How and why to pray through Mary?

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Having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ does not preclude a relationship with his mother or any of the saints (both s and S).
From the cross, Jesus gave His mother to John and in so doing to the Church.
 
I would like to share to everyone what happened to me last year. Perhaps, you may realize how important praying to the Blessed Mother (and Her Rosary) is to me.

I was born and lived in a province since childhood, but after getting a job in Manila, Philippines (9 years ago), I started living a sinful life. If I had died earlier, I would surely have plunged into the burning sulfur of hell without any doubt or question.

I sinned and sinned, and didn’t even bother to pray, stayed away from God, forgot God, worked myself to death, focused on my career, increased my knowledge by going to a graduate school and increased my wealth and worldy possessions.

However, our Lord God had mercy on my soul and started calling me back, thru the Blessed Mother Mary:

1st Call: Two years ago, my college friend died. He was my classmate, same age as mine (32), with the same promising career as a chemical engineer. He and his career is gone now, at a very young age. I was shocked and felt fear. What if it was I who died?

Effect : I only felt fear, but did nothing to repent.

2nd Call: Last year, I received an email from my college friend that our dearest and most intelligent professor died at the age of 40+. He and his intelligence is gone now, also at a very young age.

Effect : My fear increased, but did not repent.

3rd Call: In August of last year, my very rich boss suddenly died of cancer at the age of 49. Her money and enormous wealth did not save her.

Effect : This time I was really struck hard, started to pray a little and started reflecting on my life, but did not repent.

4th Call: Last year again, I was bed ridden for a week due to kidney problem. The pain I had, felt like I was gonna die. I started praying hard to God, to forgive me for my transgressions. But after few weeks of being healed, I went back to my sinful life.

5th and Final Call: One week after celebrating the 75th birthday of my mother last year, she became very ill. She was brought to the hospital and was struggling between life and death. The hospital bills have drained all my savings, and left me with loans. After two months of struggle, and with no more resources to fight for her life, she died before Christmas, and so we had the most sorrowful Christmas ever.

This recent events moved me to change my life. It made me realize many things:
  1. First, our life is very short, and death which seems to be far away is really approaching to each one of us.
  2. Second, What is professional career for, if God takes away my life right now.
  3. Third, Worldy intelligence will be blotted out once the Lord God called us back.
  4. Fourth, Money and Wealth cannot save us from death, once the Lord has retrieved the life He gave us.
  5. Fifth, not to invoke the Lord God to anger, for His hands are mighty and powerful.
  6. Lastly, that I should be thankful to the Lord and the Blessed Mother in bringing me back to grace.
But, the temptation is very strong. It seems like a magnet pulling me down. And the Wretched One does not want me to lead a better life. So, I realized going back to grace is a gift from Heaven. But remaining in grace is another hard thing to accomplish.

So what I did is I prayed the 15 mysteries of the Holy Rosary everyday. I told the Blessed Mother sincerely that I will pray Her 15 mysteries everyday, in return for the favor of protecting me and not abandoning me especially in times of trouble. And she did, now I am completely changed. The Blessed Mother showered bountiful graces upon me which I do not deserve. And everytime I look back at my past, I felt sorrow for having mislead my life for so long and for having hurt God with my sins.

The spiritual battle is still ON and the temptations are still lurking around. But I guess it will never end while I am alive. But the most important thing is I have the Blessed Mother by my side now thru the Holy Rosary. I also have Jesus by my side, thru the Sacred Heart and Divine Mercy Chaplet (which gives me so much peace) and the Holy Eucharist (which is the food of my soul).

And we have all the angels and saints by our side who desires as much to save our souls.

Now, these are the reasons why I am praying the Rosary, and why I am urging others to do so also.
 
