I think that is the first time I’ve ever done something like that; I mean, that wasn’t even close! Not the same letters, or syllables, or rhyming or nothing! NOTHING!
Anyway, I have read of a case (I believe this was real and not just a story) where an Italian woman bowed before a statue of Mary and started praying through Our Lady, then saying the Hail Mary, and then, talking to Mary like she would any other woman who had children. She was talking to her mother-to-mother because Mary would understand what she is going through with her adult son and you know, sometimes you just need a friend to talk to who will understand.
I am including this in the hopes that it is read by the OP when she can log back on to her sister* to see it’s not just for intentions. Of course, I don’t know if this reflects anybody here and I don’t know if you’ll count it because it’s not first hand.
*Deliberate.
Maybe it’s some kind of Freudian slip.
What you wrote here made me think of prayers and how they are worded and how personal they can be. I know that a lot of non-Catholics believe we pray to statues, which always seemed a bit weird of an idea for anyone to have.
My neighbor’s Mom passed away and one day about six months later I was at my neighbor’s house - we were getting ready to go somewhere. Right before we walked out the door she picked up a framed photo of her Mom and kissed it.
I wonder what these same people would make of this incident. I suppose they would think that my neighbor was under the assumption that she was actually kissing her Mom. Uh, right.
Or what about people who go to cemeteries, plop themselves down on the grass in front of the marker and have a heart-to-heart talk with their late mother or father or other loved one? I don’t see anything wrong with it. In fact, I think it is very healthy, unless of course, one spends all of one’s time there and doesn’t get on with one’s life.
I know the OP hasn’t brought this up - all this stuff about praying to statues and things like that, but maybe some people are reading this thread and need to know that Catholics do not pray to statues and we do not worship Mary as a divine god or even a demi-god.
She is the most blessed human being ever created (with the exception of Jesus, who is all man and all God) and is loved deeply by Jesus. To be Christ-like, we should love her, too.
I wonder if Fair Lady has ever emailed the webmaster of the site she took the prayers from to tell him/her of her concerns. It may very well be possible that the prayers are using archaic language, or were translated from another language and something was lost. I haven’t read the prayers for a long time and I only read them once, but they seemed a bit “old” to me - I mean time-wise.
But I still believe that the most important point is that they are personal prayers and the webmaster has stated that he/she is not a representative of the Catholic Church, his/her diocese, or his/her parish. It’s very easy for anyone to set up a blog and print whatever they want to print. In fact, a post on this thread was deleted a few days ago because it provided a link to an unapproved website with info about visions of Mary that have not been verified by the Church, yet the poster stated that the prayers associated with that website are approved.
) such as the Virgin Mary, Joseph (by tradition, experienced a very peacefull “death”) and the like, as well as enumerable examples you’ve already found directly in scripture.