Is Mary more merciful than Jesus

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Paxinterrahominibus

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Hello everyone. I have been asking myself this question since I converted to Catholicism (from protestantism).

There seems to be the underlying assumption in Catholic practice that the Virgin Mary is more merciful than Jesus. The whole point of Mary’s position as “mother of mercy”, etc, (and the supposed claims she made in apparitions such as Fatima) implies that Jesus’ mercy is limited, to the point that he will at some point refuse the prayers of sinners. By contrast, Mary is more merciful because she will listen to those prayers that Jesus rejects, and have mercy and try to convince her Son…and then God will only grant us grace because of His mother and not because of Himself.

I don’t know it that is clear, but to me it is a real struggle. Jesus is God and God is infinite, Mary is only a creature. How could she be more merciful than Jesus, to the point that when recourse to him is barred because of our sins (but then here again I thought that Jesus was precisely here to advocate for sinners before His Father, so the idea of him rejecting a sinner’s prayers for MERCY appears nowhere in the Gospel), recourse to Mary wouldn’t be ? It really doesn’t make sense to me, actually I almost find it blasphemous. I really want to understand as I want to be fully Catholic.

Thank you for any explanation on this topic.
God bless !
 
She’s not “more merciful than Jesus” because Jesus is infinitely merciful. It is impossible to be more merciful than him when he decides to be merciful. God’s mercy is unlimited.

We pray this in the Divine Mercy ending prayer, “Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless…”

She is our mediatrix with Jesus, so she can plead on our behalf for Jesus to be merciful. Think of Jesus like a judge and Mary is our defense lawyer when we go before Jesus.
 
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Jesus, being God, also must be just. But in His Infinite Mercy, he wanted to protect us from His Justice. That’s why He created Mary to be His Immaculate Mother and our Advocate. As you say, Mary is a creature. So Christ and the whole Trinity made her as she is. So there is no competition. Mary’s role as Mother of Mercy comes from Christ Himself. It is a mystery, and so we cannot fully grasp it. But in no way does this doctrine detract from the Infinity of Christ’s Mercy. Rather, it reveals Christ’s Infinite Mercy.
 
Your reasoning is sound, so naturally, you should be confident that the allegations are false.

By definition, since mercy, as an attribute of God, is indistinguishable from God’s essence, then one must conclude that there is no comparison. Jesus’ mercy is infinite, while Mary’s role is intercessory. She is mother of mercy because the is The Mother of Mercy (Mercy = God = Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity).

This thing about “Jesus will strike if not for is Mother’s intercession” is imperfect, and almost a caricature. There is a proper Catholic teaching on Mary’s intercessory role in the order of grace, and it is not this. As you have already rightly surmised, it is not possible for Mary, a creature, to be more merciful than Jesus.

Also, check out the approved Litanies (compare, for example, the Litany of Loreto and the Litany of the Sacred Heart). Compare the invocations to God and the invocations to the Blessed Virgin and the saints. For every invocation to God, the response is, “R. Have mercy on us.” But to the Blessed Virgin, the response is “R. Pray for us.”

Private revelation and pious writings are not the best place to start learning about the Catholic faith. Start with the Catechism.
 
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Yes, and by His Grace and Will, He gives all of His Mercy through a creature: His Mother and ours, the New Eve.
 
patricius79 said:
It is a mystery, and so we cannot fully grasp it.
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Yes, I think that’s right. Also, if anyone asked me to measure either Jesus’ mercy or Mary’s mercy, I would be at a loss; I wouldn’t have the slightest idea about how to go about doing that task.

Hey, does anybody have a mercy meter? I think I need to get one. 🙂
 
We will never, even in Heaven, fully understand the Infinite Mercy of Jesus in making a creature, Mary, worthy by grace to be His Mother, and then giving her to each of us as our own Mother.
 
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Paxinterrahominibus said:
Jesus was precisely here to advocate for sinners before His Father, so the idea of him rejecting a sinner’s prayers for MERCY appears nowhere in the Gospel
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Well, there was Paul & that thorn in his side.

St Louis de Montford shares a reflection on Isaac’s blessing of Jacob. Esau is the first born & favored by Isaac. Isaac calls Esau specifically to give him his blessing.

