Why do Catholics pray to Mary more than Jesus?

[Cak7711]

WOW, you guys have almost convinced me. You are really good at this. People at Catholic Answers have really helped me understand.

 

[tp3192000]

I recommend that you attend a mass before you post the usual protestant propaganda. This is the same stuff we hear every day by some protestant trying to be Coy.

It sounds like you know your way around the block! Good advice to attend Mass.

 

[po18guy]

It seams that Catholics almost always pray to Mary for intercession. I get that the intercession of Mary and the Saints is ok, but do catholics every just pray to Jesus. I personally never have prey for intervession it feels wired. In Catholicism whenever you see or hear anything about Jesus, Mary is also mentioned; and in my opinion she is given more attention than Jesus. I think it is fine to occasionally pray and honor her, but the amount of attention she is given seems like a little much. Especially since she was only honored in the bible a couple of times.

“Feels weird”? Maybe it’s your current form of prayer that is incomplete. Have you ever prayed for someone? Asked them to pray for you? Why? You and they can just pray directly to Jesus. I strongly suggest that you never pray for anyone again - just ask them to pray for themselves.

Does that sound Christian?

 

[eggsbenedictine]

Though I don’t think I will be praying to Mary for intercession anytime soon, I will honor her like the bible says; in my own way.

That is entirely up to you, as long as Christ is always at the core of your faith, then honor her as you so choose. However, keep in mind, that she does play a large role in our salvation and is the epitome of being obedient to God and living an exemplary Christian life.

 

[YoungTradCath]

I am a convert to the faith as well, and the Mary thing really never posed problems for me (ex Baptist). For me, it was an issue of authority. In fact, on an objective level it is an issue of authority for all Protestants, but anyway, for me my subjective experience of conversion also was a matter of authority. My conscious decision worked like this: “If Christ’s promise to Peter is true, then the rest of it must be automatically validated.” Perhaps that is a bit too logical and cold/computerish for most people, but that is how it worked in my head.

Do Catholics pray to Mary more than Jesus? In my opinion, that is ultimately a futile question. First, liturgy is always prayed to the Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. Liturgy, especially Mass, is always the most important prayer of the Church. Second, I think it is plausible–not necessarily true but plausible–to believe that Catholics who are stuck in a rut or something are more prone to pray for Mary for intercession than they are to pray “directly” to Jesus. Ultimately there is nothing wrong with that because all prayer is “delivered” to God on our behalf by intercessors.

Where it can become a problem is if someone turns veneration of an intercessor into a sort of latreutic worship. That is heresy. However, I think that is extremely rare.

In the end, I think trying to quantify the “amounts” of prayer we give to this or that figure in the faith is not particularly helpful.

 

[Jaysuitical]

It seams that Catholics almost always pray to Mary for intercession. I get that the intercession of Mary and the Saints is ok, but do catholics every just pray to Jesus. I personally never have prey for intervession it feels wired. In Catholicism whenever you see or hear anything about Jesus, Mary is also mentioned; and in my opinion she is given more attention than Jesus. I think it is fine to occasionally pray and honor her, but the amount of attention she is given seems like a little much. Especially since she was only honored in the bible a couple of times.

 One of the things that made me Catholic was the recognition that almost all the people who believed they were praying to Jesus had in fact concocted an image of Jesus in their minds that was very much a product of their own emotional needs, experience, and imagination; that is, they had created an idol but because they still called it "Jesus" they couldn't see that they were not, in fact, addressing Christ, but manipulating the image of Jesus. That's easy to do, because in so-called "Biblical" Christianity, a multitude of interpretations are filtered through a few favored texts (usually from St. Paul's epistles) in thinking about Christ.

This relates to Marian prayer because, far from being a sign of idolatry, Mary is actually the cure for this idolatry of an imaginary, fragmentary, pseudo-biblical “Jesus”. Inward idols, idols of the spirit, are harder to detect than the exterior sort; and her intercession in fact ensures that we are not erecting our own favorite version of her Divine Son. Though many may not be able to explain it in this way, by her intercession, she makes certain that we are more truly receiving her Son, that we are more truly entering into spiritual communion with the living Christ, and not with some literary concoction dressed up as Christ. The ancient exclamation concerning Our Lady is that “you alone have defeated all the heresies”, because heretics from the start have built for themselves an acceptable Jesus rather than the true Redeemer.

 

[3DOCTORS]

Thank you that did answer most of my question. Though I still don’t understand why she is prayed to more than Jesus and seems to come before Jesus. For example, the pope that got shot thanked Mary for his recovery, not Jesus. That just doesn’t seem right to me. Jesus shouldn’t have to share his glory with anyone. If I wanted to pray to someone or thank somebody it would alway be Jesus.