Mary is not God and can’t hear the millions of people trying to pray to God through her. Sorry, but where is it documented in Scripture that ONLY God can ‘hear’ in heaven? If you read Revelation you see that not only are those who died in Christ alive, they are also cognizant of those who ‘live’ on earth. And where is it written that God does not hear the prayers of those who pray ‘through’ another? Quite the reverse.
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Why can’t people accept the fact that God can very easily hear and answer all the prayers His children pray to Him? We can and do.
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Why can’t people accept the fact that Mary can’t hear the millions of people trying to pray to God through her? That is not a ‘fact’–it is your opinion and is not scripturally supported.
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Why can’t people accept the fact that God hasn’t told His children in His written word to pray to Him through Mary? If you mean He hasn’t said, in 'King James English", “thou shalt pray to me through Mary”–you’re right. He also hasn’t said that ‘thou shalt’ pray to Him through the use of computer graphics, CDs, DVDs, or even the ‘printed’ word. . .but you don’t seem to have trouble using any of those. Nor has He said one CANNOT pray to Him through Mary or anybody else. He HAS, however, said repeatedly ‘where 2 or 3 gather in my name, there am I in their midst. Well tell me then, if those ‘2’ include me and the Blessed Virgin, then Jesus is RIGHT THERE IN OUR MIDST–unless you want to make Him a liar’–and if He is in our midst while we are offering the prayers of righteous men as St. James so aptly puts it, then what is your problem? Where, oh WHERE is it written in Scripture, and believed and taught cohesively WITHOUT CONTRADICTION that ‘a dead person in Christ neither hears, sees, nor understands anything in heaven/’ In fact, such was NEVER taught by Christians until 1600 years had gone by and people started cherry picking passages specifically to argue AGAINST CHRISTIAN TEACHING (meaning, PROTESTING Catholic teaching) which had taught from apostolic times (despite your contention) that those who had died were ‘aware’. Ever check out the catecombs? Read St. Paul who plainly asks for prayers for those who have died? Why, if the dead ‘can’t hear’ or benefit?
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Solid Tantum Ergo, thank you finally for that awesome smack down

with all these defenses, i think we can now close this post? Yes?

It’s just dragging on and on
 
franjos said:
I would like to share to everyone what happened to me last year. Perhaps, you may realize how important praying to the Blessed Mother (and Her Rosary) is to me.

I was born and lived in a province since childhood, but after getting a job in Manila, Philippines (9 years ago), I started living a sinful life. If I had died earlier, I would surely have plunged into the burning sulfur of hell without any doubt or question.

I sinned and sinned, and didn’t even bother to pray, stayed away from God, forgot God, worked myself to death, focused on my career, increased my knowledge by going to a graduate school and increased my wealth and worldy possessions.

However, our Lord God had mercy on my soul and started calling me back, thru the Blessed Mother Mary:

1st Call: Two years ago, my college friend died. He was my classmate, same age as mine (32), with the same promising career as a chemical engineer. He and his career is gone now, at a very young age. I was shocked and felt fear. What if it was I who died?

Effect : I only felt fear, but did nothing to repent.

2nd Call: Last year, I received an email from my college friend that our dearest and most intelligent professor died at the age of 40+. He and his intelligence is gone now, also at a very young age.

Effect : My fear increased, but did not repent.

3rd Call: In August of last year, my very rich boss suddenly died of cancer at the age of 49. Her money and enormous wealth did not save her.

Effect : This time I was really struck hard, started to pray a little and started reflecting on my life, but did not repent.

4th Call: Last year again, I was bed ridden for a week due to kidney problem. The pain I had, felt like I was gonna die. I started praying hard to God, to forgive me for my transgressions. But after few weeks of being healed, I went back to my sinful life.

5th and Final Call: One week after celebrating the 75th birthday of my mother last year, she became very ill. She was brought to the hospital and was struggling between life and death. The hospital bills have drained all my savings, and left me with loans. After two months of struggle, and with no more resources to fight for her life, she died before Christmas, and so we had the most sorrowful Christmas ever.

This recent events moved me to change my life. It made me realize many things:
  1. First, our life is very short, and death which seems to be far away is really approaching to each one of us.
  2. Second, What is professional career for, if God takes away my life right now.
  3. Third, Worldy intelligence will be blotted out once the Lord God called us back.
  4. Fourth, Money and Wealth cannot save us from death, once the Lord has retrieved the life He gave us.
  5. Fifth, not to invoke the Lord God to anger, for His hands are mighty and powerful.
  6. Lastly, that I should be thankful to the Lord and the Blessed Mother in bringing me back to grace.
But, the temptation is very strong. It seems like a magnet pulling me down. And the Wretched One does not want me to lead a better life. So, I realized going back to grace is a gift from Heaven. But remaining in grace is another hard thing to accomplish.

