Praying to Mary

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centuri0n

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Do Catholics pray to Mary?

If so, in what way is the word “pray” here different than the word “pray” in the following sentence:

"And God, whom I so love to worship and serve by spreading the good news of his Son–the Message!-knows that every time I think of you in my prayers, which is practically all the time, I ask him to clear the way for me to come and see you. "(Rom 1:9-10, MSG)
 
Centurion–Are you here on this forum to learn and understand? Do you come with an open mind and heart? Or do you come to incite and inflame, and seek to convert to your non-Catholic way?

While I love being Catholic and believe Catholicism is the one true Church founded by Christ, I accept that not all Christians are of the same opinion. I hope that non-Catholics coming to a Catholic forum would at least be respectful. Surely they wouldn’t come to my home and then insult me, the hostess, with poor conduct.
 
Centuri0n,

Not liking to reinvent the wheel, I hope you will not be offended if I use posts I made a few years ago in response to a similar question on the StudyBibleForum, a Protestant site of the publishers of the NASB, even though they do address the specific verse you mention.

You ask: “am I wrong in thinking that you pray to Mary …?”

Catholics pray “to” Mary and the saints only in the same sense that we would ask a friend or family member to pray for us or with us about any matter. Catholics believe in the “communion of saints.” That is we believe that God is the God of the living (Matt 22:32), and that all those who are in Christ are alive in him even after physical death. In a sense after they die they are with Him in an even deeper and intimate sense than we are here on earth. But still Jesus, is the vine and we are all the branches on earth heaven that trust in Him and obey (John 15:1-10).

St. Paul in his epistles often asks for the prayers of his congregations and assures them of his prayers for them. He also speaks of being physically absent from them but with them in the spirit (1 Cor. 5:3, Col. 2:5). Although he was alive on the earth at the time he wrote, the same principle applies after death if God is the God of the living, not of the dead. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are dead in the physical sense, but counted among the living by Jesus in Matt 22:32. And so to live in Christ is to transcend the separation of death by faith, hope and charity (1 Cor. 13:13).

In the Book of Revelation we see the Church in heaven praising God (Rev 4) and praying before God for the Church on earth (Rev 6:9-11 and 7:9-8:5).

See also Hebrews 11 especially 11:40 through 12-4 that speaks of how those who have gone before us are bound together with us in salvation and are a great cloud of witnesses as we continue in our struggle against sin. So we ask them to pray with us and for us before the throne of God, starting with Mary, God’s own chosen vessel, and all the saints throughout the ages as well as those struggling here with us.

So the answer depends on what you mean when you say pray “to” Mary. It is more like asking Mary or the saints to pray with me in Jesus. We are united in Him as the body of Christ whether in the flesh or in the spirit. “What can separate from the love of God…” Romans 5:35

We do pray “to” Mary in the old sense of the word in this case. Such as Elizabethean english, i.e. “I pray you Sir, hear me out and join me in prayer to the Lord on this matter.” It is a pleading to the person of dignity being addressed. In the case of the Hail Mary the prayer says “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus! Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.” You see that we are first “praying the scriptures” Luke 1:28, 42, 48, 43, and then we are asking Mary to pray for us to the Lord even as I might ask you to do the same. For “the prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16. I might add that Catholics are not required to pray to Mary. But then we are not required to ask anyone else to pray with or for us either. It is simply the natural and scriptural thing to do. Family members and friend pray with and for one another. We are the family of God.
 
How else are we to ask Mary to pray for us?

Shall we contact her via Cell phone? (1-800-THEOTOKOS) 🙂

I know, we’ll send her e-mail (Theotokos AT pearlygates DOT heaven DOT org)

Let’s send her snail mail: Theotokos, 1 Gebirah palance, Heaven 00001-0001

🙂

Obviously, I’m being facetious. Scripture says we are to ask each other for intercessions (1 tim 2:1) and where does it say that obligation goes away once someone dies, in the Bible? Nowhere.
 
You might want to review 2 Mac 12, 38-46 on how the Jews felt about praying to the “dead”. We know as Christians of course that the saints are not dead.
 
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Tom:
You might want to review 2 Mac 12, 38-46 on how the Jews felt about praying to the “dead”. We know as Christians of course that the saints are not dead.
Right. If the Christians who have passed over to eternal life are dead, then Christ didn’t keep His promise, and it is time to buy some Yammulkas and go to Synagogue instead.
 
