This answered some questions for me as far as praying to Mary goes see reply

[seetiger33]

The vocal part of the Rosary has prayers straight to Jesus. Even the “Hail Mary” is not a prayer to Mary. The Catechism calls the Rosary a “Marian Prayer.” That is because we are asking Mary to Pray for us (We are not praying to her). It is asking her to pray for us. She is interceding the same way a Pastor might pray for you or me. We think she is a kicking prayer warrior. Even better than Evangelical pastors. The Rosary says “Pray for us sinners” I would ask you to pray for me, why wouldn’t I ask her? I have no problem asking Mary to pray for me, I think she is quite good at it. If she is in heaven like Martin Luther said, then she is a serious prayer warrior.

EVERYONE AGREE??? My QUESTION IS STILL WHY NOT ASK ABRAHAM, NOAH, ANY OF THE DICIPLES, ANY OF THE GREAT PROPHETS OF THE WORD TO PRAY FOR US? Why Mary? And how is it Biblical? I have never found of any referance in the gospels were anybody asked mary to pray for them…

Is Christ not good enough? Dont you think by him going straight to God the Father it dont get any better than that? Better yet why not pray to God the Father himself?

 

[Sandtigress]

Why ask anyone else to pray for you then? Surely, at some point in your life, you have asked a friend, a family member, someone, to pray on your behalf. Was Jesus not enough then?

St. Paul actually encourages us to pray on behalf of each other - “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and pleasing to God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:1–4)

So praying for one another is not wrong, and asking each other to pray on our behalf is not wrong, it is very Biblical. Why Mary? As the Mother of our Savior, she understandably has a very special relationship with Him. Remember the wedding at Cana (John 2). The wedding party runs out of wine, and Mary turns to Jesus and tells Him of the problem. He asks her “Woman, what does that have to do with me? My time has not yet come.” In other words, He had not planned on revealing Himself yet. But she turns back to the servants, and says “Do whatever He tells you to” and Jesus then turns water into wine - at the request of His Mother!

Mary, like the ancient queens of the Davidic kingdom (remember, the queen was the mother of the king - not his wife for he had many wives!), brings our petitions before the King, even as Ester did in the Old Testament. While she is presenting our supplications, she gives us the greatest advice we could ever hope to receive - “Do whatever He tells you!” And when those requests do not go against His holy Will, He answers them!

So yes, we should offer our own prayers, and yes, we can ask our earthly friends and those in heaven such as Abraham and Moses and Noah to pray for us, but when we have such a powerful advocate as Jesus’ own Mother, how can we ignore that?

 

[seetiger33]

I ask people to pray for me constantly. I just dont ask those that have gone to sleep to pray seems a little like praying to the dead. Obviously im missing something here. My point is I want biblical proof and examples were people in biblical times prayed to those that had left this earth and went to heaven? My father passed away recently and i can promise you he isnt worried about his past life hes to busy getting ready for the marriage supper of the lamb. And notice in 1 Tim of your passage it isnt speaking of the dead.

 

[Sandtigress]

But the dead in Jesus are even more alive than we are right now, right? Matthew 22:32 “I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” Notice the “I am” and not “I was” - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are very much alive in Christ, though they might not be alive on earth.

There are also many comparisons of the people of Christ as the “Body of Christ” and the “branches of a vine”. Do people cease to be part of the Body when they perish, are they removed from the vine when they die? Or do they remain a part, though not in a way we can very easily understand? Each part of a body communicates with another, each part of a vine is connected to the rest - so are we all connected in the Body of Christ - whether we are alive here on earth, or alive in Christ in heaven.

 

[scylla]

Since Jesus said God is the God of the living, and “the prayer of a rightous person avails” much then people who are rightous are a little more effective as prayer warriors than plain old people.

If Mary isn’t in heaven, who the heck is? so, since it can be literally a waste of time to ask somebody I know to pray for me, especially since they might just say they are Christian, but don’t even walk the walk then it is much better use of my time to ask righteous people to pray for me. (righteous for sure not just because they are my friends)
Since my intent is to respect and honor my Mother Mary. Since I try to imitate Jesus, I pray the Our Father and honor my Mother Mary, and ask her to pray for me.

I am pretty sure no-one asked Mary to pray for them in the Bibles since she probably was still alive during that time, and they weren’t trying to write a manual for the faith but outline Jesus’s ministry and correct error.

Hopefully that is kinda clear, I was very queamy about having anything to do with Mary when I came back to the Church. Even though me might not insult Mary, at Calvary Chapel, we rarely praised her, we were more likely to praise Ruth or Esther. I find Mary brings me even closer to Jesus as I participate more fully as part of His family, by taking her as my mother.

Now many Catholics will ask certain Saints to pray for them in addition to petitioning God. I ask the Holy Spirit to guide me when I share my faith and also then ask Saint Jerome to keep praying for me when I am discussing it. Especially when those Jehovah’s Witnesses come a knocking.