So what I did is I prayed the 15 mysteries of the Holy Rosary everyday. I told the Blessed Mother sincerely that I will pray Her 15 mysteries everyday, in return for the favor of protecting me and not abandoning me especially in times of trouble. And she did, now I am completely changed. The Blessed Mother showered bountiful graces upon me which I do not deserve. And everytime I look back at my past, I felt sorrow for having mislead my life for so long and for having hurt God with my sins.

The spiritual battle is still ON and the temptations are still lurking around. But I guess it will never end while I am alive. But the most important thing is I have the Blessed Mother by my side now thru the Holy Rosary. I also have Jesus by my side, thru the Sacred Heart and Divine Mercy Chaplet (which gives me so much peace) and the Holy Eucharist (which is the food of my soul).

And we have all the angels and saints by our side who desires as much to save our souls.

Now, these are the reasons why I am praying the Rosary, and why I am urging others to do so also.
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Yours is a tragic story, but I sure like the way it ends…with you living a good life & at finding peace with God & His Mother. Thank you for sharing.
 
CradleCath said:
Yours is a tragic story, but I sure like the way it ends…with you living a good life & at finding peace with God & His Mother. Thank you for sharing.
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Oh, I don’t think his story is tragic. The only tragedy is if he did not move FORWARD in grace. We need supernatural grace to please God, but we must move forward by not even committing venial sins and struggling to overcome our faults and even unnecessary near occasions of sin — else we will presume upon the gifts of God and find ourselves in mortal sin. This story would be tragic if he died in mortal sin.

NOT A SINGLE ONE OF US knows the day nor the hour of our deaths. This man’s reality belongs to each of us, in a sense, the only difference is that he has been more confronted by situations as wake up calls to that reality. There are even greater tragedies all around us among people who are not seeing much death, yet continue to presume upon the grace of God in the Lord’s True Presence Holy Communion, not praying their rosary daily, not spending time thanking the Lord each day and recollected in that, and not doing penances and mortifications to overcome their self-wills in order to destroy in them those things that are in conflict to the inclinations of grace.

Virgo potens, ora pro nobis!
 
Apologies if this has already been mentioned .

Due to time constraints, have only read at random through the many (and some very ) good posts .

This being the month of May and specially set apart to celebrate spring of renewal , brought into this world through our holy Mother , grateful to do my little bit of sharing too, esp. on biblical reference .Again grateful to the many good posts on this , esp. by Roltide and the excellent example on St.Peter and Tabitha .

The one prayer our Lord taught us - ’ let Thy will be done ’ - does it not encompass everything Holy Mother Church has tried to tell us !
She , as the pillar and foundation of truth !

And the words of our Lord again, to St.Peter , who loved Him more - " to tend …feed…" . His office has been at it ever since and those who love our Lord ’ more’ and thus follow His words , get to be fed and teneded on …to greener pastures …of the truth …of the power and tenderness of His Mother that reflect all that is His own …magnifies all that is His …so that The Church can be a true priesthood , called on to intercede and thank and praise , on behalf of all the world , in union with The Mother …for the lives of the many good and heroic saints have taught us …to be imitators …

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death !
 
Ancilla_Indigna said:
We need supernatural grace to please God, but we must move forward by not even committing venial sins and struggling to overcome our faults and even unnecessary near occasions of sin — else we will presume upon the gifts of God and find ourselves in mortal sin. This story would be tragic if he died in mortal sin.

!
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i don’t think the vast majority of people even know what a venial sin is anymore, let alone mortal sin, or even sin in general. It’s been blurred so badly.
 
CradleCath said:
NOW you’re getting it!!! 😦
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Thanks CradleCath! Thanks for supporting my efforts. This has been an interesting discussion. I have re-read this thread and of course, I did get off topic. Over and over again, there was really a lot of insightful, intelligent, and astoundingly knowledgable posts that proved from scripture, where in scripture and from Sacred Tradition where intercessory prayer came from. The non-Catholics couldn’t buy into it because they had been taught so differently from their own denominations teachings and deep seeded traditions that Sacred Tradition is false. So, I thought by pointing out that intercessory prayer was a practice in place prior to the written form of the bible, and believed and practiced by the people who recorded the bible for us (so it must have been Sacred Tradition then…) And it was believed and practiced by ALL through the generations without contradiction until the reformers came in and changed things, so maybe that information would be a way to open up a non-Catholic’s mind that they must trust in Sacred Tradition. Since most could not read or afford bibles, it had to be Sacred Tradition that carried the holy word through all generations. If they could believe that, then they would be more open to at least considering our teachings. Maybe I just went about it the wrong way.
 
