A Deeper Understanding: Praying To Mary And the Saints

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Hello, I’m a new Catholic at a protestant university , and I have had some struggles with Marry and the saints.

My journey to Catholicism is somewhat awkward, to some. A year ago, I was confused and didn’t have a vocation or any guidance in my life. Just a couple of months ago, I met God and accepted Jesus as my lord and savior, weird right? just amazing how God works, but that was just the beginning as one would imagine. I felt dry in my faith being a protestant, and I felt there was something deeper, more whole to the faith, thats where I found Catholicism. To no longer bore any of you i’m going to stop here and get to my main point.

Recently, I have been struggling with the concept of praying to Mary and the Saints. I understand their roles as mediators, but I can’t grasp praying to Mary. I try so hard to do it but it feels strange and it has caused a lot of pain because I try so hard to under stand our blessed mother and the saints. I’m also confused on when to pray to Mary and God. For example, I have prayer to our mother taped to my bed frame and a prayer to Jesus on my bed frame. Once I pray the Marian prayer, I Pray the Jesus prayer and to me its seems weird because I just can’t configure why I’m praying to Mary. when, I can pray to God or vise versa. I understand that Mary is like asking some one to pray for me, but when I pray to Mary it doesn’t seem that way, in my brain of course. I wish, I could understand the communion of saints and Mary, but it seems that my brain cannot grasp these ideas. O please holy souls of heavan hear my prayers!
 
In my opinion the first thing to understand is worship is what we do at Mass. At least that is the highest form of worship we know as laid out by God Himself, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Google the Eucharistic prayers said at every Mass. That is worship, reserved for God alone.

Secondly understand Jesus built a Church. He didn’t write a book, a letter, or make a slideshow, He established a Church of living stones. We are those stones. As are the Saints. Again, imo, the more you understand Our Blessed Mother the more you’ll understand the Church He established.

Lastly, know that God appreciates it when you acknowledge the great things He has done, from creation to Revelation. Splitting the Red Sea to knocking Paul to the ground. Praying to the Saints, especially Our Lady, we bless God.
 
Read into the “Communion of Saints.” Mary, being the chosen and created mother who brought Christ to flesh is chief among those Saints. Revelation 12: She is the mother of all who hold to the Gospel of Christ. Revelation 5:8 - the Saints bear our prayers to the throne of God. There is so much more. Search a bit, watch some solid Catholic YouTube videos and you will be reassured.
 
To the extent that His mother’s love, and talking with her, and receiving her care was a part of the life of Jesus, I, who should follow Him, want it as part of my life, too.
 
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I’m glad you posted this. I struggle the same as you do. I was Protestant in my younger years and became Catholic in my late 20’s. I still struggle with this.
 
I’m a convert of 25+ years ago. It took quite some time for me to feel like this was a normal and comfortable thing to do. I think in part because standard-issue Protestant upbringing wires you to think about prayer in a very, VERY narrow scope. Maybe it has something to do with age and life experiences, too; I can’t say. I just know that it does get better with time (and practice - ask the whole of heaven to help you understand).
 
When you meet an awesome new friend and go to his house and talk to him, and his very nice mom is there answering the door and doing mom things in the background, do you ignore her and just talk to your friend, or do you also act friendly to his mom? Jesus is the best friend you’ll ever have, and Mary is his nice mom doing mom things.

On top of that, Jesus gave his mom to us in Scripture to be our mom. When he was hanging on the cross and said “Behold your mother” to St. John, he wasn’t just telling St. John, he was telling all of us. Mary is the mother of us all and cares for us like a mother would, leading us to Jesus and to everything good. So we should treat her the same way as we would our own earthly mom, going to her when we need motherly love and help.

I understand if you are new to Catholicism, it may feel odd to pray to Mary because you’re not used to doing it. I agree with Cor_ad_Cor that some Protestant denominations have a very narrow idea of prayer, which to me goes against the idea that we are all one big family and all pray for each other. I just made a prayer thread in Prayer Intentions asking for the prayers of living people here for an intention of mine. Why wouldn’t I also ask Mary, the saints, and even my deceased loved ones who I think are in heaven to pray for my intention too? They are just as alive as the people on this forum and are happy to pray along with me. Jesus doesn’t get mad if I ask other people to please pray along with me, he likes it.
 
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Hhagan12 said:
I have been struggling with the concept of praying to Mary and the Saints
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The saints are our helpers, it pleases the Lord to grant us favors through intercession. In perspective, praying for intercession is extremely old in Christianity. Protestantism came in the 16th century and took the practice away. Pray for guidance.
 
Mary is one of those things, if I were ever to become a Catholic I think I’d just leave behind the Marian “devotions”. All I want is more of Christ, a deeper knowledge of Him, love for Him. He is just so excellent, the more I get to know Our Saviour the more I’m blown away by what a God He is. I know Catholics say Mary leads them to Jesus, to me she just seems a distraction. She is an admirable saint, and I truly admire her, and there is a place for studying about the ways God worked in her life, but tell me of the glories of Christ! There is enough there to fill an infinite number of books and to keep you busy all your life. Enough to worship, enough to sing praise about.

Sorry I went on a bit of a tangent. I’m not Catholic so you don’t have to listen to me but if you want to focus your attention on God, on the Lord Jesus then I think you’re more than on the right track. This world was made for Jesus, you were made for Jesus.
 
SeekHisFace said:
I know Catholics say Mary leads them to Jesus, to me she just seems a distraction.
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Imho, you’re looking at it wrong. God chose her to dwell in for 9 months in a very special way. She is the Ark of the New Covenant.