Now about Noah, maybe someone else will answer that better, I just feel closer to the Saints of the New Testament and Mary than the prophets of old. I am pretty sure there is a Litany of the Old Testament Saints which includes Noah and Esther, etc…
Just search it on Google.

God Bless
Scylla

P.S.
We Catholics are forbidden to pray to the dead, in the mindset of seances or conjuring that sort of thing. We pray as part of God’s family with that mindset which is united as one.

 

[LittleDeb]

seetiger33:

I ask people to pray for me constantly. I just dont ask those that have gone to sleep to pray seems a little like praying to the dead. Obviously im missing something here. My point is I want biblical proof and examples were people in biblical times prayed to those that had left this earth and went to heaven? My father passed away recently and i can promise you he isnt worried about his past life hes to busy getting ready for the marriage supper of the lamb. And notice in 1 Tim of your passage it isnt speaking of the dead.

It’s also helpful to get a complete Bible so you can read about praying for the dead. Some of those missing books taken out of the Protestant Bibles were removed because they addressed these very issues.

 

[Semper_Fi_1]

seetiger33:

The vocal part of the Rosary has prayers straight to Jesus. Even the “Hail Mary” is not a prayer to Mary. The Catechism calls the Rosary a “Marian Prayer.” That is because we are asking Mary to Pray for us (We are not praying to her). It is asking her to pray for us. She is interceding the same way a Pastor might pray for you or me. We think she is a kicking prayer warrior. Even better than Evangelical pastors. The Rosary says “Pray for us sinners” I would ask you to pray for me, why wouldn’t I ask her? I have no problem asking Mary to pray for me, I think she is quite good at it. If she is in heaven like Martin Luther said, then she is a serious prayer warrior.

EVERYONE AGREE??? My QUESTION IS STILL WHY NOT ASK ABRAHAM, NOAH, ANY OF THE DICIPLES, ANY OF THE GREAT PROPHETS OF THE WORD TO PRAY FOR US? Why Mary? And how is it Biblical? I have never found of any referance in the gospels were anybody asked mary to pray for them…

Is Christ not good enough? Dont you think by him going straight to God the Father it dont get any better than that? Better yet why not pray to God the Father himself?

Go right ahead and ask all of them to pray for you.

It’s easy to say: just say, “All the saints and angels pray for me to the Lord our God.”

We believe that because Mary said “Yes,” to God and was a good and faithful servant, that by her obedience, Christ was brought into the world for you and me. She was obedient… and even her Son was obedient because He would not break the 4th commandment. He even performed His first public miracle during the wedding at Cana by turning wine into water when His mother asked Him. He began His public ministry at the request of His mother. This comes down to one of the central tenants of the Christian faith… the communion of saints. We, as Christians, believe that we are all members of one body, and as such can intercede for another member of the body. We do not believe that time and space or even physical death separate ANY member of the body. Once a member of the body, always a member of the body. We believe that once we have been called home to Heaven to be saints with Christ… that we will still pray for others on Earth.

Mary said, “my soul doth magnify the Lord” and that “all generations shall call me blessed”. She was the first Christian and the mother of our God. She is not mother the mother of God by her own power, but she was the mother of Christ because she was faithful to God the Father. We, as Christians believe that Jesus Christ is fully God & fully man, hence Mary is called “mother of God” because to deny that she is mother of God is to deny the divinity of Christ.

So, it’s not an “either or” situation, because as Mary says, her soul magnifies the Lord. She is a creature and not some goddess, and only intercedes for us because she is a faithful mother.

Also… you really should learn the Rosary before deciding whether it’s “good” or “bad”… it’s not just a bunch of Hail Marys, Glory Be’s, Our Fathers, etc… it is an awesmoe meditation. We have 5 “mysterys” we pray along with the actual prayers themselves. Each of the mysteries concentrates on a specific point of Christ’s life and ministry.

God bless!

P.S. You should read and see what the early Christians believed about the Blessed Mother here: scripturecatholic.com/blessed_virgin_mary.html and see which view fits in with the Catholic view of the Protestant view.

 

[jimmy]

seetiger33:

The vocal part of the Rosary has prayers straight to Jesus. Even the “Hail Mary” is not a prayer to Mary. The Catechism calls the Rosary a “Marian Prayer.” That is because we are asking Mary to Pray for us (We are not praying to her). It is asking her to pray for us. She is interceding the same way a Pastor might pray for you or me. We think she is a kicking prayer warrior. Even better than Evangelical pastors. The Rosary says “Pray for us sinners” I would ask you to pray for me, why wouldn’t I ask her? I have no problem asking Mary to pray for me, I think she is quite good at it. If she is in heaven like Martin Luther said, then she is a serious prayer warrior.

