The issue of “praying to Mary” or the Saints is a huge issue with Protestants, the issue is so huge that the late Dr. Walter Martin stated flat out:
“I want to make it clear at the beginning that I put much emphasis upon knowing the doctrine of the Virgin Mary in Catholic theology because if any one doctrine in the Roman Catholic formula of theology would cause us, on Biblical grounds, to withdraw from fellowship with them, this would be the doctrine.” Walter Martin, The Roman Catholic Church in History (Livingston, NJ: Christian Research Institute, Inc., 1960), pp. 45-46.
I believe the major problem is that Protestants see what Catholics do and recite etc about Mary and the Saints and they put their interpretation INTO what they see. The Protestant should go and inquire as to WHY Catholics do certain things and WHAT it means. This would clear up some confusion.
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Hi Just Me Andrew
You have placed a very well thought out and very fair post (see the full post above). You obviously have certain opinions but are objective enough to hear answers that might be presented - it allows for a very constructive discussion.
The words of many prayers honouring Mary do indeed convey strong sentiment and to the objective uninformed reader may indeed lead them to interpret such prayers as overly zealous and perhaps even idolatrous. I can well see that. There is a fine and careful line that needs to be trodden here… But again, just for clarity - we are not praying to Mary as if she were God herself! She most certainly is NOT God! That has to be emphasized up front…
Perhaps let me start by taking you to the crucifixion of Jesus - the single most important event in human history. Whilst on the cross, in all his agony, and shortly before his death, Jesus made a very specific point of saying to his mother, Mary: “
Woman, this is your son.” Then he turned to his beloved disciple and said: “**This is your mother”. “And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.” **The significance of these words at this particular time just before He died is enormous. These are the last words He utters directly to those He loves before He dies. Would Jesus have said these words at this time if there was not particular reason for his saying them? Surely not! Jesus was saying to the world: Witness Mary - she is your mother. The significance of this moment is too frequently hopelessly under-estimated or missed completely. At this crucial moment in history, surely Jesus would say nothing that did not have significant meaning!
We are talking here about the Mother of God herself. The holiest of women, chosen to be the mother of Jesus - a lady more blessed than any other person ever to have walked the earth, and Jesus was explicitly telling us that she is now the mother of all of us, our Holy mother, not just for the period during which she was still alive, but for all eternity.
So how should we relate to our mother? We should honour her in every way possible. We should be able to come to her with our concerns, our worries, our fears. We should be able to ask her to help us in our needs.
As such it is only right that we honour her as the most blessed human being ever to have walked the earth and that we use her as the pinnacle of a life’s example. Jesus has deliberately named her as
our mother whilst He was dying on the cross - that has to have serious significance, surely?!
It is for this reason that amongst the many entreaties to Mary that have developed over the years (such as the ones you quoted), there are some that display immense reverence and love for her. As the mother of God, Mary is an immensely powerful ally / friend to have on our side.
Yet let me quote you the most oft used Catholic prayer of honour to Mary (and before anyone says we are here praying TO Mary, please look closely at the words):
“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God PRAY
FOR US SINNERS, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.”
I have highlighted the words “
pray FOR us sinners” for obvious reasons. It most clearly illustrates that we are not praying to Mary, but that we are asking Mary to join us in our prayers. We are calling on her as our heavenly mother to assist us, just as she was asked at the Wedding of Cana to go to her son Jesus to ask him whether he could assist with the wine shortage. And when Mary did ask Jesus at the wedding to assist, he indeed did, by performing his very first miracle… because his mother asked him to help!
So it is with Catholics when they choose to approach Mary. We can of course approach God directly, and we absolutely do this, but there are times that certain Catholics like to approach their heavenly mother just to assist them in their prayers and requests to God. Some Catholics will approach Mary often, others will never approach her - we are quite free to choose in this regard.
A plumber / handyman knows how to us all the tools in his toolkit. Someone not trained as a plumber / handyman might think certain tools are for things which they are not and may end up misusing them…
In the same way, all of the quotes you mentioned above need to be read with this understanding, ie the understanding of those who use them, rather than the understanding of an objective outsider for whom these prayers might well be open to their own misinterpretation.
Hope this in some small way addresses your posting.
Go well
Patrick
) because we all know what we mean. But PLEASE ALL - let there be no confusion - The only being that we Catholics pray to is God himself. We just like to get as many influential others, be they alive on earth or alive in heaven, on our side
. So we ask them to join us in our prayers. It really is that straight-forward!
