Hello and welcome back! Here's hoping that you had a JOYFUL Easter and that you are still celebrating in earnest!  After all, we are an EASTER PEOPLE. I thought we would kick off this Easter Season with a podcast I have been meaning to record and send out into the world for a while now: WHY MARY. Here's why I wanted to do a podcast on Mary. The first few months of this year I have been talking about Mary A LOT. Through God's goodness I had a pretty special moment with Mary following a terrible tragedy, and that special moment has spurred me on to create a Rosary book and really try to increase Marian devotion to the Rosary. And it has been amazing to see Mary work!  So many people have written to me about becoming dedicated to their Rosary again, and I am amazed about how God can use even His lowliest servants. But, through it all, I have also gotten a few emails and comments similar to this one: "I'm a Catholic, and I love Mary, but should be really be praying to her instead of Jesus" And I completely get it--and used to feel the same uneasiness. Sometimes it feels like a deep spiritual relationship with Mary is in conflict with a relationship with Jesus (spoiler alert, it isn't). For many of us we think, yes, I was raised Catholic and it feels almost natural to go to Mary with my needs...but WHY MARY? Why bother with Mary when we can just go directly to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This is an excellent question that I offer some thoughts on this in this episode. There is so so much to say on Marian devotion and prayer, and I don't even attempt to cover it all. Instead I touch on only two real points: Mary as the New Eve. Mary as the greatest disciple. I hope that listening helps you understand a little bit more about why God has seen it good and fitting that we take our needs to Mary and why He allows so much grace and goodness to flow through her. I DID NOT record this episode to address Protestant issues with Mary. Instead this episode is meant only to help practicing Catholics refine their Marian beliefs and understand better why we do what we do concerning our wonderful Blessed Mother. In this episode I also reference a few books including 33 Days to Morning Glory by Fr. Gatley which I can't recommend highly enough. I hope this is helpful! Your sister in Christ,