Why pray to anyone but God?

[Guyonthestreet]

I dont understand why anyone, of any christian faith, would pray to anyone but God. Didn’t God say our Father would take care of us, that he knew every hair on our head and has counted them? These are the words of christ Himself:

*Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? *

I get all the referrences to intercession of saints and all that from Paul and others, but why go there? Jesus told us Himself to ask, and it will be given. He knows our needs better than we know them ourselves. He didnt say pray to the saints and Im more likely to listen to you. He didnt say if you say 5 Hail Marys and 3 Our Fathers or whatever, I’ll be in a better mood to hear ya. No. He said ask the Father.

So how has all this intercession stuff taken over? My view is that every second wasted on other stuff is time that could have been spent worshiping God, Adoring God, asking God for help.

I dont know the Bible all that well, so maybe Im wrong? Are there examples where Jesus himself said to pray to anyone other than God the Father?

 

[Napsack]

I dont understand why anyone, of any christian faith, would pray to anyone but God. Didn’t God say our Father would take care of us, that he knew every hair on our head and has counted them? These are the words of christ Himself:

Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

I get all the referrences to intercession of saints and all that from Paul and others, but why go there? Jesus told us Himself to ask, and it will be given. He knows our needs better than we know them ourselves. He didnt say pray to the saints and Im more likely to listen to you. He didnt say if you say 5 Hail Marys and 3 Our Fathers or whatever, I’ll be in a better mood to hear ya. No. He said ask the Father.

So how has all this intercession stuff taken over? My view is that every second wasted on other stuff is time that could have been spent worshiping God, Adoring God, asking God for help.

I dont know the Bible all that well, so maybe Im wrong? Are there examples where Jesus himself said to pray to anyone other than God the Father?

I don’t know. Only God can act upon your prayers. The saints in Heaven can pray with you to God as people pray with you here on earth, but God is the one who acts upon the prayers.

 

[OneTrueCathApos]

**The apostle Paul wrote to the gentiles who believed in Jesus"…you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundations of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone…" (Ephesians 2:19-20).
Who are those “saints” that Paul mentions? Catholics usually use the word saint to refer to people of outstanding holiness, especially those they believe to be with the Lord in Heaven. Sometimes we hear an exceptionally holy person on earth called a “saint”, like Mother Teresa of Calcutta often was during her life. In the New Testament, however, the word has a broader meaning. Paul called ALL his fellow believers “saints”, not just the holy ones (see Rom 12:13, 16:15, 1 Cor 16:1, 15; 2 Cor 1:1, Eph 1:1, Phil 1:1, 4:21-22, Phlm5). Some bibles translate “saints” as “holy ones”, which has the same meaning.
This is also what the Apostles Creed, one of the earliest statements of Christian faith, means when it proclaims: I believe in the communion of saints.
**

 

[Trishie]

See the gospel of John Chapter 2 verses 1-12.

Mary notices that the wedding hosts are running out of wine…which isn’t life-threatening, but very embarressing, loss of family honour…She mentions it to Jesus. Jesus says basically, “What’s that got to do with me? It isn’t the right time for me to show my hand to people.”
Mary says nothing further to Him. She’s made her little intercession. It’s likely the mother is known to her and they’ve washed clothes together and collected water from the well. That’s not mentioned. The fact is, she’s made a polite request of Jesus to fix things, and thinking that He can, she’s probably seen private good and kind stuff He’s done for others.

Anyway, having made what Jesus recognised as a little intercession, and seen He has apparently rejected it as untimely, she just says to the servants, do whatever He tells you, because she figures He won’t let her faith in Him down and that His compassion will win out, even though He was prepared to overlook the problem until she pointed it out.

So He fixes the problem, because His Mum asked Him to, in a way that they both knew she was asking.

I mostly pray to Jesus myself…but the Holy Spirit did allow this of so many stories of His life, so many events of His whole life and even of the last few years of His life…He allowed this story to be told, so that we knew that Jesus sometimes gives that extra bit, even a miracle, to people just because His mother asks Him for us.

So that’s my response to your question, Guyonthestreet. I hope it helps

 

[Rolltide]

The Catholic view is pretty simple really…

1. Do you believe that when we die, that we cease to exist, or do you believe that our soul lives on for eternity, either in heaven or hell? A Christian would obviously select the second choice.
2. Have you ever gone to Sunday services, and the congregation was asked to pray for, say, a member who was in the hospital? Does this have value, or is it a waste to ask the congregation for their prayers? Why ask them to pray for my sick relative if I can just ask God myself? Well, most people would agree that this is ok, and in fact, is an important part of community worship.
3. Since Catholics believe that the dead do not cease to exist, but are in heaven for all eternity, it is also possible to ask them for their prayers. We do not pray TO them, but pray WITH them, to God.

Let’s look at a couple Catholic prayers. First, the Hail Mary:

**Hail Mary, full of grace
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus **(So far, this is straight from the Bible… it’s just the acclamations of the Archangel Gabriel and of Elizabeth.)
Holy Mary, Mother of God
Pray FOR us sinners, now, and at the hour of hour death. Amen
(Note that the prayer isn’t TO her, but asking her to pray FOR us to God.)

