Prelate urges flock to preserve Filipino devotion to Mary

OZAMIZ CITY, June 16, 2008 (CBCP News) —Ozamiz Archbishop Jesus A. Disado, CM called on his flock to “preserve, purify and strengthen the Filipino heritage of devotion to Mary to enhance what is trule Christian and eliminate what is legendary or false.”

In his Catechism entitled “The Beloved Virgin: Mary in Philippine Life Today” released June 15, the prelate encouraged his flock “to compare our own practices and attitudes with the sources of Revelation and the documents of the Magesterium.”

He said “(we need to preserve) our devotion to Mary in the context of our Filipino society and in confrontation with the needs of the Filipino people today, so that it may be truly our own and may mirror our way of approaching Mary and Christ.”

“In this way too can avoid the deviations against which the Second Vatican Council and Pope Paul VI warned us: ‘exaggeration that can falsify our devotion to Mary, or a sentimentality that can substitute merely external practices for a serious commitment to the Gospel in action and in life,’” Dosado further said.

Quoting from Apostolic Exhortation “Marialis Cultus” issued on February 1974, the prelate stressed Pope Paul VI calls our attention to the fact that ‘Today it is recognized as a general need of Christian piety that every form of worship should have a biblical imprint.’”

He added a first level of biblical imprint on Marian devotion is attained when scriptural texts that mention Mary or allude to her are used in liturgical worship as well as in popular devotion.

Dosado mentioned that it is useful for the Christian faithful to review the scriptural text regarding the devotion of Mary.

He said the Mother of Jesus is mentioned in Mark 3:31-35 and its parallels in Matthew 12: 46-50 and Luke 8:19-21. There Jesus speaks about the person who does what God wants as His true kinsman.

A reference to her is also made in Galatians 4:4 when St. Paul emphasizes the full humanity of Jesus, son of a human mother. In the Calvary scene John appears to offer—if not to complete—his reflection on Mary as a “woman” who will be the associate of Jesus in renewing mankind.

“Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son,’ Mary’s physical motherhood is perfected with the addition of spiritual motherhood,” the archbishop concluded. (Wendell Talibong)