How and why to pray through Mary?

[Nickkname]

I am a Catholic. But in my childhood I was bombarded with Protestant beliefs and ideologies.

I’m still a Catholic though. But, to this day I find it difficult or sometimes even silly to pray through Mary or the saints.

I pray to Jesus and the Father. And I’m heard. So why should I pray through Mary or the saints? How can I be sure that St.“so and so” is hearing me? And what’s the advantage of doing that when I know Christ hears me and so does the Father? Or is it that they cannot always hear me?

When did this practice of praying through Mary and the saints begin?

In the time of distress, it is always good to take a breath and read the Bible and writings of the Church Fathers. For God wil give you the answers to your questions in his Word, that is, the Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. I hope this helps you. God bless.

 

[Holly3278]

I am a Catholic. But in my childhood I was bombarded with Protestant beliefs and ideologies.

I’m still a Catholic though. But, to this day I find it difficult or sometimes even silly to pray through Mary or the saints.

I pray to Jesus and the Father. And I’m heard. So why should I pray through Mary or the saints? How can I be sure that St.“so and so” is hearing me? And what’s the advantage of doing that when I know Christ hears me and so does the Father? Or is it that they cannot always hear me?

When did this practice of praying through Mary and the saints begin?

Let me ask you a couple of questions. First of all, why do you ask other people to pray for you? The Bible says a few things that we should consider.

James 5:16 RSV Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.

Matthew 18:19 RSV Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
Matthew 18:20 RSV For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects. We know that the saints are righteous men and women and that Mary is the most righteous woman to ever live. Why should we not ask them to pray for us if the prayer of a righteous man or woman has great power in its effects?

As for the next two verses, it says that if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by Jesus’ Father in Heaven. How much more will be done for us by two righteous men or women praying for us in Heaven?

Just some thoughts to consider.

As for your question about when did prayer through Mary and the saints begin. Well, I found a quote from Hermas that dates to AD 80. That said, there are also evidences in the Bible itself of the intercession of the saints. See the following link:

scripturecatholic.com/saints.html

God bless!

 

[Good_Fella]

In the time of distress, it is always good to take a breath and read the Bible and writings of the Church Fathers. For God wil give you the answers to your questions in his Word, that is, the Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. I hope this helps you. God bless.

Yes. Scripture must be interpreted in light of apostolic Tradition, so we must not ignore the writings of the Church Fathers, who as our leaders and shepherds served as teachers and custodians of the Gospel. There is much material in the Old and New Testaments that is implicit and unclear, so to understand what the scriptures mean, we must first look at what the early Church believed and practiced as expressed in the writings of the Fathers. It is evident that the Church had already invoked Mary as a powerful intercessor by the late second century, a devotion passed on from apostolic time.

“For as Eve was seduced by the word of an angel to flee from God, having rebelled against His Word, so Mary by the word of an angel received the glad tidings that she would bear God ( Mary invoked as Mother of God ) by obeying His Word. The former was seduced to disobey God, but the latter was persuaded to obey God, so that THE VIRGIN MARY might become THE ADVOCATE OF EVE. As the human race was subjected to death through the act of a virgin, so it was saved by a virgin.”
Irenaeus (A.D. 180)

When the wine was gone, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” { John 2, 3 }

By the time John wrote his gospel, the church in Palestine had regarded Mary as an advocate to the people of God who presents our petitions and supplications to her Divine Son. This tradition extended beyond the time of the apostles in the life of the Church as is evident in the teachings of Irenaeus. The perception of Mary as a type of Queen Mother ( Gebirah ) of the Davidic kingdom, who intercedes on our behalf before the king, appears to have already been had by the second century. It has remained with the Catholic Church ever since.

Pax vobiscum
Good Fella

 

[GailMac]

This post is for the Doubting Thomas’ who think our Lady isn’t interceding for us even to this day and I am issuing a challege:
Read this little excerpt on Lourdes and doubt no longer! If you can read about Lourdes and all those whose lives have been touched by our Lady and still think as you used to,…well, let’s just say I don’t think you can.

Marian intercession is very real and is very powerful. You can trust Jesus, trust our Mother too! Her heart waits to hear from you!

