Do Catholics have to pray to Mary?

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Countless saints and popes have written volumes on the efficacy and desirability of Marian devotions and, yes, praying to Mary.

No saint or pope has ever written about how “it’s not required.”

That’s because Catholicism isn’t just about some list of minimum requirements.
 
What do you think about the Church’s THREE Holy Days of Obligations pertaining to Her? The Solemnity of Mary, Immaculate Conception, and the Assumption. The Mass is filled with praises to Her and the recitation of the Ave Maria is prayed at times.

Do you refuse participation? Refuse to attend Mass?

Peace.

+JMJ+
 
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What you don’t seem to understand is that they don’t require you to do so. There is no minimum requirement as there isn’t a requirement.

Whether there are volumes and volumes on the benefits of doing so, that still doesn’t make it a requirement. There is no requirement to do so, juwt as there is no one saying dont do it. It is left up to the individual Catholic to decide if they will or won’t. The Catholic church has many other rules that we must follow, Holy Days of obligation, rules for annulment, for how communion is supposed to be taken, etc, etc, etc


Yet, for praying to Mary there isn’t a single rule saying we must. There is only encouragement to do so. If we choose to avail of those benefits or not is up to us. I choose not to as I only believe in praying to God and Jesus. This is my choice and a choice that the church has said I am allowed to make with no repurcusions involved.
 
I haven’t attended mass at all in months because I was given permission by my priest not to because of my ex-wife and our children. She doesn’t want them in the Catholic church and since I have them every weekend starting on Thursday morning and going thriugh Sunday till about 8pm, that means I don’t go to mass.

It’s kinda moot point for me now to attend any Holy Day of obligation.

Even if they fall on the weekday, I am unabke to go because of work. I work 16 to 17+ hour shifts as an EMT. Usually from 4am till around 8pm or so.
 
This is disingenuous. No one here is talking about HDO, we are talking about, personal, private devotion to Mary.

That is evident to anyone who doesn’t have an agenda.
 
I don’t think anyone is objecting to those three holy days
 The Assumption - God Assuming Mary in to Heaven, the Immaculate Conception - God creating Mary, the Solemnity of Mary - God coming to earth and making Mary his Mother
 these are dogma’s celebrating God actions for Mary
 God is good!
 
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The only people obsessed are the ones who argue that others must do what they do in order to be authentically Catholic.
 
Usagi said:
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lonegreywolf20:
Jesus saves, Mary does not.
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Absolutely. And the Church does not, has not, and would not teach otherwise:
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Here are some prayers of the Byzantine Catholic Church (in full union with Rome):
Rejoice, O Mother of eternal love and save all who have recourse to you.
Rejoice, O Mother of God’s grace, and save all who have recourse to you.
Rejoice, Virgin immaculately conceived, and save all who have recourse to you.
Rejoice, Virgin more radiant than the Cherubim, and save all who have recourse to you.
Rejoice, Virgin more glorious than the Seraphim, and save all who have recourse to you.
Rejoice, O Mary, untainted dove, and save all who have recourse to you.
Rejoice, O Mary, fragrant flower of immortality, and save all who have recourse to you.
Rejoice, O Mary, benevolent sustainer of virgins, and save all who have recourse to you.
Rejoice, O Mary, canopy more boundless than the heavens, and save all who have recourse to you. 12. Rejoice, O Mary, intercessor before the impartial Judge, and save all who have recourse to you.
Rejoice, O Mary, comfort of the sorrowful, and save all who have recourse to you.
Rejoice, O Mary, refuge of sinners, and save all who have recourse to you.
Rejoice, O Mary, mediatrix who did not abandon us after your dormition, and save all who have recourse to you.
Rejoice, O Mary, unparalleled in purity and blessedness, and save all who have recourse to you.
Many temptations have surrounded me, O Virgin. To you I come for shelter and salvation.
You whom we possess as our hope, our supporting strength, our indestructible wall of salvation, are worthy of all praise. Grant that we may be worthy to be delivered from all affliction.
I believe, O Virgin, that through your intercession you save and protect my life, dispelling many temptations and casting out the cunning snares of the devil
O Maiden, you have been given to us as a wall behind which we may seek refuge, as a perfect means of salvation for our souls, as a joy in our tribulations; for we always find delight in your light. O Lady, save us always from every danger and evil desire.
Please see:

http://mci.archpitt.org/Publications.html
 
Curious11 said:
I understand Marian devotion is acceptable, but do Catholics have to pray to Mary? Can a Catholic believe that he/she needs no intermediary in Mary but accepts that others can pray to her without it being idolatry?
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You may receive a penance at confession including a Marian prayer. Also in the Latin Mass is the penitential rite with request to the Virgin Mary:
I confess to Almighty God,
and to you here present,
that I have sinned through my own fault,
[“mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa”]
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done and in what I have failed to do.
And I ask Blessed Mary, ever Virgin,
all the Angels and Saints,
and you here present
to pray for me to the Lord, our God.
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I think we are starting (if we weren’t already) to parse words


Asking Mary, the rest of the saints and each other to pray for each other is part of the public prayer of the Church (the Penitential Rite at Mass) That isn’t up for debate really. Devotions are private
 things like the Rosary, Consecration to Jesus through Mary, Miraculous Medals, Fatima, Lourdes, Guatalupe, etc
 are all private and personal. The Church never requires any one to engage in any private devotions


Some people make a distinction (understandably soI think) between asking Mary or another saint to ‘pray for them’ and ‘praying to’ Mary or another saint.
 
