May we worship Mary?

 

A. Only God can be worshipped. But we can revere Mary as the Mother of our Lord. [971]

By worship we mean the humble, unconditional acknowledgment of the absolute superiority of God over all creatures. Mary is a creature like us. In faith she is our Mother. And we should honor our parents. There is a biblical basis for this, since Mary herself says, “For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48b). So the Church has Marian shrines and places of pilgrimage, feast days, hymns, and prayers, for instance, the Rosary. It is a compendium of the Gospel.