“The pilgrimage of Lourdes is founded on the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin to a poor, fourteen-year-old girl, Bernadette Soubiroux. The first apparition occurred 11 February, 1858. There were eighteen in all; the last took place 16 July, of the same year. Bernadette often fell into an ecstasy. The mysterious vision she saw in the hollow of the rock Massabielle was that of a young and beautiful lady. “Lovelier than I have ever seen” said the child.”…“Never has a sanctuary attracted such throngs. At the end of the year 1908, when the fiftieth anniversary of the apparition was celebrated, although the record really only began from 1867, 5297 pilgrimages had been registered and these had brought 4,919,000 pilgrims.”… “The estimate that about 4000 cures have been obtained at Lourdes within the first fifty years of the pilgrimage is undoubtedly considerably less than the actual number. The Bureau des Constatations stands near the shrine, and there are recorded and checked the certificates of maladies and also the certificates of cure; it is free to all physicians, whatever their nationality or religious belief. Consequently, on an average, from two to three hundred physicians annual visit this marvellous clinic. As to the nature of the diseases which are cured, nervous disorders so frequently mentioned, do not furnish even the fourteenth part of the whole; 278 have been counted, out of a total of 3962. The present writer has published the number of cases of each disease or infirmity, among them tuberculosis, tumours, sores, cancers, deafness, blindness, etc.”
Here is a link for more info. newadvent.org/cathen/09389b.htm

Peace to all,

Gail

 

[marymol]

Is it not our mission and our call , to let The Holy Spirit take charge and control of our human nature … our will…and all that God has given us… …and thus let The Kingdom come … both within and out…

And who else but The God given Mother could help us better in this area …as God so poignantly show us in nature …

And here we have a Mother , who has been given the power to magnify The Lord …The Spirit …because she had chosen in wisdom, to surrender fully to The Spirit…

May we too choose wisdom , to be vindicated , as her children , by getting all the help God want us to have … to let God be God in all areas of our lives and lives of those near and far …who need her as their Mother too … yet who may have allowed to be controlled by other powers !

O Mary, concieved without sin, pray for us !

 

[jean8]

Jean, you are either skipping over the well-thought out and very excellent posts where many Catholics have gone to the trouble of explaining the doctrine of Mary to you, or you are here at CAF for a personal agenda. Not one person here (with the exception of yourself) had said that the Blessed Virgin is omnipresent. If you re-read this thread, you should have a pretty clear idea of what Catholics really believe about Mary. What we have tried to do is dispel the misunderstandings that you (and others) have, and give you a clear picture of our reason for devotion to Mary.

paramedicgirl,
I’ll explain my position. btw, I do not have an agenda. I simplly have a different view from yours.
If you are praying the Rosary it says “Holy Mary , Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of my death.”
"The Hail! Holy Queen,Mother of Mercy, our sweetness, and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, It goes on to say we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. The end goes on to say “Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God. That we may be worthy of the promise of Christ.”

I give honor to Mary as being chosen to bear the Son of God. She is truly blessed of God. I draw the line when it comes to praying to her. She cannot hear all of the thousand prayers directed to her because she does not possess the attributes of God the Father. One of these attributes as I mentioned before is omnipresence. God is present everywhere, at all times. Mary is not.
The Bible does not teach us to pray to Mary or saints. They cannot hear you.
Can you provide a passage from scripture that teaches that they can hear you?
The ‘Our Father’ can be found in Mt.6:9-13 He hears all of our prayers. All of the time, in all languages. Praise His Holy Name.

God bless you,
jean8

 

[jean8]

Is it not our mission and our call , to let The Holy Spirit take charge and control of our human nature … our will…and all that God has given us… …and thus let The Kingdom come … both within and out…

And who else but The God given Mother could help us better in this area …as God so poignantly show us in nature …

And here we have a Mother , who has been given the power to magnify The Lord …The Spirit …because she had chosen in wisdom, to surrender fully to The Spirit…

May we too choose wisdom , to be vindicated , as her children , by getting all the help God want us to have … to let God be God in all areas of our lives and lives of those near and far …who need her as their Mother too … yet who may have allowed to be controlled by other powers !