EVERYONE AGREE??? My QUESTION IS STILL WHY NOT ASK ABRAHAM, NOAH, ANY OF THE DICIPLES, ANY OF THE GREAT PROPHETS OF THE WORD TO PRAY FOR US? Why Mary? And how is it Biblical? I have never found of any referance in the gospels were anybody asked mary to pray for them…

Is Christ not good enough? Dont you think by him going straight to God the Father it dont get any better than that? Better yet why not pray to God the Father himself?

I agree pretty much with what it says. But I would use the phrase ‘pray to’ a little different. I would say that we do pray to Mary, but the phrase simply means to ask or to beg. We ask for her to pray for us.

We ask for the prayers of all the saints. In the confiteor it says, “Therefore, I beseech blessed Mary ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy apostles Peter and Paul, and all the saints, to pray for me to the Lord our God. Amen.” We constantly seek the prayers of all the saints. We ask for our brothers on earth to pray for us and we ask for our brothers in heaven to pray for us. It is one communion that is consistent of those who are on earth and those who are in heaven and those who will enter heaven.

All prayer is to God. All prayer is offered in worship of God. When we are praying we are asking of God for His aid. Even if I say the Hail Mary, the ulitmate objective of that prayer is to Christ and God. I could pray directly to the Father but God created us as one body that we should support eachother. Paul speaks of the gifts that have been given to specific people. They were given for the sake of the whole Church, not that individual. We are one body in Christ. We are supposed to help eachother and work together. Paul asks for others prayers and says that he is praying for them. Do you see the communion in his letters?

Of course Christ is good enough; all our prayers go through Him. We recieve our salvation from Him. He is the author of our salvation. He is God. He is more than good enough, but Christ is the one who established the Church and prays that it will be one. He made us one body.

 

[jimmy]

seetiger33:

I ask people to pray for me constantly. I just dont ask those that have gone to sleep to pray seems a little like praying to the dead. Obviously im missing something here. My point is I want biblical proof and examples were people in biblical times prayed to those that had left this earth and went to heaven? My father passed away recently and i can promise you he isnt worried about his past life hes to busy getting ready for the marriage supper of the lamb. And notice in 1 Tim of your passage it isnt speaking of the dead.

God is the God of the living. Those who have died are still alive as it seems you believe. When we die we are made to be truely like Christ. Christ prayed for all in this life, He most certainly does in heaven. Why wouldn’t the saints do the same? The whole point of Christianity is to be made like Christ in His life, death, and ressurection. It becomes a complete likeness.

 

[Will_Pick]

seetiger33:

The vocal part of the Rosary has prayers straight to Jesus. Even the “Hail Mary” is not a prayer to Mary. The Catechism calls the Rosary a “Marian Prayer.” That is because we are asking Mary to Pray for us (We are not praying to her). It is asking her to pray for us. She is interceding the same way a Pastor might pray for you or me. We think she is a kicking prayer warrior. Even better than Evangelical pastors. The Rosary says “Pray for us sinners” I would ask you to pray for me, why wouldn’t I ask her? I have no problem asking Mary to pray for me, I think she is quite good at it. If she is in heaven like Martin Luther said, then she is a serious prayer warrior.

EVERYONE AGREE??? My QUESTION IS STILL WHY NOT ASK ABRAHAM, NOAH, ANY OF THE DICIPLES, ANY OF THE GREAT PROPHETS OF THE WORD TO PRAY FOR US? Why Mary? And how is it Biblical? I have never found of any referance in the gospels were anybody asked mary to pray for them…

Is Christ not good enough? Dont you think by him going straight to God the Father it dont get any better than that? Better yet why not pray to God the Father himself?

Well I do remember as a teenager going to my MOTHER and asking her to ask Dad if I can use the car on a Satday night and it worked 9 out of 10 time,Please try asking Our Mother to ask are Father and see what may happen,try it you will like if.

 

[exoflare]

Will Pick:

Well I do remember as a teenager going to my MOTHER and asking her to ask Dad if I can use the car on a Satday night and it worked 9 out of 10 time,Please try asking Our Mother to ask are Father and see what may happen,try it you will like if.

LOL I did that kind of stuff too. That’s a pretty good observation.

 

[exoflare]

seetiger33:

My QUESTION IS STILL WHY NOT ASK ABRAHAM, NOAH, ANY OF THE DICIPLES, ANY OF THE GREAT PROPHETS OF THE WORD TO PRAY FOR US? Why Mary? And how is it Biblical? I have never found of any referance in the gospels were anybody asked mary to pray for them…

Go ahead and ask them… it’s perfectly fine. I’m actually surprised you haven’t heard of “praying to” the disciples as well. Lots of them are very frequently petitioned, in fact!

I do have a question for you though. Why do you assume that everything that’s “okay” to do must have been explicitly stated in one of the gospels (or the whole Bible for that matter)?