Corie, this is so beautiful to hear! I hope that you’ve already felt some wonderful moments of connection with Mother Mary since turning your attention toward having a more personal relationship with her. (Who knows, perhaps your finding this piece was a sign that she’s been “reaching out” to you already!) I’ve always found it curious how the Catholic church puts more emphasis on Mary than other Christian denominations do, and you’re right about it being about the idea of “other gods.” I personally like an idea from some other spiritual traditions, including the mystical branches of Judaism, which essentially says this:

If God is truly limitless, then there is no such thing as the place where God ends and you begin…

which means that you are entirely suffused by and composed of God…

which means that you are divine…

and also means that ALL in existence are divine.

As such — as manifestations of God—it is through us that God experiences the wonder and blessings and love and joy of God’s own creation. (Hence Genesis: God created everything, including this gorgeous Garden, but God still wished there were someone, with a consciousness akin to God’s own, to walk around enjoying it.)

I like this idea because I love the idea of God being so vast and accommodating and limitless that God’s divinity is everywhere.

Which is perhaps a long way of saying that the rejection of Mary for being an “other god” sort of character never fully resonated with me. I guess on some level I always felt that, when I was praying to Mary, I was praying to some particular aspect/manifestation of God too. And since God knows what’s in our hearts, I figured that God would have no problem with those sort of intentions either. ;)

I hope I’ve made some sense here (it’s hard to talk about such abstract things!).

Anyway, thank you SO much for your comment, as it made me so happy that someone else out there was feeling Mary’s love. I wish you many blessings!