Do Catholics Pray to Mary?

[attaway]

Do Catholics pray to Mary. I know this may sound like a juvenile question but it is bound to come up for those seeking to learn more about the Catholic faith.
Thanks…

 

[At_Trent]

Welcome, It is a fair question

We ask her intersession. We ask her to pray for us. Our prayers are not directed to her alone, but instead we ask she join us in asking God The Father to hear our prayers.

I’m not as articulate as some would be here, but it really is as simple as that.

 

[attaway]

Welcome, It is a fair question

We ask her intersession. We ask her to pray for us. Our prayers are not directed to her alone, but instead we ask she join us in asking God The Father to hear our prayers.

I’m not as articulate as some would be here, but it really is as simple as that.

Thanks for your explanation. But, how can millions around the world at any given time ask anything of anyone and be heard unless the person they are asking is omnipresent?

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Thanks for your explanation. But, how can millions around the world at any given time ask anything of anyone and be heard unless the person they are asking is omnipresent?

Mary is in Heaven, joined to Christ (Scripture speaks of all the Faithful being part of the Body of Christ and joined to Him). How can those who are joined in such a union with Christ NOT ‘see’ what He sees or "hear’ what He hears? How could anybody be in Heaven and be ‘separate’ from God?

 

[AntalKalnoky]

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[attaway]

Mary is in Heaven, joined to Christ (Scripture speaks of all the Faithful being part of the Body of Christ and joined to Him). How can those who are joined in such a union with Christ NOT ‘see’ what He sees or "hear’ what He hears? How could anybody be in Heaven and be ‘separate’ from God?

So, are you saying that Mary and the saints are some how equal to Christ just because they are in heaven together?

How can Mary can hear millions of prayers every second and then mediate those prayers before the throne of God, while also protecting, guiding, helping all of those people that are at the hour of their deaths? Simply because they are in heaven with Christ gives them the attribute to be omnipresent?

 

[mark_a]

Do Catholics pray to Mary. I know this may sound like a juvenile question but it is bound to come up for those seeking to learn more about the Catholic faith.
Thanks…

Catholics pray to Mary in the same way I would pray to you to pray for me.

Pray means ask.

We worship God.

 

[jmcrae]

So, are you saying that Mary and the saints are some how equal to Christ just because they are in heaven together?

How can Mary can hear millions of prayers every second and then mediate those prayers before the throne of God, while also protecting, guiding, helping all of those people that are at the hour of their deaths? Simply because they are in heaven with Christ gives them the attribute to be omnipresent?

They are in Eternity, which is outside of Time, so she can “take her time” (since she has all of Eternity to work with) and then return to the moment when the petition was being made, to present it to God.

This is assuming that she is, in fact, dealing with “millions” of prayers every second - I actually doubt that she is dealing with so many, since, in the first place, only one sixth of the total population of the Earth is Catholic (fewer than 2 billion people) and probably only a third of them ever pray to Mary for intercession at all, let alone every day.

 

[zab]

I have sometimes wondered how Mary can ever enjoy her eternity in heaven when she is constantly bombarded with prayers asking for her intercession. It seems like there is no rest in heaven . But we Catholics know that Mary intercedes for us because we have seen the results when we pray to her. Who better to takes our prayers and make them presentable to Jesus than his mother whom he loves and listens to. She pleads our case better than we could ever plead but always accepting the will of God. There are a lot of things that we do not understand but we believe because Jesus has taught us and sent His Holy Spirit to guide His Church in truth and love. We do not yet understand what it is like to be in heaven not having to labor, nor being limited to time etc. If God wants to allow Mary and all of the saints to spend their time in heaven interceding for us on earth, then who are we to disagree?

 

[attaway]

Catholics pray to Mary in the same way I would pray to you to pray for me.

Pray means ask.

We worship God.

To communicate with another human by asking that person to pray for you could hardly be called prayer.

However to bow before an unseen entity and say special prayers for special favors is different, and by reasonable people could be seen as worship of another being other than God.

 

[Elizium23]

What we are describing is the doctrine of the Communion of Saints. It is in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. There is much documentation about it. The Council of Trent reaffirmed it. Do a simple search and you will find it.

 

[jmcrae]

To communicate with another human by asking that person to pray for you could hardly be called prayer.

Why not? To “pray” is simply to ask a favour of someone. I can “pray” you to please take out the garbage, although normally I wouldn’t use that language. But that’s what I’m doing, if I ask a favour of you, is “praying” to you.

However to bow before an unseen entity and say special prayers for special favors is different, and by reasonable people could be seen as worship of another being other than God.

Hopefully, one’s worship of God consists of more than just asking for favours - true worship of God involves the Sacrifice of the Altar - and we know that no one ever does this for Mary, or for any of the other Saints.

 

[followingtheway]

Do Catholics pray to Mary. I know this may sound like a juvenile question but it is bound to come up for those seeking to learn more about the Catholic faith.
Thanks…

It depends on what you mean by “pray to”…Keep in mind that Catholics don’t worship her…our prayers are for her intercession before God, not to praise and adore her as we do to God.

So we do pray to Mary BUT it’s so she can pray for us to God.

God bless :byzsoc:

 

[attaway]

Why not? To “pray” is simply to ask a favour of someone. I can “pray” you to please take out the garbage, although normally I wouldn’t use that language. But that’s what I’m doing, if I ask a favour of you, is “praying” to you.

Hopefully, one’s worship of God consists of more than just asking for favours - true worship of God involves the Sacrifice of the Altar - and we know that no one ever does this for Mary, or for any of the other Saints.