O Mary, concieved without sin, pray for us !

Marymol,
Lu.1:46-48 “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. .All generations will call me blessed.”
And they do, but it does not say we should pray to Mary.
Lu.2:11 gives us the passages of the birth of Christ.

In other passages it also tells us of the other children born to Mary and Joseph. Mt.12:46-47

God bless you,
jean8

 

[Always_For_Him]

She cannot hear all of the thousand prayers directed to her because she does not possess the attributes of God the Father. One of these attributes as I mentioned before is omnipresence. God is present everywhere, at all times. Mary is not. The Bible does not teach us to pray to Mary or saints. They cannot hear you. Can you provide a passage from scripture that teaches that they can hear you?
The ‘Our Father’ can be found in Mt.6:9-13 He hears all of our prayers. All of the time, in all languages. Praise His Holy Name.

Jean8,
As to not recreate some really, insightful and very knowledgable and beautiful posts, please go back and read this whole thread. I tried to go back to look at the pages where there has been so much scholarship and scripture to show this belief. But after a few pages, I realized that there is just too much you need to read and take in as a whole for me to give you a few page numbers. It will take a little time, but if you try to suspend your doubt, I truly believe you will see what we are talking about. It has to be difficult to open the door to a belief that you have never been taught and that is not supported in your Church. I am not sure what Church you go to, but I do know that it probably now has a tradition to teach what it teaches. No one questions what they are being taught because that is always what has been taught. Look at the writings of the ECF’s you will find support for almost anything there. We did not just create this. We did not just start intercessory prayer within the last few hundred years. We have done it from the beginning. The Apostles practiced intercessory prayer and wrote about it (in the NT.) ALL three Reformers believed in what we are talking about. Especially Martin Luther. Protestantism was founded on so much that doesn’t even exist within it anymore. We have never changed. The Communion of Saints is an awesome thing. Those who have died and gone to heaven before us are more alive than we are. They hear us. They pray for us. Mary hears us! Mary intercedes for us! It IS Biblical. It is beautiful. Please, as you go back to read from the beginning of this thread, just try to have an open mind, and let your faith of the Truth fill you with grace.

 

[Good_Fella]

Marymol,
Lu.1:46-48 “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. .All generations will call me blessed.”
And they do, but it does not say we should pray to Mary.
Lu.2:11 gives us the passages of the birth of Christ.

In other passages it also tells us of the other children born to Mary and Joseph. Mt.12:46-47

God bless you,
jean8

It appears you have ignored the scriptural passages that tell us we are to pray for one another and that the mystical body of Christ consists of those on earth and in heaven. Meanwhile, there are no scriptural passages in the NT that tell us Mary bore other children. The idea that she did is a modern Protestant phenomenon outside the Church which amounts to nothing but a blatant untruth. I suggest you check my posts concerning the Perpetual Virginity of Mary and follow the respective threads. Catholic apologists have soundly refuted the feeble arguments of Protestants who insist Mary and Joseph had conjugal relations.

“How shall this be, seeing I do not know a man?” {Luke 1, 34}

Pax vobiscum
Good Fella

 

[LilyM]

paramedicgirl,
I’ll explain my position. btw, I do not have an agenda. I simplly have a different view from yours.
If you are praying the Rosary it says “Holy Mary , Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of my death.”
"The Hail! Holy Queen,Mother of Mercy, our sweetness, and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, It goes on to say we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. The end goes on to say “Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God. That we may be worthy of the promise of Christ.”

I give honor to Mary as being chosen to bear the Son of God. She is truly blessed of God. I draw the line when it comes to praying to her. She cannot hear all of the thousand prayers directed to her because she does not possess the attributes of God the Father. One of these attributes as I mentioned before is omnipresence. God is present everywhere, at all times. Mary is not.
The Bible does not teach us to pray to Mary or saints. They cannot hear you.
Can you provide a passage from scripture that teaches that they can hear you?
The ‘Our Father’ can be found in Mt.6:9-13 He hears all of our prayers. All of the time, in all languages. Praise His Holy Name.

