Why do we need to pray to Mary?

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psalm90

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I am puzzled why, if Mary is our spiritual mother, why do we need to pray to her? Wouldn’t she be praying for us “flat out” (that is, as hard as it is possible for her to do) as it is?

A deeper part of this puzzle is that I don’t think Mary ever prayed to herself, which would be idolatry. So, her example for us is, apparently, to pray to God.

If we “do whatever He tells us” (Mary’s words at Cana) then we would pray as Jesus taught us, “Our Father…”
 
psalm90 said:
I am puzzled why, if Mary is our spiritual mother, why do we need to pray to her? Wouldn’t she be praying for us “flat out” (that is, as hard as it is possible for her to do) as it is?

A deeper part of this puzzle is that I don’t think Mary ever prayed to herself, which would be idolatry. So, her example for us is, apparently, to pray to God.

If we “do whatever He tells us” (Mary’s words at Cana) then we would pray as Jesus taught us, “Our Father…”
Click to expand...
We don’t need to.
 
psalm90 said:
I am puzzled why, if Mary is our spiritual mother, why do we need to pray to her? Wouldn’t she be praying for us “flat out” (that is, as hard as it is possible for her to do) as it is?
Click to expand...
She can’t pray for us unless we ask her to. Mary and the other saints “amplify” our prayers.
If we “do whatever He tells us” (Mary’s words at Cana) then we would pray as Jesus taught us, “Our Father…”
Click to expand...
We should do that as well.

An afterthought
The Church is a family:
We have a Father, a Mother, a Kinsman-Redeemer eldest Brother (Jesus), the saints in Heaven, the souls in Purgatory, and all of us ragtag folks on Earth.
To ignore our Heavenly Mother is bad-mannered.

It’s vastly greater than just “Me ‘n’ Jesus”, with a few “Our Fathers” thrown in.
 
Saint Padre Pio said, “Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life
 without the help of the Blessed Mother.”
 
psalm90 said:
I am puzzled why, if Mary is our spiritual mother, why do we need to pray to her? Wouldn’t she be praying for us “flat out” (that is, as hard as it is possible for her to do) as it is?

A deeper part of this puzzle is that I don’t think Mary ever prayed to herself, which would be idolatry. So, her example for us is, apparently, to pray to God.

If we “do whatever He tells us” (Mary’s words at Cana) then we would pray as Jesus taught us, “Our Father…”
Click to expand...
Asking for help can sometimes be beneficial all by itself. Remember the history of the word “pray” - it means “ask.”

You don’t need to, not strictly speaking. But Jesus gave us His Mother for a reason. I don’t know the theology surrounding what she doesn’t or doesn’t know, but a personal level, if you never called your mom but still expected her to look after you, that would be pretty cruddy.
 
There are numerous apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a number of them approved by the Church, in which she asks us, century after century, to pray the rosary, one thing. Now, though the Church has stopped short of requiring this, it is something we all need to do. We have been told time and again that if we would obey the commandments and pray the rosary, we would be granted a period of peace.

However, we as a people seem to feel the need to try to “go it alone”, or go directly to God all the time, not take advantage of intercessory prayer.

Now, numerous times, God sent angels as intermediaries. Yes, he could have gone directly but for some reason didn’t. So, even as pure and holy as the Blessed Virgin Mary was, God sent an intermediary, the Angel Gabriel to give her the news that she was to be the Mother of God.

Joseph received a dream of an angel telling him that Herod was searching for Jesus to kill him and with instructions to leave immediately for Egypt.

Now, if God sees fit to use intermediaries, who are we to question that?

In the Catholic tradition dating back I don’t know how long, we have prayed to God, the angels, saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary. People in modern times want to eliminate the advocates and intermediaries, but I don’t think that would be wise. They are there for a reason, and we need all the help we can get in order to get to heaven.
 
psalm90 said:
I am puzzled why, if Mary is our spiritual mother, why do we need to pray to her? Wouldn’t she be praying for us “flat out” (that is, as hard as it is possible for her to do) as it is?

A deeper part of this puzzle is that I don’t think Mary ever prayed to herself, which would be idolatry. So, her example for us is, apparently, to pray to God.

If we “do whatever He tells us” (Mary’s words at Cana) then we would pray as Jesus taught us, “Our Father…”
Click to expand...
:rotfl:
 
We do NOT pray to Mary, We pray THROUGH Mary to Jesus!

If MY mother could provide you something that you needed you certainly could ask her yourself and she very well my meet your need, however, if you came to ME and asked me to speak to her she’d more likely do it since I, HER daughter asked her. So it is with Jesus and Mary.
 
The Blessed Virgin once requested of St. Catherine of Laboure to have the Miraculous Medal struck, and there were rays eminating from the Virgin Mary’s hands. However, there were some rays that were short or not existent. When St. Catherine asked Mary why this was, Mary replied that this was because these represented graces not received because they weren’t requested. So apparently, we need to cooperate in our own salvation. It is not given effortlessly. We need to work for it.
 