How about this prayer, commonly said at Mass:

And I ask Blessed Mary, ever virgin,
all the angels and saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.

Here we are asking God for forgiveness before the main part of the Mass begins. Note that we consider God so important that we are literally asking all voices in existence, both those on earth, and all those who’ve gone before us to heaven, and even all of the angels to pray TOGETHER.

Does that help to make our belief a bit more clear?

 

[Guyonthestreet]

So that’s my response to your question, Guyonthestreet. What do you reckon! Did I do good!

You did great

BUT - I wonder what would have happened if the father of the groom or the father of the bride had come to him??

Ive been reading a lot here, and I do get that catholics interpret this passage you gave as evidence of the intercessionary power of Mary, and extrapulate that to the saints. I have no problem with it on one hand, but on the other, Im much more drawn to the words of Jesus Himself, where he tells us to go direct to the Father. It’s not your explanation thats lacking, its my understanding. I just dont get why anyone would go anywhere, except to the Father, from whom all things come.

 

[Guyonthestreet]

Does that help to make our belief a bit more clear?

It does and thank you. Clearly the problem is with my understanding. Im a reductionist and a minimalist. I live my every waking minute this way. I reduce everything down to only what is absolutely essential and ignore the rest. Its who I am and the way I am. Although I dont doubt its both true and worthy that the people of God, at a catholic mass, should pray for each other, and ask the saints for their prayers, Im asking is it essential, and did Christ when he was on earth command such a thing? I admitted to not knowing the Bible as well as I should, so I dont honestly know for sure, but I think Jesus directed us ‘‘directly’’ to the Father. Noone else. It seems to me that a lot of all the other stuff came from Paul’s epistles, and its subsequent various interpretations and translations.

Jesus came to save us, and gave us all we need for salvation.

I take from the Bible reading Ive done so far this is to:

Love God.

Love our neighbor.

Give up everything and follow Him.

Do ‘‘this’’ in memory of me, ie partake of the Eucharist.

Pray as He taught us ie The Our Father.

Keep His Commandments.

Nowhere can I see that He taught us to ask others to intercede for us. Rather, from the words of His own Mouth, He told us to ask, and we shall recieve, seek and we shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto us.

 

[mdstanzel]

Nowhere can I see that He taught us to ask others to intercede for us. Rather, from the words of His own Mouth, He told us to ask, and we shall recieve, seek and we shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto us.

suscopts.org/stmaryhouston/ss/cd_intercession_of_saints.html

Now you’ve asked an incomplete question. Your using the bible only for your answers basically. The questions can be approached in a broader way by asking “where did the bible come from” and “why are thes documents the only ones considered inspired?”

Christ left the “Depost of Faith” to the Apostles. He gave them authority, not the paper of documents that became a compilation of greatest works in a book we know and love as the bible. There is also Sacred Tradition as opposed to man made tradition. The heresies you read about in ancient history reveal the conflict and the need for a canon of scripture. But then “who has the authority to choose which books belong in that canon of scripture?” This begs so many questions that it becomes clear, to me, that their are other scriptures that lead to show where Jesus even tells the Jews to obey the Traditions of Moses of the Pharasees but not their example. He acknowledges that there is something more. Jesus also says that he did not come into the world to change or replace the old law but rather to fulfill it. Big difference from the Protestant perspectives out there.

earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-smyrnaeans-lightfoot.html
earlychristianwritings.com/churchfathers.html
meant to add these. The first link is unknown to me, but skimming it seems to show more evidence to the scripure passages I would have linked you too. There is much evidence in the bible to make all of these points. But it would take someone time to learn scripture well enough to go that route.

 

[diggingdeeper]

I don’t know. Only God can act upon your prayers. The saints in Heaven can pray with you to God as people pray with you here on earth, but God is the one who acts upon the prayers.

It seems God never instructed us to pray to anyone but Him, and if all the saints who have died are in heaven fellowshipping with God and can hear us, don’t you think they would just pray along with us as we pray to the One we are instructed to pray to?

Jesus set up a perfect way to fellowship with Him in prayer and He promises to answer when we ask in his name. Praying to others seems like disobedience or unbelief.

 

[LilyM]

It does and thank you. Clearly the problem is with my understanding. Im a reductionist and a minimalist. I live my every waking minute this way. I reduce everything down to only what is absolutely essential and ignore the rest. Its who I am and the way I am. Although I dont doubt its both true and worthy that the people of God, at a catholic mass, should pray for each other, and ask the saints for their prayers, Im asking is it essential, and did Christ when he was on earth command such a thing? I admitted to not knowing the Bible as well as I should, so I dont honestly know for sure, but I think Jesus directed us ‘‘directly’’ to the Father. Noone else. It seems to me that a lot of all the other stuff came from Paul’s epistles, and its subsequent various interpretations and translations.

