Persons

[billcu1]

I don’t know if this is the right place to post this or not but my priest told me to get to the son, christ, you have to go through Mary. I asked to get to the father you go through the son then and he said yes. How does one get to the holy spirit. This is the one in three and I would like to understand this more. What do each of these persons do? For example, if one wanted healing would they go to Christ through Mary or to the father through the son. He then replied while walking away.“That is theology though”. What did he mean?

 

[Trishie]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches

Paragraph 2634
Intercession is a prayer of petition which leads us to pray as Jesus did. He is the one intercessor with the Father on behalf of all men, especially sinners.112 He is "able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them."113 The Holy Spirit "himself intercedes for us . . . and intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."114

Paragraph 2680
Prayer is primarily addressed to the Father; it can also be directed toward Jesus, particularly by the invocation of his holy name: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners.”

Paragraph 2682
“Because of Mary’s singular cooperation with the action of the Holy Spirit, the Church loves to pray in communion with the Virgin Mary”

We ask Mary to pray for and with us because she was so faithful and her heart was direct to her divine Son,
because Jesus made her our Mother from the Cross,
and remembering at that the wedding feast of Cana, Mary asked Jesus for a miracle for the hosts of the feast, and though He replied it wasn’t time for Him to do miracles yet,
He still made a miracle in answer to her request, so we know her prayers have special power with Jesus

 

[Trishie]

Luke 11:1, “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his
disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Jesus then taught them what we call ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ or 'The Our Father”

So you see, Jesus gave us permission to speak directly the the Father.

In Confirmation You received the Holy Spirit into your life, so you can pray to the Holy Spirit in your heart and mind.

Romans 8:26-28 says: “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot
express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him…”

I think the priest realized that questions about prayer can be complex and sometimes it is difficult to explain everything when there are so many aspects requiring thought. I think he wan’t expecting such a deep question so he didn’t answer you fully. The truths in his reply needed further explanation, which other people may further elucidate for you

 

[Mystic_Banana]

…so in other words, you don’t *have * to go through Mary. Right? Catholics are often accused of raising Our Lady to the rank of a Demi-God - these kinds of statements just encourage that perception!!

 

[fred_conty]

I don’t know if this is the right place to post this or not but my priest told me to get to the son, christ, you have to go through Mary. I asked to get to the father you go through the son then and he said yes. How does one get to the holy spirit. This is the one in three and I would like to understand this more. What do each of these persons do? For example, if one wanted healing would they go to Christ through Mary or to the father through the son. He then replied while walking away.“That is theology though”. What did he mean?

Hi Billcu,

You may pray to the Father, or to the Son, or to the Holy Ghost, directly and in Person
without going thru any of the other Divine Persons. You may pray to all three divine persons as the Blessed Trinity, or as God. You may also ask Mary to pray for you, or any
other saint to pray for you, or any angel to pray for you directly. You may also ask anyone on earth to pray for you directly.

“Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and every shall be, world without end. Amen.”

The Church in the divine liturgy usually addresses prayer to the Father, and ends the prayer by saying something like, “thru Jesus Chirst, your Son, our Lord. Amen.” Because it was thru Jesus we are saved and because nothing is more pleasing to the Father than to offer everything in honor of his beloved Son.

We are baptised by the Spirit into one body, making of our own body the temples of the
Holy Spirit whom we should reflect upon and pray to Him within us. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. We need the Spirit to understand sprititual things. The man without the Spirit cannot accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned. We pray to the Holy Spirit especially for for wisdom, and guidance, and understanding. Before all decisions we should pray for his direction.