Why wouldn’t anyone want all the saints to pray for them?

I certainly would appreciate the saints’ prayers of the living here one Earth–why not the prayers of those who have died and are living beyond Earth?

And if the 'prayer of the righteous availeth much" as the scriptures say who wouldn’t want the greatest saint of all to pray for them?

Praying with the saints and through them brings glory to Jesus. Why would anyone be against that?

We as Catholics believe in the communion of saints.

Do you think that Satan wants us to believe in that communion and use it to love and glorify Jesus or not?
 
I just want to add the following Biblical facts:

Mary is not God and can’t hear the millions of people trying to pray to God through her.

Answer : The Blessed Mother Mary and the whole choirs of angel can hear us and knows what is happening in our lives. In the Book of Luke, Jesus said : “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:9-11). How would the angels rejoice when a sinner repents it they could not hear the millions of people praying on earth.

Why can’t people accept the fact that God hasn’t told His children in His written word to pray to Him through Mary?

Answer : Please read my post “Is honoring Mary the Will of God?” and it clearly explains the reason why Catholics pray to Mary. If we love God we will obey His commands, we will not even dare contradict His will and His actions. It is obvious that God honored Her. And So, we sinners must also honor this Woman whom God loved and honored so much.
 
Persons and events in the OT prefigured, foreshadowed, anticipated, and symbolized persons and events in the NT. The OT persons and events are called “types” of the NT persons and events they prefigure. A type is a prophetic foreshadowing of the NT counterpart.
If you fully understand the OT, and read it in terms of types, you will see where the beliefs of Mary are written Typology shows many NT doctrines, including Mary’s privileges, clearly revealed in the OT. Once a non-Catholic understands the meaning and importance of OT types, s/he will discover that ALL Catholic beliefs about Mary are found in the Bible.
There are three major OT types of Mary: Eve, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Queen Mother. These three types of Mary su pport all our Marian beliefs.
The Fathers made the obvious connection: as Christ is the new Adam (1 Cor 15:45), Mary is the new Eve. After Adam and Eve had sinned, Genesis 3:15 prophesies a woman and her son who will be at total enmity with the serpent (Satan) and his descendents. The woman’s son will crush the serpent’s head. Since the man who crushes the serpent’s head is obviously Jesus, the woman must be Mary.
Thus, Genesis 3:15-17 describes two teams: the fall team-Adam and Eve, and the redemption team-Jesus and Mary. St. Justin and St. Irenaeus were quick to realize this. Although the human race fell through Adam, Eve’s role was crucial. Jesus redeemed the human race, but Mary’s role was likewise crucial.
 
cont…
A quick overview of the Bible confirms that Jesus and Mary TOGETHER will crush Satah’s head. OT describes “types of Mary” who crush Isreal’s enemies (types of Satan.) Read Judges 4:17-22, 5:24, 9:50-55, Judith 12-13, Judith 13:18, Elizabeth’s praise of Mary in Luke 1:42.
There is moreto discuss regarding Mary as the New Ark of the Covenant and Mary as the NT Queen Mother, but I am seeing that it really is too much to write.
 
The Bible never places M ary in opposition to Jesus, nor does the Catholic Church. Jesus and Mary are on the same team. The Bible is very clear that we are to show Mary special honor. When we honorMary, we honor Jesus who gave Mary her privileges. The honor we give to Mary she in turn gives to God (Luke 1:46-55).
You have to distinguish between the development of doctrine (which is valid) from the change of doctrine (which is corruption).The Assumption of Mary is part of the original deposit of faith. Pulic revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle. Thus, there can be no new doctrines. The deposit of faith was completed at the end of the apostolic age, but our understanding of it will grow until the end of time. This development of doctrine applies to Marian beliefs just as it does to the rest of our faith.
Some Marian beliefs depend for their fullness on Sacred Tradition. To dialoge effectively with non-Catholics about Mary, non-Catholics need to refute sola scriptura. If the non-C’s can lose their deep-seated antipathy to Catholocism, they will see the solid biblical and historical basis for Marian beliefs. Not only that, non-C’s believe in the Trinity, the canon of the Bible, and the death of the last Apostle closing the deposit of faith, but these cannot be found explicitly in the Bible.
 