We aspire to be a dwelling place for the Father & Son to come & make a home in us. That we may be living tabernacles.

She is the image of the Church, what God wants us to be, full of grace.
 
I have a broad question for the community here. How do you define spirituality? I was baptized and raised Catholic but as I get older, I find some truth and understanding in every ideology and philosophy.

When I looked up “spirituality” in this crossword dictionary (https://www.crosswordsolver.com/clue/SPIRITUALITY), it pulls up things like VIRTUE, MORALITY, GENEROSITY, TRANQUILITY, KINDNESS, INTEGRITY, and HAPPINESS as related definitions.

Any thoughts on this? Could one define spirituality as the religion of humanity?
 
Maybe you could think .
Wouldnt God’s nature be flawed if he got angry because his created beings spoke highly and respected and venerated his other created being for doing his will ?
 
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Even if all you say is true (and I don’t completely agree with it,) I don’t see how there is any spiritual benefit to a devotion to Mary. 🤷‍♀️
I’m to aspire to be like Christ, that is the same aspiration Mary had. It’s not about the temple it’s about the God that sanctified the temple.

I just don’t see any benefit at all in venerating Mary. I have no doubt that she was an exemplary godly woman, but like a light bulb before the sun, why bask in her light when Christ’s shines so much brighter and fairer?
 
emraeshine said:
I have a broad question for the community here. How do you define spirituality? I was baptized and raised Catholic but as I get older, I find some truth and understanding in every ideology and philosophy.
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Being Catholic is not about finding spirituality in an ideology or a philosophy. It is about being in a relationship with the living God, through Jesus.

Mary is the person, standing close beside us, who says to us, “My heart overflows with joy, that you have found the love of your life! He’s my Son. Do what He tells you.” :hugs:
 
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SeekHisFace said:
I just don’t see any benefit at all in venerating Mary. I have no doubt that she was an exemplary godly woman, but like a light bulb before the sun, why bask in her light when Christ’s shines so much brighter and fairer?
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Sorry, I know you didn’t mean it this way, but when I was reading this part it just seemed like you told me that it’s fine for me to find my one smartest friend who I find the most intellectually stimulating and fulfilling to be around and for me to just drop all engagement of my other friends (who my superior friend introduced me to) because they are inferior.

You said it yourself. Mary lived a life aspiring to be holy. People look to her as a role model to do the same things in their lives. People come at the same problem from different angles but end up at the same destination. Some people go straight to the destination on their own. Some people need someone to point the way that they trust. Some people need a companion to walk with them who’s gone through the same things as them before.

The spiritual benefit to Marian and saint devotions is just that, they all help and lead the person to Christ because in the end all the devotions are Christ centered anyway. Could they just let Christ point the way or walk with them? Yes, and he does even in their devotions. However, some people know they can just go straight to Christ but just can’t quite get the hang of walking over and asking down and ask their siblings to come along with them.
 
SeekHisFace said:
I know Catholics say Mary leads them to Jesus, to me she just seems a distraction. She is an admirable saint, and I truly admire her, and there is a place for studying about the ways God worked in her life, but tell me of the glories of Christ!
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I am so inspired by your awesome love of Christ!

When you read about the Banquet of the Lamb,


who do you imagine is there, in the receiving line, waiting to greet us, in order of importance?

Btw, the Catholic Eucharist, in which we receive Jesus, is a foretaste of this same banquet.
 
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The mystery to constantly look to - and into - is, I believe, the motherhood of Mary. Mary is the mother of God - the Son - Jesus Christ - and all who are in Christ: all the “Beloved Disciples.” When Jesus said [to John] “the Beloved Disciple” from the Cross, “Behold your mother,” and to Mary, “Behold your son,” He clarified and made explicit the great mystery of the spiritual motherhood of Mary, who is His own mother, but now also mother for all in Him, in His Church.

Imagine the human, natural analogy: the father, with the mother, conceives a child. The mother forms the child within her. Mary formed the sacred Body of Jesus within her. Mary forms the beloved disciples of her Son - conceived in a sense in her because they are in Jesus - and gives birth to them, and nurtures them, and mothers them in her perfect, human yet supernatural love: divine charity.

The role of Mary is far beyond the role of the other saints, unique, as is her place in salvation history by God’s design from the beginning. It may take months or even years of daily prayer of the Rosary, through the 4 mysteries of the works of salvation history, meditating upon them, to begin to sense the quiet, simple splendor of Holy Mary, Mother of God. It is the unfolding of a most beautiful of God’s flowers…
 
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SeekHisFace said:
I’m to aspire to be like Christ, that is the same aspiration Mary had. It’s not about the temple it’s about the God that sanctified the temple.
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God has used images we can understand to reveal himself to us. The Ark of the Covenant, the Temple, Jerusalem, Mary. Heaven. He has spoken to us through these images.

Next time you sit down to pray, meditate on those images & ask yourself what God is saying.
SeekHisFace said:
I just don’t see any benefit at all in venerating Mary. I have no doubt that she was an exemplary godly woman, but like a light bulb before the sun, why bask in her light when Christ’s shines so much brighter and fairer?
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She’s not a light bulb. More like stained glass. The light of Christ is so bright we can’t look directly at it, we’d go blind. She helps us to see & understand the beauty that is God.

Even now, you may say you see & understand the beauty that is Christ, as true as that may be, it is through her that you see. Whether you have any devotion to her or not, she is devoted to you.
 
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