Virgin Mary

In the belief of Christians they do believe according to the miracle of Bernadette that people go there when they are sick and they return with perfect health many people have different ideas but I am a Muslim and this is what I've been taught at school I myself don't believe its true but hey everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Legend: "a nonhistorical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical."

Lourdes is both historical and verified. When the Blessed Virgin appeared, in 1858, the news spread far and wide. The apparitions have received ecclesiastical approval, and, literally millions visit the shrine yearly. An independent medical bureau has been established to verify the authentic cures which continue to this day. Most of the cures are not physical, although there are more than enough to convert the most skeptical who look into it with an open mind.

from A Biblical Defense of Catholicism, by Dave Armstrong, Sophia Institute Press, © 2003

The Perpetual virginity of Mary

Pope Paul IV, in his Constitution, Cum Quorumdam Hominum, of 1555, expressed the constant teaching of the Catholic Church concerning both the virgin birth of Jesus Christ and the perpetual virginity of Mary:

We question and admonish all those who . . . have asserted, taught, and believed . . . that our Lord . . . was not conceived from the Holy Spirit according to the flesh in the womb of the Blessed Mary ever Virgin, but, as other men, from the see of Joseph . . . or that the same Blessed Virgin Mary is not truly the mother of God and did not retrain her virginity intact before the birth, in the birth, and perpetually after the birth. (In Neuner and Dupuis, The Christian Faith, 217. See CCC, pars 484-486, 496-498, 502-506, 510, 723 (for the virgin birth); pars 499-501, 507, 510, 721 (for the perpetual virginity of Mary))

The Greek word for brother in the New Testament is adelphos. The well-known Protestant linguistic reference An Expository Dictionary of the New Testament Words defines it as follows:

1. Male children of the same parents . . .

2. Male descendants of the same parents, Acts 7:23, 26; Hebrews 7:5 . . .

4. People of the same nationality, Acts 3:17, 22; Romans 9:3 . . .

5. Any man, a neighbor, Luke 10:29; Matthew 5:22, 7:3;

6. Persons united by a common interest, Matthew 5:47;

7. Persons united by a common calling, Revelation 22:9;

8. Mankind, Matthew 25:40; Hebrews 2:17;

9. The disciples, and so, by implication, all believers, Matthew 28:10; John 20:17;

10. Believers, apart from sex, Matthew 23:8; Acts 1:15; romans 1:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; Revelation 19:10 (the word sisters is used of believers, only in 1 Timothy 5:2) . . . . (Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New testament Words, Vol. 1, 154-155.)

It Is evident, therefore, from the range of possible definitions of adelphos, that Jesus' "brothers" need not necessarily be siblings of Jesus on linguistic grounds, as many commentators, learned and unlearned, seem to assume uncritically. Be examining the use of adelphos and related words in Hebrew, and by comparing Scripture with Scripture ("exegesis"), one can determine that most sensible explanation of all the biblical date taken collectively. Many examples prove that adelphos has a very wide variety of meanings:

In the King James Version, Jacob is called the "brother" of his Uncle Laban (Gen. 29:15; 29:10). The same thing occurs with regard to Lot and Abraham (Gen. 14:14; 11:26-27). The Revised Standard Version uses "kinsman" at 29:15 and 14:14.

Use of brother or brethren for mere kinsmen: Deuteronomy 23:7; 2 Samuel 1:26; 1 Kings 9:14, 20:32; 2 Kings 10:13-14; Jeremiah 24:9; Amos 1:9).

In Luke 2:41-51, ... it is fairly obvious that Jesus is the only child....

Jesus himself uses brethren in the larger sense: Matthew 23:8, 23:1; 12:49-50.

The term Firstborn means pre-eminent and nowhere assumes later siblings, etc.

Luke 1:32, 33 - He will be great,

and will be called the Son of the Highest;

and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.

And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever,

and of His kingdom there will be no end. [NKJV]

The memorare is a prayer that can be said after the catholic rosary or on its own.

It is believed that as Mary suffered like no one else in this world during her son's tragedies that there is no one better to pray for you during your desperate moments (like your own mother or friend would) than the most holy mother herself.

It is not a prayer to hold Mary higher than God or to subvert the Christian belief that grace is received through Christ himself, it is simply a prayer asking for her to pray for you.

It is often said with the Our Father which is considered the most powerful prayer a Christian can recite as it was specifically given by Jesus himself.(Sermon on the Mount)

REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

I hope this helps you