Micah 6: 8

Please also pray for our family as we prepare to navigate the time of grief ahead, especially for my father who is an only child and has been solely responsible for managing every aspect of her care over the past few years, and has witnessed her decline during that time firsthand. My grandfather passed back in 2006, and as such has not been present to help with her care.

The level of profound emotion brought to her, and how people spoke of and to her, just made her appear so beautiful; to me, she was made to look akin to God.

"Akin to God", because that vision was the closest I've ever come to see and treat God Himself as. That's why, to see that being associated with Mary, simply felt like creating equivalence between her and God.

Now that I'm getting back into the Church, I've come to realise that it's not how I or others see/treat her that's the problem here, but rather how we see and treat God. I failed to understand that I don't need to minimise Mary's profound role in our lives, history and spirituality to not falsely equate her to the Creator Himself. Rather, I ought to acknowledge the even more profound infinity and power of God.

The Theotokos isn't our false idol. She's the arrow that points to Heaven, to her Son, our Saviour. If she's so awe-inspiring to so many Christians, imagine how immensely wonderful, sweet, inspiring and loving her Creator, our God, is.