Here’s one of the saint quotes:

‘Mary having co-operated in our redemption with so much glory to God and so much love for us, Our Lord ordained that no one shall obtain salvation except through her intercession.’
–St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
 
ClearWater said:
There are numerous apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a number of them approved by the Church, in which she asks us, century after century, to pray the rosary, one thing. Now, though the Church has stopped short of requiring this, it is something we all need to do. We have been told time and again that if we would obey the commandments and pray the rosary, we would be granted a period of peace.

However, we as a people seem to feel the need to try to “go it alone”, or go directly to God all the time, not take advantage of intercessory prayer.

Now, numerous times, God sent angels as intermediaries. Yes, he could have gone directly but for some reason didn’t. So, even as pure and holy as the Blessed Virgin Mary was, God sent an intermediary, the Angel Gabriel to give her the news that she was to be the Mother of God.

Joseph received a dream of an angel telling him that Herod was searching for Jesus to kill him and with instructions to leave immediately for Egypt.

Now, if God sees fit to use intermediaries, who are we to question that?

In the Catholic tradition dating back I don’t know how long, we have prayed to God, the angels, saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary. People in modern times want to eliminate the advocates and intermediaries, but I don’t think that would be wise. They are there for a reason, and we need all the help we can get in order to get to heaven.
Click to expand...
That’s because Jesus strongly encourages us to go straight to Him.

He says whatever you ask in my name, i will do it.

No qualifiers given.

But our Mother’s prayers are powerful so including her is a good idea.
 
ClearWater said:
Here’s one of the saint quotes:

‘Mary having co-operated in our redemption with so much glory to God and so much love for us, Our Lord ordained that no one shall obtain salvation except through her intercession.’
–St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
Click to expand...
She bore God in her womb. Carried our salvation and was a slave for God for our benefit. She is, in a sense, ‘co redeemer’ as she played her role perfectly. Just as John the Baptist and the apostles.

But, the scriptures point us directly to Jesus…over and over again. No qualifiers…we are supposed to come boldly to Him.

These kinds of quotes scare potential converts away.
 
We live in a monarchy. Jesus is our King. As in any monarchy, we honor all members of the Royal Family, especially the King’s Mother.
 
psalm90 said:
If we “do whatever He tells us” (Mary’s words at Cana) then we would pray as Jesus taught us, “Our Father…”
Click to expand...
But before she told the servants to “do whatever He tells you,” she* interceded *with her Son on behalf of the wedding party.
 
Fiasco said:
She can’t pray for us unless we ask her to. Mary and the other saints “amplify” our prayers.

We should do that as well.

An afterthought
**The Church is a family:
We have a Father, a Mother, a Kinsman-Redeemer eldest Brother (Jesus), the saints in Heaven, the souls in Purgatory, and all of us ragtag folks on Earth.
To ignore our Heavenly Mother is bad-mannered.
**
It’s vastly greater than just “Me ‘n’ Jesus”, with a few “Our Fathers” thrown in.
Click to expand...
I think you need to do some serious work on this.

Jesus is God. He says so. Not human.

Mary is human, Period,

OK if you feel you “need to” but many of us do not and do not pray to anyone but Him .

" I am the way , the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but through me… I and the Father are one… "

Reducing this to bad-mannered is… :eek:
 
pensmama87 said:
Asking for help can sometimes be beneficial all by itself. Remember the history of the word “pray” - it means “ask.”

You don’t need to, not strictly speaking. But Jesus gave us His Mother for a reason. I don’t know the theology surrounding what she doesn’t or doesn’t know, but a personal level, if you never called your mom but still expected her to look after you, that would be pretty cruddy.
Click to expand...
Many of us ask nothing of Mary so that is fine.
 
ClearWater said:
There are numerous apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a number of them approved by the Church, in which she asks us, century after century, to pray the rosary, one thing.** Now, though the Church has stopped short of requiring this, it is something we all need to do.** We have been told time and again that if we would obey the commandments and pray the rosary, we would be granted a period of peace.

So the Church is wrong?

However, we as a people seem to feel the need to try to “go it alone”, or go directly to God all the time, not take advantage of intercessory prayer.

Now, numerous times, God sent angels as intermediaries. Yes, he could have gone directly but for some reason didn’t. So, even as pure and holy as the Blessed Virgin Mary was, God sent an intermediary, the Angel Gabriel to give her the news that she was to be the Mother of God.

Joseph received a dream of an angel telling him that Herod was searching for Jesus to kill him and with instructions to leave immediately for Egypt.

Now, if God sees fit to use intermediaries, who are we to question that?

In the Catholic tradition dating back I don’t know how long, we have prayed to God, the angels, saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary. People in modern times want to eliminate the advocates and intermediaries, but I don’t think that would be wise. They are there for a reason, and we need all the help we can get in order to get to heaven.
Click to expand...
A glib answer indeed. Fine and as you say ther eis NO requirement , so phrases like “go it alone”? Insulting to God, to Jesus and so patronising.

We are never alone with Jesus, with God. What a thought! He never leaves us . Says so time and time and time again. Read His words adn be comfotrted on that.
 
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