God honored Mary above all creatures by making her the mother of our Saviour God. In honoring Mary, the Catholic Church is following the example of God Himself. Mary’s special privileges were given to her by God, not man.
Luke 1:26-56, Archangel Gabriels’s greeting shows Mary great honor. Elizabeth, twice calls Mary blesses in just four short verses. In verse 48, Our Lady prophesies that ALL AGES will call her blessed. Why don’t non-C’s call her Blessed Virgin Mary? It is the Catholics who are being biblical here.

I have gone into these longs posts to try to give history, teachings to non-C’s that they may not be aware of.

Most Protestants are shocked to learn that the founders of Protestantism INSISTED on HONORING Mary as Mother of God and Ever-Virgin. Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli wholeheartedly agreed with the doctrine of Mary as the Mother of God, the Mother of Jesus. If one reflects carefully on who Jesus is, and what role Mary played in His mission, s/he can see that Mary must have some special maternal role in the Church, the body of Christ. This is is what the NT teaches. John 19:26-27, John 1:29, 1 Corinthians 12, Hebrews 2:11, Revelation 12. Compare Revelation 12:5 with 19:15-16, Therefore, the woman must be Mary. Since a mother’s role in her child’s life is all-encompassing, Mary has been given a profound role in our lives. Mary’s motherhood helps s understand how important a role God has given her in our spiritual lives. We must acknowledge Mary’s role and embrace it as a precious gift from God, just as we embrace God’s priceless gifts of the Bible and the Church.
 
Mary’s intercession is completely subordinate to, and dependent upon, Jesus’ intercession. Read the whole passage (1 Timothy 2:1-8): St Paul commands Christians to intercede for one another. This doesn’t go around Christ’s mediation, but rather THROUGH it. We single out Mary’s intercession because she is God’s most righteous saint and “the prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects” (James 5:16). Because Jesus is the one mediator between earth and heaven,we intercede for one another as members of Christ’s body. IF fellow saints praying for us on earth do not destroy Christ’s role as the one mediator, neither do glorified saints praying for us in heaven. Mary is the greatest saint. Why wouldn’t anybody seek her powerful intercession?

I hope I haven’t posted too many posts. I really wanted to get some information across to anyone who was wanting more. I hope you see the truth through these posts. There is so much more, but too much to write.
 
Always_For_Him said:
Mary’s intercession is completely subordinate to, and dependent upon, Jesus’ intercession. Read the whole passage (1 Timothy 2:1-8): St Paul commands Christians to intercede for one another. This doesn’t go around Christ’s mediation, but rather THROUGH it. We single out Mary’s intercession because she is God’s most righteous saint and “the prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects” (James 5:16). Because Jesus is the one mediator between earth and heaven,we intercede for one another as members of Christ’s body. IF fellow saints praying for us on earth do not destroy Christ’s role as the one mediator, neither do glorified saints praying for us in heaven. Mary is the greatest saint. Why wouldn’t anybody seek her powerful intercession?

I hope I haven’t posted too many posts. I really wanted to get some information across to anyone who was wanting more. I hope you see the truth through these posts. There is so much more, but too much to write.
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You have done a WONDERFUL job. Thank you so much!!!
 
Always_For_Him said:
Mary’s intercession is completely subordinate to, and dependent upon, Jesus’ intercession. Read the whole passage (1 Timothy 2:1-8): St Paul commands Christians to intercede for one another. This doesn’t go around Christ’s mediation, but rather THROUGH it. We single out Mary’s intercession because she is God’s most righteous saint and “the prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects” (James 5:16). Because Jesus is the one mediator between earth and heaven,we intercede for one another as members of Christ’s body. IF fellow saints praying for us on earth do not destroy Christ’s role as the one mediator, neither do glorified saints praying for us in heaven. Mary is the greatest saint. Why wouldn’t anybody seek her powerful intercession?

I hope I haven’t posted too many posts. I really wanted to get some information across to anyone who was wanting more. I hope you see the truth through these posts. There is so much more, but too much to write.
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If what you say here is true about praying to Mary why is it that those who knew her best i.e. Jesus or the apostles ever exhort Christians to pray to her?

The only One we are to pray to is God-Christ. Only the Lord Jesus is our Great High Priest Who intercedes for us before the Father. This intercession is different in kind that fellow Christians are to pray for those here in this world.
 
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