Hi,
This is a question we answer often here. For so many people praying means asking for something. Certainly, this is prayer and Jesus did tell us to ask for what we need. But when He taught us to pray, He began with “Hallowed by Thy name,” a matter of praise and adoration—the highest form of prayer, actually. To worship God is simply to acknowledge Him to be who He is. Catholics offer such prayer only to God because it can only be addressed to Him since He alone is God. We also ask Him to forgive our sins since all sin is a denial of His rightful sovereignty over us. This is the prayer of contrition. We can ask forgiveness of each other also, of course. But our greatest offenses are against Him since He is the least worthy of our acts of betrayal.
Now back to petition: We certainly ask favors of each other regularly. In older forms of English it was common to begin with, “I pray thee…” and then the favor would be named. This form of petition was addressed to anyone from whom one asked a favor. Certainly this wouldn’t be considered a matter of adoration. As already mentioned; Jesus Himself told us to ask for what we need. When we love people, their needs become ours. So it is entirely appropriate for us to pray for the needs of those we love. Such concern becomes an act of love in itself and we benefit from it as well. This is all that is happening when we ask our blessed Mother and the other saints to pray for us. The whole interchange is an act of love and everyone wins. Further, to express our love for the saints is as appropriate as it is to express our love for each other. It’s what we are about as Christians.
So Catholics only worship God. Only God forgives our sins. God loves us and wants us to love each other here on earth. When we die such love continues in heaven. It’s pretty simple, really.
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.
