Furthermore…

A radio preacher I catch from time to time this morning went into a lengthy talk about how most of the things we believe about Mary are “un-biblical” (the spell checker just tagged the word as a problem; maybe it’s a word that the preacher made up, or one that hasn’t worked its way into general usage. I think I’ve heard it somewhere before). No one in his congregation seemed to protest, but I imagine that some of them had reservations, because I understand that fallen-away Catholics make up a fair percentage of the high profile preachers’ followings, and ex-Catholics might still retain a soft spot for the Blessed Mother. Well, his talk mainly was based on the observation that the things we believe about Mary are not explicit in the Bible. If that’s his measure of truth, God bless him.
But another chord he played was that Mary was not perfectly sinless, because she exhibited (in the Bible) human failings and weaknesses, such as uncertainty and fear. A sour note, because Jesus exhibited some human weaknesses too, as in the Garden of Gethsemene. He might want to squelch this chord, because it vitiates his contention that to admire Mary detracts from what is due Jesus. He must think of Jesus as a jealous protector of His right to all admiration, to the point that Jesus would oppose any reverence for His mother. I don’t think so!