhood of Jesus and therefore her children on earth began when she gave her full consent at the Annunciation and continued, without wavering, beneath the cross and she continues to serve as our advocate, helper, benefactress and, my personal favorite title, mediatrix (CCC 969).
St. Maximilian Kolbe encourages us in his words, “never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.” And if we look at this through the lens of mother and child (or spiritual mother and child), it makes sense. We can never love our Blessed Mother more than Jesus did, so we’re free to us.
Her role does not overshadow that of Christ’s, but rather highlights his power … yet “all generations will call (her) blessed.” Her role in Christian worship is crucial because she led the way. She’s the model for us so of course she can guide and intercede for us in an ever changing world.