Nuns: Because of Jesus

Catholics are wrongly accused of Mary worship.  To be honest, as an outsider looking in, it does seem like they put more stock in Mary than Jesus.

I have this need.

Protestant:  I'll pray to Jesus for you.

Catholic: I'll say 3 Hail Marys for you.

This is very hard to understand for an outsider.  It boggles the mind.

As I explore the various sisters religious, many many of them have a strong devotion to Our Lady.  It can seem like nuns are women who worship Mary.  But ask any one of them why they became a nun and they will tell you, "because of Jesus."

I have heard evangelicals say that Catholics barely even acknowledge Jesus when everything about Catholicism points to Jesus.  Catholicism is so deeply Jesus, richly Jesus.  Sure, all the pomp and the thick Catechism can seem like distractions.  Protestantism tends to strip all that away.  The problem is they've stripped so much away that I find it hard to even find Jesus in evangelicalism.  Instead, I find the varied opinions of man.  In Catholicism, I find Jesus.  If I look to Mary, she is pointing to Jesus.  If I look at the cross, Jesus is there.  If I listen to the priest, I hear the Word, which is Jesus.  If I cross myself, it is the Trinity.  If I kneel, it is before Jesus.  When the bell rings during the Eucharist, Jesus is there in body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist.  If I see icons of saints and apostles, they are serving Jesus. If I pray to them, they are running to Jesus.  The clothes I choose to wear, the veil on my head, is because I am coming before Jesus.

Catholicism is so RICHLY Jesus, so centered on Jesus.

How can an evangelical church that has removed even the cross from the sanctuary and replaced it with pictures of themselves, or cute earthly sayings or decorations, accuse the Catholic Church of not being for Jesus?  How can they say that a church filled with images of the saints who served the Lord with their very lives is wrong, yet a concert-like stage backlit with blue and purple lights while people applaud how well that pastor or worship leader gets them worked up isn't wrong.