And I can’t find any official Catholic teaching saying its acceptable to pray things like “Mary I give myself to you” or “give me your heart, Mary.”
Many saints who promoted these types of prayer practices, for example St. Louis de Montfort and St. Maximilian Kolbe, have been canonized. That carries an implicit, and sometimes explicit, acknowledgement that it is fine to pray in the same manner as the canonized person of heroic virtue. Prayers of this type are also included in many prayer books with Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, indicating that the Church permits the faithful to say the prayers and they are not dangerous to faith or morals.
Asking the VIrgin Mary for protection is a traditional practice that goes back to the early Church. The oldest Marian hymn is the prayer
Sub Tuum Praesidium
which is usually translated into modern English as
We fly to Thy protection,
O Holy Mother of God;
Do not despise our petitions in our necessities,
but deliver us always from all dangers,
O Glorious and Blessed Virgin. Amen.
Pope Francis recently adapted this into a prayer against coronavirus and asked Catholics to say it every day. So obviously it’s still fine to say, as we have been doing for centuries.
The
Memorare, which dates to the 15th century, likewise asks for Mary’s protection and has Vatican approval.
Asking Mary to protect us against evil is quite natural in view of her role in Scripture as the new Eve, crushing the head of the evil serpent.
As for asking saints for healing, we understand when we ask them that they heal via the power of God working through them. St. Peter for example healed a man in Scripture, in the name of Jesus. Saints can do the same. The healing does not come directly from them but from God affirming their holiness and faith by healing, sometimes miraculously, through their intercession.
But I was looking for official doctrine or statements about why they are allowd or how they are to be interpreted
With all due respect, Catholics have been praying in this manner since the earliest days of the Church; it’s based in Scripture and tradition. We also know to look for nihil obstats and we know that very old prayers are okay or else they would have been gone long ago. You’re not finding a book spelling this out because we generally don’t need one.
One might think that he might then have mine but nope. My sock drawer is the dumping ground for other people’s socks and nobody knows where mine are. Looks like that sock monster likes to pay regular visits to my house too.