Now I am confused. You say that to ask is to pray. But my understanding of what the official position of the Catholic Church is, is that Catholics do not pray to saints or Mary.

 

[LilyM]

To communicate with another human by asking that person to pray for you could hardly be called prayer.

However to bow before an unseen entity and say special prayers for special favors is different, and by reasonable people could be seen as worship of another being other than God.

What’s the specific problem with the scenario? The bowing and asking favors? Queen Esther bowed before her husband, King Ahasuerus, and asked a very special favor indeed - no less than the sparing of the nation of Israel from extermination.

Or is it the unseen bit? If I pick up the phone to my mother, who I know is there but cannot see, and ask her to pray for me surely that would be equally wrong by that logic. Mary is just as much a real person as my mother, and by no means a mysterious vague ‘unseen entity’.

 

[zab]

Now I am confused. You say that to ask is to pray. But my understanding of what the official position of the Catholic Church is, is that Catholics do not pray to saints or Mary.

vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p4s1c2a2.htm
This link is from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

I provided this link because you cannot always accept what some people post on this forum as the actual position of the Catholic Church. They meant well but their answer was inaccurate.

 

[Alpine_Meadow]

Cheers,

Quotes from the above link - Catechism of the Catholic Church

2677 …Because she gives us Jesus, her son, Mary is Mother of God and our mother; we can entrust all our cares and petitions to her: she prays for us as she prayed for herself: "Let it be to me according to your word."37 By entrusting ourselves to her prayer, we abandon ourselves to the will of God together with her: “Thy will be done.”

2679 Mary is the perfect Orans (pray-er), a figure of the Church. When we pray to her, we are adhering with her to the plan of the Father, who sends his Son to save all men. Like the beloved disciple we welcome Jesus’ mother into our homes,39 for she has become the mother of all the living. We can pray with and to her. The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary and united with it in hope.40

God bless,
AM

 

[attaway]

What’s the specific problem with the scenario? The bowing and asking favors? Queen Esther bowed before her husband, King Ahasuerus, and asked a very special favor indeed - no less than the sparing of the nation of Israel from extermination.

Or is it the unseen bit? If I pick up the phone to my mother, who I know is there but cannot see, and ask her to pray for me surely that would be equally wrong by that logic. Mary is just as much a real person as my mother, and by no means a mysterious vague ‘unseen entity’.

Do you use a rosary when you ask your mother to pray for you? I keep hearing that this is an acceptable practice equal to asking a friend to pray for you. But, Mary is not just another person, at least not according to the Catholic Church.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

So, are you saying that Mary and the saints are some how equal to Christ just because they are in heaven together?

How can Mary can hear millions of prayers every second and then mediate those prayers before the throne of God, while also protecting, guiding, helping all of those people that are at the hour of their deaths? Simply because they are in heaven with Christ gives them the attribute to be omnipresent?

Not ‘equal to’ but ‘part of’.

Again, heaven is not like earth. Time doesn’t exist there. In Heaven Scripture tells us we will know everything, see everything clearly. It’s not a question of being omnipresent; it’s a question of being united with God.

Do you think that it is possible to be in heaven and apart from God? To be in heaven and NOT to know what God knows? Does that make us gods? No. . .it is just that once we are joined to God in Heaven it is what He has planned for us. . . We don’t ‘get this’ on our own merit, you know. We don’t ‘generate the power’ ourselves. . .we are ‘given’ the gift of heaven and salvation AND ALL IT ENTAILS by God and God alone.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Do you use a rosary when you ask your mother to pray for you? I keep hearing that this is an acceptable practice equal to asking a friend to pray for you. But, Mary is not just another person, at least not according to the Catholic Church.

She is the Mother of the Lord so yeah, it’s not like she was just any mother, but she is still a person, not a goddess. Nothing wrong with a Rosary. The prayers are Christocentric.

Hail Mary, full of grace (right from Luke 2). The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, JESUS. (again, Luke 2, and what is the focus of the prayer, the fruit of Mary’s womb, JESUS. Mentioned each time).
Holy Mary, Mother of God (because heretics were claiming she was only the mother of the human ‘part’ of Jesus, which is ridiculous), pray for us sinners (we ALL ask people to pray for us all the time, don’t we) now and at the hour of our death (again, perfectly reasonably request.)

The Our Father of course is right from scripture from Christ Himself, the Apostles Creed is said in most Christian Churches every Sunday, and the Glory Be is also perfectly Trinitarian. . .Glory be to the Father, the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. And often we add the Fatima Prayer which is to JESUS: Oh My Jesus, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of your mercy.

During each decade we meditate on Christ’s life, from the angel appearing to Mary to announce His conception to the Nativity, the presentation, the finding in the temple --to His life on earth with the baptism in the Jordan, the marriage feast of Cana, the Proclamation of the Kingdom and the institution of the Eucharist–to His suffering --the agony in the garden, the crowning of thorns, the carrying of the cross and the crucifixion --to His resurrection. . .ascension, to Pentecost, and then the very last 2 of that one set relate to Jesus’ final act to His mother–her assumption (not under HER power but HIS) because as KING Jesus by Jewish tradition now crowns His mother Queen. NOT by HER power but by HIS. The coronation is Jesus’ TRIUMPH as FULL King according to Scripture and the final fulfilment of the Old Testament shown forth in the New and a foreshadowing of what WILL HAPPEN to ALL of us who live and die for the Lord Jesus Christ.