God bless you,
jean8

Jean, if John in Revelation could hear, at one and the same time, what every creature in heaven, on earth and under the earth was saying, then surely that shows that the ability to hear and see many people at once isn’t a unique attribute of God, but one that He gifts to mere mortals as well.

Note that ‘many people’ doesn’t necessarily mean LITERALLY ‘everyone’, since not everyone prays to Mary or any of the saints, therefore it is NOT strictly speaking omnipresence in any event. What we allow Mary to be capable of is thus in fact less than what John did - in his case it WAS literally every creature.

 

[peary]

paramedicgirl,
I’ll explain my position. btw, I do not have an agenda. I simplly have a different view from yours.
If you are praying the Rosary it says “Holy Mary , Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of my death.”
"The Hail! Holy Queen,Mother of Mercy, our sweetness, and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, It goes on to say we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. The end goes on to say “Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God. That we may be worthy of the promise of Christ.”

I give honor to Mary as being chosen to bear the Son of God. She is truly blessed of God. I draw the line when it comes to praying to her. She cannot hear all of the thousand prayers directed to her because she does not possess the attributes of God the Father. One of these attributes as I mentioned before is omnipresence. God is present everywhere, at all times. Mary is not.
The Bible does not teach us to pray to Mary or saints. They cannot hear you.
Can you provide a passage from scripture that teaches that they can hear you?
The ‘Our Father’ can be found in Mt.6:9-13 He hears all of our prayers. All of the time, in all languages. Praise His Holy Name.

God bless you,
jean8

**I posted and asked you previously: WHERE in the bible does it specifically say that the saints in Heaven cannot hear our prayers and do not intercede for us? Once you can point that out, then a more deeper discussion can take place.

To think of those in heaven as unwilling or unable to pray for us is to have a grave misconception of heaven. It is not an isolated part of the body of Christ that exists without concern for the other members of the body who are still working out their salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). Those in heaven surround us as a “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1), and the book of Revelation teaches that the prayers they offer for us “saints” is an integral part of the eternal worship given to God.

In the story of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19–31), the rich man shows concern for his family on earth, even though he is in hell. If a person in hell has such concern, and those in heaven are perfected in love and can finally pray with an undivided heart for the Church of God, how could they not be concerned about our salvation?

The book of Revelation describes people in heaven who are aware of the happenings on earth (Rev. 6:11; 7:13–14). They have this capacity according to God’s designs and not of their own power. Paul alluded to this when he said, “Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood” (1 Cor. 13:12).

Those in heaven are part of the mystical body of Christ, and have not been separated from us by death. Christ is the vine, and we are the branches. So, if we are connected to him, we are inseparably bound together with them as well. Thus, the angels and saints stand before the throne of God, offer our prayers to him, and cheer us on as we run the good race.

If those in heaven are of no help to us, is it that they do not care, or does God forbid them to know of our toil and render them incapable of praying for us?

Jean, I encourage you to to take this to prayer, asking the Father if this is truly his plan for the body of Christ.

Since Mary is in heaven, it is literally true that she does not have time to answer all the petitions—she has eternity. Time in the afterlife is not the same as it is here, and so this is not an insurmountable problem. In regard to the number of petitions, if the number were infinite, then an omniscient mind would be required. So long as the number is finite, then the hearer requires a finite expansion of knowledge, which God could certainly grant to a glorified soul in heaven. In a chatroom, 50 people can communicate simultaneously from around the world. If modern technology can enable humans to do this, God is infinitely capable “by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20).**

 

[marymol]

Marymol,
Lu.1:46-48 “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. .All generations will call me blessed.”
And they do, but it does not say we should pray to Mary.
Lu.2:11 gives us the passages of the birth of Christ.

In other passages it also tells us of the other children born to Mary and Joseph. Mt.12:46-47

God bless you,
jean8

These are topics that have been covered many times on these threads and other good truthful places - the lib.section of C.A a good resource !

Entrusting all, to The Immaculate Heart of Mary , for her powerful intercession , esp. those who , out of the centuries of the workings of the lie and fear inducing agent, are not able to trust the ways of our Lord , who invite us into His family and Communion with all the holy ones , to be fed with the food of doing His will !

