5 Reasons to Have a Marian Devotion Part 1

Author's Note: I originally began writing this on the 31st of May, following the close of my last examination, however several things popped round and I was unable to finish it. Hence, I will finish this post in parts.

Today is the last day of the Month of May. The Month of May is also called the Month of Mary, because it is spring, and from spring comes new life, and the spring of all life is the God, Jesus Christ, who sprung forth from her womb. Also, today, if it wasn't the Thursday in the Octave of Pentecost, would be the Feast of the Queenship of Blessed Virgin Mary. Thus, it wouldn't be appropriate if I didn't write about my beloved Mother and Queen of Heaven at least once this month. Yes, it's still May by five hours over here.

To all my protestant buddies who are reading this, yes you, I think you should foster a devotion for Our Lady too. Now, before you take our the pitchforks and torches and accuse me of the idolatry, I should probably explain to you what a devotion is. A devotion is where one particularly reflects and meditates upon an aspects of the faith, for example, say you can have a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus or to the Child Jesus. When the devotion is to a person, like a Saint, or your guardian angel, then you would add praying and talking to particular Saint or angel as well. Now, read this about what it means in Catholicism to pray to someone or something. Got that? This is dulia prayer, not latria prayer. Through these devotions, with the help of these spiritual guids, we cannot help but be led closer to God. So, who best of all to have a devotion to, then to Our Blessed Mother, Mary?

Also, I think you'd be interested to know that Martin Luther, John Calvin and Thomas Cranmer all loved our Lady very much. To deny her any honour at all is essentially to deny Christianity.

And for all my dear Catholics brethren who haven't thought of picking up a Marian devotion, or haven't started, here are five reasons to start.

1. She is the Mother of God.
I suppose, that is obvious enough. Though, some might say, what's the big deal, God could have chosen anyone to be His mother. Well, you see, the thing is, He could have, but He didn't. To dwell on that idea is rather redundant speculation, since history has unfolded in such a manner, the Blessed Virgin Mary was chosen to be the Mother of God by God, to which she humbly accepted. If God had theoretically chosen someone else,  say, the Blessed Virgin Beatrice, well then, we still be having this same conversation now, except with Beatrice instead of Mary. It's like vehement atheists or secularist who argue that it is possible to create a moral society without religion, except due to history, all morality in all societies stems from some form of religion, and thus everyone in society is influenced by the morality of religion in some way or another. It's rather redundant speculation, because, no matter what, one cannot undo the knots of the past. What God has willed, He has willed.

In light of that fact, consider that Mother Mary is about the most special and unique person in the whole of creation. Throughout all ages, she is the only human who has and will ever house God in her womb.  Moreover, Christ chose to take her flesh for His humanity. She was essentially, the first tabernacle, literally, bringing Christ into the world. And, I have written about how foetal cells cross the placenta and stay in the Mother's body for the rest of their lives before, so if you think about it, she remained his tabernacle for the rest of her life, always nearby, even at the foot of His cross. For this alone, we must give her the greatest respect. YOU have Jesus Christ and all of your life as it is today because she said yes.

'My soul doth magnify the Lord.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid;
for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Because he that is mighty,
hath done great things to me;
and holy is his name.' - Lk 1:46

These words in the gospel today ring true, and there are at least 1.3 billion people who called her 'Blessed', and for the last two thousand years, you can imagine the number who have done so.

Think about that.

To elaborate a little on Embryology.

I am taking a short break from my harrowing studies. So as requested, I will elaborate on my pseudotheology on the my earlier post on embryology. 

So, a brief recap of the fertilisation process.

After ejaculation, ~5,000,000 sperm swim up the uterus into the fallopian tubes. Only about 200 sperm actually make it, and they take about 3-4hrs to actually be able to fertilise. They surround the egg, which is covered by layers of glycoproteins and other stuff, and uses enzymes to burrow to reach the egg's actual membrane, where it fuses with it, joining the two together, and emptying the sperm's genetic cargo into the egg's cytoplasm. The sperm also releases enzymes which begin a cortical reaction in the egg, that prevents other sperm from entering. Therefore it is just one sperm and one egg alone. The chromosomes combine, and the process of division begins.