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centuri0n:
Do Catholics pray to Mary?

If so, in what way is the word “pray” here different than the word “pray” in the following sentence:

"And God, whom I so love to worship and serve by spreading the good news of his Son–the Message!-knows that every time I think of you in my prayers, which is practically all the time, I ask him to clear the way for me to come and see you. "(Rom 1:9-10, MSG)
It totally depends on which definition of ‘pray’ is used (from dictionary.com):

To utter or address a prayer or prayers to God, a god, or another object of worship.
To make a fervent request or entreaty.
To utter or say a prayer or prayers to; address by prayer.
To ask (someone) imploringly; beseech. Now often used elliptically for I pray you to introduce a request or entreaty: Pray be careful.
To make a devout or earnest request for: I pray your permission to speak.
To move or bring by prayer or entreaty.

Catholics understand praying to mary is understood as asking/beging/requesting Mary for intercession, not that she answers prayers.
 
besides, everyone knows that heaven’s phone number is

Et Cum Spiri 22O
 
**Excellent job, Emmaus!!**! Prayer to Mary, the Saints, and the Angeles **could not be explained any better ** then you did above. I have found that protestants do not accept the concept of the “communion of saints” as we do. They do not seem to understand the three divisions of the Church (Militant, Suffering, Triumphant), but remaining one Mystical Body in communion with each other under the Head, our Lord. **Outstanding explanation ** !!!
 
You are right to say that we pray to mary but wrong to assume that our prayer stops there. Praying to mary is no different than praying to another christian on earth, but that Mary is with God in heaven and has bibical proof that her intercession works. Take the wedding feast at cannan for example a request was made by Mary to Jesus and it ended in him preforming his fist public Miracle.
 
I believe Emmaus did a good job with his response, but I would like to add something.

Catholics adore God; we venerate the saints. The distinction is made quite clearly in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. If I am allowed to ask my friends to pray for me, what is wrong with asking the saints in heaven, our departed bretheren, to pray for us, too? These people certainly aren’t dead, but live in Christ.

Good post, Emmaus. You saved me some time. 🙂
 
CCC 960:
The Church is a “communion of saints”: this expression refers first to the “holy things” (sancta) above all the Eucharist, by which the unity of believers, who form one body in Christ, is both represented and brought about.

961: The term “communion of saints” refers also to the communion of “holy persons” (sancti) in Christ who “died for all”. so that each one who suffers in and for Christ bears fruit for all.

962: We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion, the merciful love of God and his saints is always attentive to our prayers.
 
BobCatholic (How else are we to ask Mary to pray for us?) it’s wrong and YOU DON’T NEED to ask Mary to pray for you because there is one God, and ONE MEDIATOR between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy: 5). Isn’t Jesus the ONLY mediator good enough for you?
 
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homer:
BobCatholic (How else are we to ask Mary to pray for us?) it’s wrong and YOU DON’T NEED to ask Mary to pray for you because there is one God, and ONE MEDIATOR between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy: 5). Isn’t Jesus the ONLY mediator good enough for you?
Don’t you ask friends to pray for you?
 
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homer:
BobCatholic (How else are we to ask Mary to pray for us?) it’s wrong and YOU DON’T NEED to ask Mary to pray for you because there is one God, and ONE MEDIATOR between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy: 5). Isn’t Jesus the ONLY mediator good enough for you?
homer,

Is it wrong to ask someone to pray for you? Is it wrong to ask Mary to pray for us (she is a little bit closer to Jesus than we are). Since we don’t expect Mary to be the instigator of what we are praying for (God is the ultimate instigator), we are still looking for Jesus to be the one mediator.

John
 
UtahMaggie first of all i DON’T ask friends to pray for me, why should I? It doens’t make sense. Do they have more access to God??

Second, when a group of people sit together and pray they are all praying together and not one person praying for another person.

Third, it seems that you didn’t consider the verse that i posted. There is only ONE mediator that is Jesus Christ. Come on people why do we need other mediators?

We had the ultimate gift given to us for free! Jesus Christ came and died for us. When you say that we need other mediators it’s like saying that the work done by Jesus isn’t good enough and we still need human beings to make a link between us and God.
 
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