Don’t worry - Jesus does not look at things the way we humans do where we’re tempted to jostle for power and position! He is God! He has everything He could want already, and He loves His Mother Mary. He isn’t going to resent our loving her too - after all we love her because she loves Him! As Martha Stewart would say, “It’s a good thing!”

Pope John Paul II was interpreting the prophecy Mary made at Fatima with regard to himself and the bullet - but I’m sure he meant no disrespect to Jesus, and anything that Mary said in that prophecy had the aim of leading more people to Jesus. Anyway, if you’re new to all this, don’t fret about it for now. Even Catholics aren’t required to believe private revelations, even the big ones such as Fatima. So put it on the back burner and learn the basics first.

Finally, a heartwarming little bit that I heard somewhere a long time ago - Jesus was Jewish. He was a good son to his mother who was also Jewish. No good Jewish son is going to want someone to say “Hey, we’re really glad to have you, but your ma is gonna have to stay outside, we only want to talk to you.”

 

[JillianRose]

I Also don’t think that was the proper response. This person is asking questions, possibly to become catholic.

yah right. I spot a troll.

 

[JillianRose]

It sounds like you know your way around the block! Good advice to attend Mass.

If a protestant went to OBSERVE A MASS LIKE SCOTT HAHN DID he would see we don’t worship Mary!

 

[JillianRose]

Well that didn’t answer my question. Also I am more Catholic than Protestant for your information. The Mary thing is just one of the things that is keeping my foot in the Protestant door. Also why don’t you educate me and try to bring me closer to understanding catholic beliefs rather than bashing my Protestant roots. I wasn’t being coy, I am trying to better understand this issue and I came to this website and forum to learn not be disrespected. It is catholics like you that push me closer to Protestantism than Catholicism. I would apresiate it if you would either answer my question or not post at all.

I would appreciate if you learned how to spell.

 

[georget]

I learn something new every day here.

 

[Canuck000]

As a new Catholic, I couldn’t possibly add any further information than is already stated here, but I will add that I’ve just learned even more regarding praying through Mary.
This is why I come here! Thank you, thank you thank you! for such packed answers!
Cak, keep an open heart. You’re already heading home!

 

[tp3192000]

If a protestant went to OBSERVE A MASS LIKE SCOTT HAHN DID he would see we don’t worship Mary!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Hahn

 

[wllmjoseph]

I recommend that you attend a mass before you post the usual protestant propaganda. This is the same stuff we hear every day by some protestant trying to be Coy.

With the Mass the prayers are overwhelmingly prayed to Jesus and not to Mary. I went to Israel in 1999. Our tour guide was a Eastern Rite Catholic. He pointed out one day after Mass was said that in the Eastern Rite Catholic Mass many of the prayers of the Mass were to Mary while in the Latin Rite Mass there are very few prayers to Mary. I am sorry but I have to agree with the above post.

 

[JillianRose]

Well that didn’t answer my question. Also I am more Catholic than Protestant for your information. The Mary thing is just one of the things that is keeping my foot in the Protestant door. Also why don’t you educate me and try to bring me closer to understanding catholic beliefs rather than bashing my Protestant roots. I wasn’t being coy, I am trying to better understand this issue and I came to this website and forum to learn not be disrespected. It is catholics like you that push me closer to Protestantism than Catholicism. I would apresiate it if you would either answer my question or not post at all.

First, what happens to us on a daily bases is Protestants come on this forum and “try” to bait and trap Catholics with their “superior” knowledge on scripture and Catholicism.
Another red flag is the fact that you changed your religion from just Protestant to protestant/catholic within an hour. (Also, the bad spelling on big words that are NOT typo’s.) You have to understand, this question is posted several times a week. The best advice I got when I first started this forum is search the topic first. Especially in the Apologist forum. My Bad if I have you pegged wrong. Sorry, I am a staunch Catholic and have been burned by “curious” protestants.

 

[Carlan]

Hello there… I was protestant for many years, and now catholic. I cant tell you how much I have grown spiritually by being catholic. The Mary thing, really never bothered me. Someone once said, Never worry about Loving Mary too much. You wont ever be able to Love her more than Jesus does. See, Mary isn’t worshipped, but honored in the Catholic church. And she should be and held in a high position in our spiritual lives because she wasn’t just some ordinary woman. She was perfect in God’s eyes, to be the mother of His Son. And Mary was the one that people went to at the wedding when they ran out of wine. Mary was also the only one that never left Jesus’ side at the cross. Mary is to be honored A lot because of who she is… the Mother of our Savior… I don’t know if that has helped answer your ? but I hope so. And also, Christ gave Mary to us to be Our Mother. When He was on the Cross, he looked upon Mary and John and said to Mary, Woman, Behold thy son… And to John, He said, Son, Behold thy mother. And the catholic church believes because of that, that Mary is Also Our Mother whom we should behold, and Love and honor

And I recommend our new friend stay with CA a while with his questions and perhaps sign up with a parish RCIA program to learn more of the Truth we believe. Peace, Carlan

 

[Monkey1976]

WOW, you guys have almost convinced me. You are really good at this. People at Catholic Answers have really helped me understand.