At this point, the cell is now called a Zygote, from the greek ζυγωτός (zygotos), meaning yoked. Now, here's where the pseudotheology comes in. To yoke something, for the vocabulary challenged, that is me, means to join together, or to bind. A yoke is actually a wooden beam that you put on oxen so you could pair two of them together.

So you have that passage in the bible, (Mk 10:9), 'What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.' The original greek word used for 'joined' is 'συνέζευξεν (synezeuxen)', which is a very strong word for yoke or couple. Hence, I think it is rather fitting that consequence of the consummation of Holy Matrimony, is a biological process rather similar to sacrament. Here the man and woman are forever 'yoked' together in this new life, and there is nothing in the world that can ever separate the two parts. And like in Holy Matrimony, where God is is the third person of the marriage, so is he the third person involved in conception (or rather he has allowed the husband and wife this special privilege to co-create with him), for at the point of conception, he ensouls this new life. A cosmic act of creation that changes the universe! If you think about it, in the entire galaxy, at this very second, there is a set and finite number of everything, atoms, people, etc, but when conception occurs, that number is changed, and new soul is created (I got this last bit off Fr Barron, I think). I suppose it is all fitting, after all, marriage is the beginning of a new life.


That's it for the pseudotheology, now for some other interesting allegories. Within 24 hours, the single cell zygote, all the while hard at work, divides into a two cell conceptus. The word is latin for 'conception', obviously, from which the english word is derived. It is interesting too that this is the particular nomenclature for the two cell zygote as agreed by Embryologists. I suppose, one cannot be a professor of the study of how life begins and develops and not agree that life begins at conception. This rather difficult to ignore fact is plastered all over embryology textbooks. (Though of course, if you're pro-choice, life begins at 14 days, or in the third trimester...or well, maybe at the age of seven, according to some bioethicists who promote infantcide...sorry 'post-birth abortion').


By day 6 or 7, the embryo, has divided many more times, turned into a blastocyst, travelled a long journey to the uterus and began the process of implantation. It literally burrows its way into the its mother's uterus, by using enzymes that digest the outermost layer of the uterus, allowing it to burrow into the endometrial tissue. And, like any good mum who embraces her child when he comes running to her, the endometrium will actually grows over the embryo!

The entire process is completed by the 14th day, and by the 16th day the placenta begins to form. It is a special tissue that is a combination of both fœtal cells and the mother's cells. It provides the embryo with oxygen, nutrients, and removes waste from the embryo. It actually a very interesting link, as the mother's immune cells do not attack the growing child within her, though they have direct access, and also, that the embryonic cells can actually travel across the placenta into the mother's blood stream! At this stage, they are still stem cells and the mother will carry them for life. That's right, for every child that is conceived in her womb, that child does not only take her flesh and blood, but literally becomes apart of her's! Mothers are awesome!


I got the last bit of this article, which you should all read. In it, the author goes on to contemplate how the Blessed Virgin Mary literally carried her the body of Christ within her all her life, and how she was always in communion with God. It is amazing thought! Can you imagine, God took her flesh, and then dwelt in her from then on. How the protestants can ever say that she isn't special is beyond me. No one has been blessed like she has, or done what she has, or received what she received, and no one ever will. Also, My CTS Missal has reflections for the rosary with regards to the Eucharist, and for the second joyful mystery, on the visitation, it reflects about how Our Lady acted as the viaticum, the little metal box made to hold the Sacratissimum which was to be brought to the sick, carrying our Lord to her cousin, heavily pregnant (and of course, later she presents her precious child to the whole world, to us, during the presentation). Our Lady always brings her son to us, and the only way we can get to know Him proper, is to get to know her.

Most Holy Theotokos, save us!