Hyperdulia

Hyper-what?

Since it is May and May is the month of Mary our heavenly Queen I thought I would take a cue from this Sunday's homily and talk about the way we love our Mother Mary.

Father John, our associate pastor, explained the different levels of honor and respect that we give to the Holy Trinity, to Mamma Mary, and to all the other Saints and angels.

Latria is the term used when we talk about how we love the Trinity.  It means adoration.  To God alone belongs this type of love and devotion.  We should love no one and nothing more than God and so to Him alone belongs our latria. Within the definition is the clarification that: Latria carries an emphasis on the internal form of worship, rather than external ceremonies. (Wikipedia) 

The reverence we give to the Saints and angels is a lower form of devotion called dulia. We do not worship them, we do not adore them but we can and do have a devotion to them.

Since Mary is the mother of God, she rightly deserves a higher form of reverence than the other Saints and the angels.  We call the reverence we give to Mary hyperdulia. Again, this is not worship or adoration. This is devotion and reverence taken up a notch.  

Why do we honor Mary at such a level?  Because of her role in salvation history.  Her fiat, "may it be done unto me according to thy word." (Luke 1:38)

Mary, our Mother, plays three roles within the realm of the Trinity:  she is the daughter of the Father, she is the mother of the Son and she is the spouse of the Holy Spirit.  If God himself thinks highly of her to give her these three roles within the Trinity, than she absolutely deserves our devotion.  

Some with a strong devotion to Mamma Mary may be afraid that they love her too deeply.  St. Maximilian Kolbe reassures us by telling us, "Never worry about loving Mary too much. You can never love her more than Jesus does!"  

So to reiterate:  we Catholics do not worship Mary.  We are devoted to her, we go to her and ask for her intercession, and we love her in a hyperdulia kind of way.  

(Thanks to Fr. John for this lovely explanation!) 



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