Is devotion to Mary and the saints really Christian? Significance of Luther Martin for Roman Catholics

On 31st October 1617 the Augustinian monk Martin Luther “wrote to his bishop, protesting the sale of indulgences. He enclosed in his letter a copy of his ‘Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences,’ which came to be known as the Ninety-five Theses.” This year the Lutheran Churches are celebrating the 500 hundred years of the Reformation.

During these last 500 hundred years the Roman Catholic Church has become wiser and has realized that much of what Luther said was right. This is a great blessing of the Lord. Hence in 2013, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity together with the representatives of the Lutheran Churches issued a joint declaration: “From Conflict to Communion: Lutheran-Catholic Common Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017.” The document states:

In 2017, Catholic and Lutheran Christians will most fittingly look back on events that occurred 500 years earlier by putting the gospel of Jesus Christ at the centre. The gospel should be celebrated and communicated to the people of our time so that the world may believe that God gives God self to human beings and calls us into communion with God self and God’s church. Herein lies the basis for our joy in our common faith.

To this joy also belongs a discerning, self-critical look at ourselves, not only in our history, but also today. We Christians have certainly not always been faithful to the gospel; all too often we have conformed ourselves to the thought and behavioural patterns of the surrounding world. Repeatedly, we have stood in the way of the good news of the mercy of God.

This year in India some Roman Catholic theological journals have brought out articles based on critical research to deepen our understanding of Luther and of his significance to us Roman Catholics.

The Roman Catholic devotion to Mary and to the saints was one of the many things that Luther found unacceptable, and for good reasons.

1. Only God can take us to God. Hence the Father sends his Son to be our ONE mediator (1 Tim 2:5).

2. The Father knows all our needs much better than Mary, all the saints, all the earthly fathers and earthly mothers put together (Mt 6:8-32). He does not need to be informed by anybody.

3. The Father loves us much more than Mary, all the saints, all the earthly fathers and earthly mothers put together (Mt 7:9-11; Lk 11:11-13). Mary and the saints do not need to present Him a recommendation on our behalf.

4. The Father loves us so much that even Jesus does not need to pray for us (Jn 16:26-27).

Yes, the Father loves us and He knows all our needs. It would be an insult to Him to approach Him through Mary or anybody else.

The question is not whether we are Catholics or Protestants, Roman or Lutheran.

The real question is whether we are guided by critical Biblical scholarship and sound theological principles.

When for many years we have lived with a belief, we feel deeply threatened when somebody comes up with a contrary idea. When Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) claimed that the earth went round the sun, Vatican offcials were deeply upset. Some even thought that the telescope was an instrument of the devil. Had Galileo not been prudent (diplomatic) he would have been burnt to death.

Galileo was right and the cardinals were wrong.

Subhash Anand
St Paul’s School, Bhupalpura, Udaipur – 313 001

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