Come O Holy Spirit , Come and take charge of our hearts and minds ! Come , through the powerful intercession of The Immaculate Heart of Mary !

 

[Mach1Man]

ChrisWRIT;3662178]Why? Because "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful & effective.” (James 5:16)

How in the world does this prove that we should pray to Mary or the Siants?

 

[mlchance]

How in the world does this prove that we should pray to Mary or the Siants?

The saints in Heaven are still part of the Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ.

The saints in Heaven are necessarily righteous.

Scripture is clear that the angels and saints in Heaven are aware of the Church on Earth.

So, the question isn’t why should we pray to the Blessed Virgin or other saints, but rather the question is, Why wouldn’t you want to?

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[dmelosi]

How in the world does this prove that we should pray to Mary or the Siants?

It appears that after pages and pages of showing the scriptural basis for asking Mary and the saints to pray for us…that someone new pops in and tries to restart the question.

Have you read the previous posts in this thread before you ask this?

 

[paramedicgirl]

paramedicgirl,
I’ll explain my position. btw, I do not have an agenda. I simplly have a different view from yours.
If you are praying the Rosary it says “Holy Mary , Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of my death.”
"The Hail! Holy Queen,Mother of Mercy, our sweetness, and our hope. To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, It goes on to say we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. The end goes on to say “Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God. That we may be worthy of the promise of Christ.”

I give honor to Mary as being chosen to bear the Son of God. She is truly blessed of God. I draw the line when it comes to praying to her. She cannot hear all of the thousand prayers directed to her because she does not possess the attributes of God the Father. One of these attributes as I mentioned before is omnipresence. God is present everywhere, at all times. Mary is not.
The Bible does not teach us to pray to Mary or saints. They cannot hear you.
Can you provide a passage from scripture that teaches that they can hear you?
The ‘Our Father’ can be found in Mt.6:9-13 He hears all of our prayers. All of the time, in all languages. Praise His Holy Name.

God bless you,
jean8

Sure Jean. I already posted it here, but perhaps you missed it. In such a lengthy thread where all of your concerns and questions have been answered repeatedly, it is understandable that you may have overlooked my response where I quoted directly from the Bible.

 

[cecilia97]

I give honor to Mary as being chosen to bear the Son of God. She is truly blessed of God. I draw the line when it comes to praying to her. She cannot hear all of the thousand prayers directed to her because she does not possess the attributes of God the Father. One of these attributes as I mentioned before is omnipresence. God is present everywhere, at all times. Mary is not.

Woah…the disciples didn’t have these attributes of God either: curing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers. But Jesus sent them out to do just those things, and they did! They did those things through the power of God. So why would God suddenly revoke what he’s given us just because our earthly bodies die?

Makes no sense. He is the God of the living.

The Church does not teach that Mary is omnipresent or hears our prayers through her own power. She hears our prayers because God allows her to hear them.

 

[franjos]

**Can the saints and angels hear our prayers? **

The Blessed Mother Mary, saints and the whole choirs of angel can hear us and knows what is happening in our lives. 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.

Angels and the saints also intercede for us:

Psalms
"Yet if there is an angel on his side
as a mediator, one out of a thousand,
to tell a man what is right for him,

to be gracious to him and say,
‘Spare him from going down to
I have found a ransom for him’-

Tobias 12:12 - Angel Raphael said “I will offer your prayers to the Lord”

The Lord Jesus said: “See that you despise not one of these little ones; for I say to you that their angels in Heaven always see the face of My Father Who is in Heaven” (Matthew 18:10)

A very good question to ask is : IS IT THE WILL OF GOD TO HONOR MARY?

The Will of the Father:

In the Book of Luke (Luke 1:26-27), we will read that the angel Gabriel was sent by God to Mary who was living in a town called Nazareth. Being a spirit and a messenger, the angel will only say or do God’s will. He said “Hail!, Full of Grace, the Lord is with you!”. If in this manner, God wanted the holy angel to salute Mary, isn’t it appropriate also that all unworthy sinners should greet Her in the same manner?

And the Will of the Son:
And Jesus became flesh (thru His Mother Mary) and dwelt amongst us (John 1:14).