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I’m trying to follow the thread - but a little pressed for time. Please forgive me if this snippet from the CCC has already been posted:
Paragraph 6. Mary - Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church
963 . Since the Virgin Mary’s role in the mystery of Christ and the Spirit has been treated, it is fitting now to consider her place in the mystery of the Church. "The Virgin Mary . . . is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the redeemer. . . . She is ‘clearly the mother of the members of Christ’ . . . since she has by her charity joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its head.Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church.
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NeedImprovement said:
It’s usually the words “pray to” Mary which seem to get our Protestant brothers and sisters all wrapped around the axle
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godisgood77 said:
It actually bugs a fair number of Catholics as well

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I think I probably belonged to that group of Catholics too until I read @Brendan_64 's post # 75 . . . which sparked me to do some more reading. . . and subsequently discover that praying “to” Mary is a fairly common expression in the CCC. Someone mentioned Redemptoris Mater in the thread: While I didn’t go back to read the entire encyclical, I did notice they chose to use the word “invoking” in the following passage taken from the section entitled Part III, Maternal Mediation [40]
"In this way Mary’s motherhood continues unceasingly in the Church as the mediation which intercedes, and the Church expresses her faith in this truth by invoking Mary “under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix, Adjutrix and Mediatrix.”
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Praying “to” is more an idiom of the English language. In French, its equivalent “Prier Marie” would be literally “to pray Mary” while the imperative “Priez Marie” is literally rendered “Pray Mary.” Be that as it may, this type of “pray” is more reserved/preferred for God according to the article in la Revue des FrĂšres Mariste de France by Father Marcel Epalle entitled Prier « Marie » 
 ou Prier « avec Marie » ? Having an opinion from a religious order of a Marian nature tends to broaden our perspective. And in this case, they also appear to lean towards “Prier avec Marie” which literally is, “To pray with Mary.”

Some might be surprised to discover how many religious orders have taken Our Lady of Sorrows as their patron ; to name two- The Congregation of the Holy Cross, and the Servite Order.

St AndrĂ© Bessete - affectionately known as FrĂšre AndrĂ© or Brother AndrĂ© - founder of St. Joseph’s Oratory here in Montreal said, in his admirable simplicity that, “Prayer is a conversation with a friend” ; which concurs in a linear fashion with John 15:15 .

Carrying that thought a step further, prayer with the Blessed Virgin Mary would be a conversation with our Mother. I’m a guy, so I wonder if we could receive a little feedback from some of the moms out there in response to the following question:

Would it be true to say that moms love it when one of their children gets in nice and close for a conversation ; for a heart-to-heart ?
 
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godisgood77 said:
I think we are starting (if we weren’t already) to parse words


Asking Mary, the rest of the saints and each other to pray for each other is part of the public prayer of the Church (the Penitential Rite at Mass) That isn’t up for debate really. Devotions are private
 things like the Rosary, Consecration to Jesus through Mary, Miraculous Medals, Fatima, Lourdes, Guatalupe, etc
 are all private and personal. The Church never requires any one to engage in any private devotions


Some people make a distinction (understandably soI think) between asking Mary or another saint to ‘pray for them’ and ‘praying to’ Mary or another saint.
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Satisfaction for sins prescribed by the priest in sacramental confession may include the Hail Mary, therefore it may be required of us to say such a prayer that is not in the form of corporate prayer in the liturgy.

Catechism
1494 The confessor proposes the performance of certain acts of “satisfaction” or “penance” to be performed by the penitent in order to repair the harm caused by sin and to re-establish habits befitting a disciple of Christ.
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If you tell your priest that you do not pray to Mary and ask for another penance they will give it to you.

Mine did. I could penance without saying one word to Mary.
 
No, the serious problem is this instance of yours that it must be done the way that you do it, when the church itself doesn’t require that we do so. Don’t give me the bull about minimum requirements as that’s the true red herring.

The fact remains that the church does not require that we pray to Mary. If you have a problem with that, instead of taking it up with us that are going by what the church says or doesn’t say, take it up with Rome.
 
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So what do you think of this? Mark 9:23 “23 And immediately the father of the boy crying out, with tears said: I do believe, Lord: help my unbelief.” Do you think it is possible for God to reveal things to us and help us grow in faith? Faith is a theological virtue, given to us by God to help us love and serve Him more. Now I am not trying to cast aspersions on your statement
lonegreywolf20 said:
I will never believe more than what I stated in regards to Mary.
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but I would like to pick on the word “never.” We all need to increase our faith in God, and if that means He asks us to change our mind about something, then we should be open to that inspiration. You already believe so much: “Mary brought us our savior.” That is something to ponder
💝
 
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