First off I think it needs to be understood that one need not ever ask Mary (or any Saint) to intercede for them. It is simply an option. I got the impression from your post that you are under the idea that Catholics must pray to Mary in order for God to hear them. If I’m wrong please correct me. If that is correct then rest assurred no Catholic thinks that. Mary prays to her Son for us but that doesn’t stop us from praying to Him directly. Asking Mary to pray for us is in addition to asking Jesus ourselves.
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No, I do not think that one MUST pray to Mary, but the Catholic theology of Mary as Intercessor goes considerably beyond the general understanding of intercessory prayer, and I believe that it would misrepresent the Church’s position to say that asking Mary to pray for us is just like asking any other saint to pray for us. We could discuss this at length here, but perhaps to no avail.
There are numerous references, particularly from Pope John Paul, of Mary as Intercessor, whereas no other saint is spoken of in this way, certainly not to the same extent,
if at all.
Mary is placed in a very special position, even to the extent of the Church calling her Co-Redemptrix.
The clear impression conveyed by this title is that Mary shared in the redemption of the world, shared in Christ’s sacrifice, participated in an act that only God could perform.
Acts 4:11-12 makes it very clear:
“This is the stone which you, the builders, rejected but which has become the cornerstone. Only in him is there salvation; for of all the names in the world given to men, this is the only one by which we can be saved.” There is no room for misinterpretation here, no room for someone to share in redemption.
If the Church doesn’t really mean what the term conveys, why use the term in the full knowledge that it will create misunderstanding?
Similarly, the Church reasons that Mary was without sin, but this directly refutes Paul’s words in Romans 3:9,23, and other similar passages.
The Catholic Church has elevated Mary to the point where some now point to the Church as that of “Jesus and Mary”, rather than simply Jesus. I agree that this is a derisory term, and is not the Church’s intention.
However, the extent to which the Church, and particularly recent Popes like John Paul, have espoused and advanced the Marian doctrine has led many, both within and without, to see Mary as placed well above what can reasonably be interpreted from Scripture. Though again I acknowledge that the Church is against it, the zeal of the Church to elevate Mary above all other saints has led many Catholics into error, actually to the point of worshipping her.
There are many who pray more to Mary than directly to Jesus, whose prayer litany is almost entirely the rosary.
I often used to wonder why the priest in confession would assign numerous recitations of the rosary as penance, in apparent contradiction of Matthew 6:7.
How do I know this?
Though you think me a Protestant, I was in fact raised and schooled in the Catholic faith, my extended family is Catholic, and I am intimately aware of how they practice their faith.
If the Church has the wisdom it claims to have, it should know that the advocacy of Mary, the bestowing of some 50 titles, would inevitably lead to misunderstanding. A wise church would have handled it differently, but then again, maybe some Church leaders are deliberate in their attempt to have Mary placed where many erroneously see her.
Reading “The Glories of Mary” by St Alphonsus de Liguori, I am overwhelmed by where this theology has taken people.
So back to the original point.
Though your response conveys a conservative tone and perhaps your more accurate and temperate understanding of Mary, the frequent emphasis given by many within the Church conveys to most that Mary is more than just a mere saint, albeit the mother of Jesus as Man, she is the Ark of the New Covenant, Co-Remptrix, our Intercessor with God.
I’m sorry, of Mary Scripture says “
Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Luke 1:42). Beyond that, what the Catholic Church says of Mary is mostly read into Scripture, not derived from Scripture, and appeal to Tradition is unconvincing so far as I have been able to ascertain, with no prejudice or personal preference as to what to believe.
