Dear Jane:

Yes, it is possible to go overboard with devotion to Mary when such devotion moves toward worship that belongs only to God. This is idolatry and a grave sin.

We have to be careful in judging others about this, however, since what may look like inappropriate worship of Mary, may only be a deep devotion.

Since Our Lady is a mediatrix of all graces, it would be natural to speak of her often. The key is whether a person is ignoring or excluding the true source of all graces -- Jesus Christ. Mary helps to mediate the graces, but she is not the origin of those graces.

It would be absolutely improper if our prayers are never to the Father. The prayers in the Mass are mostly to Father God. We ask for Mary's intercessions, but not to the exclusion of prayer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

As for Marian Apparition groupies, I always ask if the person reads "messages" more than they read the Bible. If they spend more time reading apparition messages, then they are totally out-of-line. St. Jerome said, "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ."

Also, in terms of apparitions we must take with a grain of salt any apparition that has not been approved by the Church. Medjugorje has not been approved and thus we ought not to reply upon any information gather of thier alleged messages. In fact, in my opinion, Medjugorje is not genuine; there are too many problems that are not consistent with the nature and character of those apparitions that have been approved. Garabandal has not been approved either, but bishops have been favorable so far. But, again, we need to be cautious until and if the Church does approve Garabandal.

Bottomline: From your description it does sound like your relative is out-of-balance. This is always dangerous because once out of balance there is tendency to become more unbalanced until eventually one can find themselves in trouble.

Pray for her.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary