Mary

[Marsha_Adams]

Was there a typo here? I don’t know anyone you prays to someone here on earth. That would be a problem.

No, there is no typo. To pray is to ask, to petition. When you ask your mother to iron your shirt you have just prayed to her. When I ask you to pray for me, I have prayed to you. In the English of the 1700’s and earlier it would be said this way, “I prithee, kind sir, could you direct me to the local ale house?” or, “I pray grant me leave to depart.”

Modern English would say it more informally. We are accused of praying to Mary and the Saints and so we do, but it would be perfectly true to say, no, we just talk to them and ask them for favors sometimes. Or, “no, man, I don’t pray to Mary, I just hang with her, ya know what I mean?”

What we do not do is worship and adore them.

 

[MH84]

No, there is no typo. To pray is to ask, to petition. When you ask your mother to iron your shirt you have just prayed to her. When I ask you to pray for me, I have prayed to you. In the English of the 1700’s and earlier it would be said this way, “I prithee, kind sir, could you direct me to the local ale house?” or, “I pray grant me leave to depart.”

Modern English would say it more informally. We are accused of praying to Mary and the Saints and so we do, but it would be perfectly true to say, no, we just talk to them and ask them for favors sometimes. Or, “no, man, I don’t pray to Mary, I just hang with her, ya know what I mean?”

What we do not do is worship and adore them.

Yeah, but when you pray to Mary, aren’t you actually asking her to pray for you. Or do you direct your petitions to her?

You can only pray to God really. He is the only One who can answer your prayer.

 

[nerddad]

Marsha’s reply reminds me of my son when he was little, he confused the meaning of the two words “ask” and “tell”…
he would say " i’m gonna ask Mom on you…" or " go tell your Mom if we can have some candy…"

very good explanation, BTW

 

[MH84]

Marsha’s reply reminds me of my son when he was little, he confused the meaning of the two words “ask” and “tell”…
he would say " i’m gonna ask Mom on you…" or " go tell your Mom if we can have some candy…"

very good explanation, BTW

You can’t ** tell ** anyone in Heaven what to do. You can only ask.

 

[Ilroy]

Well, I have never prayed to anyone on earth. If you do, that’s your business.

If you’ve ever asked someone to pray for your intentions then yes, you have prayed to someone on earth. See the dictionary for ALL meanings of the word pray.

 

[MH84]

If you’ve ever asked someone to pray for your intentions then yes, you have prayed to someone on earth. See the dictionary for ALL meanings of the word pray.

It seems like we’d be using a more archaic form of the word “pray”.

 

[mtr01]

It seems like we’d be using a more archaic form of the word “pray”.

That’s the problem with modern language, word meanings change over time. This is one reason the official language of the Catholic Church is Latin - the meanings of the words do not change.

Another example of these changing word meanings is found in England today. Members of their court system refer to judges as “your worship”, as the original meaning of the word “worship” was to “bestow honor upon” (which is why we call judges in the US “your honor”). I’m sure no one would accuse a British lawyer of confusing a judge with God, just because he uses the word “worship”.

When it comes to understanding Catholic worship, you would do yourself a favor by looking up the words:

dulia
hyperdulia
latria