Something else that may help is to go through the stucture of the most common prayer to our Blessed Mother: The Hail Mary.

Hail, Mary, full of grace - An echo of the greeting that St. Gabriel the Archangel directed to her at the Annunciation.

The Lord is with thee - As the mother of God the Son, He is indeed constantly with her. Also an echo of St. Elizabeth’s greeting to Mary.

Blessed art thou amongst women - To borrow the Greek title, she is Thotokos (she who bore God). How could any woman be more highly blessed? Further, Scripture records her stating that, “All generations will call me blessed”. For my mother, this was her key to converting to the Church from her upbringing as a Presbyterian.

And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus - Blessed be God.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners - The start of the petition, asking her to pray to her Son for us.

Now, and at the hour of our death, Amen - We ask her to pray for us not just now, but at our moment of death - asking her to ask Jesus Himself to have mercy on us as only a mother can ask something of her son.

When we pray to Mary, we’re not praying to her as a being separate from God or as something higher than us, but as a fellow human. We’re asking the woman honored by God above all the rest of creation - humans and angels alike - to assist us in our petitions to Jesus.

From my (admittedly limited) knowledge, the key difference is that while we honor Mary greatly, God is the only one to whom we offer worship and sacrifice, most especially in the highest prayer of the Church - the Holy Mass.

 

[TK421]

People have already answered the authoritative grounds for intercession. The only thing I will add in, since I faced a similar dilemma, is that I was not able to “get it” until I immersed myself in it and started praying to the saints. I feel closer to God in my prayers than I ever did before because now, not only does it feel like an intimidate 1 on 1 relationship, but I also enjoy the camaraderie of speaking with my mother & brothers & sisters. It gives me a faint foretaste of the fellowship and communal aspect of the Beatific Vision.

So yes, you can explicitly answer why intercession is orthodox, but I’m not sure how much you’ll ever spiritually grow from this knowledge until you introduce yourself. If you ask earthly people to pray for you, then it is in no way more unbelievable to ask for those in heaven to pray for you. Dive in.

 

[FrStevenJones]

It seams that Catholics almost always pray to Mary for intercession. I get that the intercession of Mary and the Saints is ok, but do catholics every just pray to Jesus. I personally never have prey for intervession it feels wired. In Catholicism whenever you seey or hear anything about Jesus, Mary is also mentioned; and in my opinion she is given more attention than Jesus. I think it is fine to occasionally pray and honor her, but the amount of attention she is given seems like a little much. Especially since she was only honored in the bible a couple of times.

In hierarchical terms, Mary (human) is higher than us, but infinitely lower than Christ (God and man).

Since the ancients understood their lowlinness in relation to God much better than we do, they naturally were attracted to the 100% human mother, whereby Christ could be accessed through her compassion and lowliness. Men knew they were lowly and unworthy. Mary was a human being, sharing in our lowliness. Yet she was also the Mother of God, and she had her son’s ear! Thus, many were instinctively drawn to approach God through His mother.

Today, man is arrogant. We don’t understand our own unworthiness in relation to God. Thus, for many, praying through Mary to Christ is not intuitive. But to men of the 1st and 2nd centuries, and later, it was just common sense. This Tradition has been handed on for 200 years. But that is why Protestants don’t don’t “get it”, because their theology and spiritual practices have their roots in the 15th century, rather than in the ancient Traditions of The Church.

 

[Rete]

Another way of considering it is that Mary in one way is very different from the rest of us created beings. When the Trinity created Heaven and Earth (the physical universe), they had a plan in which our story would unfold, given our own free will. Everything about creation is Christ-centric. It is all for the Son. But in order for Christ to be incarnate according to this plan, the mother from whom He would take His flesh must have been conceived within the mind of God. The very first human in the mind of God was to be the mother of the Son. Would God envision a random woman to fill that role, or would He envision the masterpiece of His creation in order to make the Logos flesh?

Remember that all of creation is Christ-centric. Consider the Gospels where Jesus would stand fixed in the center of people all buzzing around Him. He is a fixed point. The woman who gave birth to Him cannot be an ordinary woman. Otherwise, it would be like claiming the Logos – the reason for the Universe – was born to a random woman at some time in some random place…

She is not like the rest of us in a few remarkable ways, and she really does deserve her place as Queen of Heaven and Earth. She represents the active participation of humanity in God’s plan. What other created being should be more important to our race than her?