Isn’t God the Creator of all things. Is anything impossible to God? Isn’t He powerful enough that with a single word, He can have His flesh and make His dwelling amongst us. But why would He choose to be born of the Virgin Mary?

Answer : He willed it because He loves us so much.

The Lord of All Creation, Creator of All willed to be born of the Virgin Mary:

• to become a fetus inside Mary’s womb for nine (9) months;
• to obtain oxygen and nutrients from Mary’s placenta and umbilical cord;
• to solely take His flesh from Mary’s flesh alone;
• to be nursed by Mary while He is still a baby until He became a man;
• to have the title of the “Son of Mary” for all eternity.

Jesus also preached us to “Honor your Father and your Mother”. The Lord who is All-Knowing, by choosing to be born of His Mother Mary, chose beforehand also to honor Her as His Mother. If sinners like us could give a very high honor to our own parents, how much honor could God give to His chosen Mother.

And the Will of the Holy Spirit:
If we continue reading the same Gospel of Luke, we will read that when Mary visited Her Cousin Elizabeth, and upon hearing Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and uttered in a loud voice : “Blessed Art Thou amongst women, and Blessed is the Fruit of Thy Womb!” (Luke 1 : 41-43).

Isn’t this obvious? Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit while she was saying those words. It means that God - The Holy Spirit gave Elizabeth the exact phrase to salute Mary at that very moment. So, it is His will that this Blessed woman be blessed by the saint.

We can also read from Genesis 12:3 that the Lord God said to Abraham :

“I will bless the man who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

If God will bless those who bless Abraham and curse those who curses him, will He not also do the same to those who bless and loves Mary.

Summary :

If God the Father praised and honored Mary by saluting Her with “Hail! Full of Grace, The Lord is with you” and if God the Son honored Mary to be His Mother for all eternity and if God the Holy Spirit called Her “Blessed are you amongst woman”, then it is without doubt how much the Holy Trinity - our God, Creator of All Things honor, love, value and favored this Woman. The question is will we contradict God?

Thus, let us not contradict our Lord God. Let us conform to His Holy will by loving, honoring, blessing and praising this Blessed Woman as much as we could. Let us also love and honor the Saints and the Angels for the love of God.

 

[GailMac]

Good post Franjos!

We honor our Father in Heaven AND the Mother He gave us - Mary! Makes plenty of sense to me.

Imagine how surprised some converts will be when they get to Heaven with a question in their hearts about how they managed to convert, and they’ll see Mary smiling and know it was through her intercession that they became true children of God!

Peace,

Gail

 

[jean8]

Jean8,
As to not recreate some really, insightful and very knowledgable and beautiful posts, please go back and read this whole thread. I tried to go back to look at the pages where there has been so much scholarship and scripture to show this belief. But after a few pages, I realized that there is just too much you need to read and take in as a whole for me to give you a few page numbers. It will take a little time, but if you try to suspend your doubt, I truly believe you will see what we are talking about. It has to be difficult to open the door to a belief that you have never been taught and that is not supported in your Church. I am not sure what Church you go to, but I do know that it probably now has a tradition to teach what it teaches. No one questions what they are being taught because that is always what has been taught. Look at the writings of the ECF’s you will find support for almost anything there. We did not just create this. We did not just start intercessory prayer within the last few hundred years. We have done it from the beginning. The Apostles practiced intercessory prayer and wrote about it (in the NT.) ALL three Reformers believed in what we are talking about. Especially Martin Luther. Protestantism was founded on so much that doesn’t even exist within it anymore. We have never changed. The Communion of Saints is an awesome thing. Those who have died and gone to heaven before us are more alive than we are. They hear us. They pray for us. Mary hears us! Mary intercedes for us! It IS Biblical. It is beautiful. Please, as you go back to read from the beginning of this thread, just try to have an open mind, and let your faith of the Truth fill you with grace.

afh,
thank you for your response.
I have no doubts about praying to Mary or the saints. as I said, they do not possess the atttibutes of God./ why do you think they do. The Bible does not address this.
What Luther did does not impress me. He never intended to leave the Catholic church, When he did some of his beliefs followed him. We have come a long way since then.
See Rev.22:18-20

God bless,
jean8