Rachel, who favors Jacob dresses him so Isaac would bless Jacob, thinking he is the first born.

St de Montford says it is the same with Mary’s children. She dresses us up like the first born & presents us to the Father.

Not to deceive the Father, but because she knows that is what the Father likes.
 
Paxinterrahominibus said:
so the idea of him rejecting a sinner’s prayers for MERCY appears nowhere in the Gospel
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Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
She is our mediatrix with Jesus, so she can plead on our behalf for Jesus to be merciful. Think of Jesus like a judge and Mary is our defense lawyer when we go before Jesus.
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I still don’t understand this analogy tbh. If jesus is more merciful, then why do we need Mary to plead on our behalf? What’s the difference between her pleading for us VS us doing it ourselves?
 
Lea101 said:
why do we need Mary to plead on our behalf?
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It’s not that we “need” Mary, it’s the way He wants it. The order He set.

I think it helps to think of Mary as the Church, Mother Church. We can (& do) plead to the Father outside the Church & He hears & answers our prayers.

But it is still more pleasing when we pray as the Body of Christ through the Church.
 
Justin_Mary said:
It’s not that we “need” Mary, it’s the way He wants it. The order He set.

I think it helps to think of Mary as the Church, Mother Church. We can (& do) plead to the Father outside the Church & He hears & answers our prayers.

But it is still more pleasing when we pray as the Body of Christ through the Church.
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Tbh I don’t think this answers my question. Also, aren’t we all the church? Is it ‘more effective’ then, to ask Mary to intercede for us, and if so, why?
 
St. Augustine once wrote that God will give us certain graces only through the merits of the Saints. Example: You have 2 friends. Friend B is not on good terms with Friend A but Friend B needs a favor from Friend A. Friend B asks you to talk to Friend A on his behalf. You go to Friend A and talk to him. Friend A is still not on good terms with Friend B, but he will do the favor because you’re his friend.

Does that help?
 
Margaret_Ann said:
Friend B is not on good terms with Friend A but Friend B needs a favor from Friend A. Friend B asks you to talk to Friend A on his behalf. You go to Friend A and talk to him. Friend A is still not on good terms with Friend B, but he will do the favor because you’re his friend.
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Isn’t this kind of what the OP was talking about? If Jesus wouldn’t have mercy on me when I ask for it, but he would listen to Mary, because she asked on my behalf?
 
I think when you’re a kid and you do something wrong, who do you want to tell first? Tell mom or tell dad? I think we have an impression that mom will go easier on us. If dad finds out he’ll kill me. lol
 
Lea101 said:
I still don’t understand this analogy tbh. If jesus is more merciful, then why do we need Mary to plead on our behalf? What’s the difference between her pleading for us VS us doing it ourselves?
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The other people have given you good responses. I would add the following:
  1. Jesus is very merciful once he decides to be merciful. It’s pretty clear that he doesn’t just give mercy to everybody indiscriminately. You need to ask for it and be disposed to receive it. See also the Wedding at Cana when Jesus wasn’t going to bestir himself to do anything until Mary talked him into it.
  2. Please review the threads on this forum about why we do intercessory prayer generally. It’s not that we can’t ask Jesus directly, it’s that we also entreat our heavenly friends, of which Mary is our best friend, to help us ask. If you’re going to be one of those people with a hangup about intercessory prayer then that’s you’re hangup; it’s Scripturally based.
  3. In addition, as Justin_Mary said, Jesus GAVE us Mary for our mother and he wants us to enlist her help. Why would you not want to include Jesus’ mother in your prayer life, as Jesus wants? If you were trying to influence a powerful person to decide some matter in your favor, and you happened to meet his mother at a party, would you not try to get her to put in a good word for you? Or would you just ignore her and say, “Hey, I can just call up Mr. Big so I don’t have to bother with Mr. Big’s mom”. Wouldn’t you think that maybe Mr. Big would be miffed that you ignored his mother at the party?
I get tired of all the “but why can’t we go straight to Jesus” on here. No one is saying you CAN’T. They’re simply saying that there are benefits to also asking the help of Mary. And that Jesus encourages us to do that very thing.
 
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