Jesus came to save us, and gave us all we need for salvation.

I take from the Bible reading Ive done so far this is to:

Love God.

Love our neighbor.

Give up everything and follow Him.

Do ‘‘this’’ in memory of me, ie partake of the Eucharist.

Pray as He taught us ie The Our Father.

Keep His Commandments.

Nowhere can I see that He taught us to ask others to intercede for us. Rather, from the words of His own Mouth, He told us to ask, and we shall recieve, seek and we shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto us.

Catholicism is very much the wrong religion for you if you are a reductionist and a minimalist. For that matter you totally misunderstand the Gospel message.

Jesus didn’t ask us to ‘just do the minimum that you need to be saved’, but he rather COMMANDED (didn’t just suggest) that we be perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect. In other words to get rid of all ideas of just doing the bare minimum. That ‘being perfect’ includes seeking the intercession of others and interceding in your turn for them.

By the way, the Our Father IS a prayer of intercession and a group prayer - it is THE prayer of intercession and group prayer par excellence. If it were NOT an intercessory prayer, it would be worded like this:

‘MY Father who art in heaven … give ME this day MY daily bread, forgive ME MY trespasses as I forgive those who trespass against ME, and lead ME not into temptation but deliver ME from evil.’

By using ‘us’ and ‘our’ we are in fact praying (in an intercessory fashion) for each other. We are praying for the needs of others, for forgiveness and mercy for them and for God’s help for them in the time of temptation. And Jesus did indeed command us to pray in this intercessory fashion since He commanded us to pray the Our Father, no?

 

[Gabriel_of_12]

I dont understand why anyone, of any christian faith, would pray to anyone but God. Didn’t God say our Father would take care of us, that he knew every hair on our head and has counted them? These are the words of christ Himself:

Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

I get all the referrences to intercession of saints and all that from Paul and others, but why go there? Jesus told us Himself to ask, and it will be given. He knows our needs better than we know them ourselves. He didnt say pray to the saints and Im more likely to listen to you. He didnt say if you say 5 Hail Marys and 3 Our Fathers or whatever, I’ll be in a better mood to hear ya. No. He said ask the Father.

So how has all this intercession stuff taken over? My view is that every second wasted on other stuff is time that could have been spent worshiping God, Adoring God, asking God for help.

I dont know the Bible all that well, so maybe Im wrong? Are there examples where Jesus himself said to pray to anyone other than God the Father?

The question is? How do you know if your praying to the all Living God?

Pagans pray to a god, non christians pray to a god, what makes you so sure that you are praying to the all mighty God?

The Catholic church being the body of Jesus Christ and Jesus himself is the head of the Catholic church guarantees that Catholics worship and pray to the one almighty God creator of the universe. In the Communion of Saints, whether Catholics are awake (living on earth) or asleep (dead in Jesus Christ) they are all alive to God, that is why we ask Jesus’s Mother the blessed Virgin Mary and all the Angels and Saints to pray for us to the Lord our God. God is the God of the living not the dead! for to him all are alive. Their is only one Body, one Lord, one Holy Catholic Apostolic church in Jesus Christ.

Peace be with you

 

[diggingdeeper]

The question is? How do you know if your praying to the all Living God?

Pagans pray to a god, non christians pray to a god, what makes you so sure that you are praying to the all mighty God?

The Catholic church being the body of Jesus Christ and Jesus himself is the head of the Catholic church guarantees that Catholics worship and pray to the one almighty God creator of the universe. In the Communion of Saints, whether Catholics are awake (living on earth) or asleep (dead in Jesus Christ) they are all alive to God, that is why we ask Jesus’s Mother the blessed Virgin Mary and all the Angels and Saints to pray for us to the Lord our God. God is the God of the living not the dead! for to him all are alive. Their is only one Body, one Lord, one Holy Catholic Apostolic church in Jesus Christ.

Peace be with you

When you say ‘saints’, you’re referring to all Christians, right? like Paul talks about?

 

[diggingdeeper]

Catholicism is very much the wrong religion for you if you are a reductionist and a minimalist. For that matter you totally misunderstand the Gospel message.

Jesus didn’t ask us to ‘just do the minimum that you need to be saved’, but he rather COMMANDED (didn’t just suggest) that we be perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect. In other words to get rid of all ideas of just doing the bare minimum. That ‘being perfect’ includes seeking the intercession of others and interceding in your turn for them.

By the way, the Our Father IS a prayer of intercession and a group prayer - it is THE prayer of intercession and group prayer par excellence. If it were NOT an intercessory prayer, it would be worded like this:

‘MY Father who art in heaven … give ME this day MY daily bread, forgive ME MY trespasses as I forgive those who trespass against ME, and lead ME not into temptation but deliver ME from evil.’

By using ‘us’ and ‘our’ we are in fact praying (in an intercessory fashion) for each other. We are praying for the needs of others, for forgiveness and mercy for them and for God’s help for them in the time of temptation. And Jesus did indeed command us to pray in this intercessory fashion since He commanded us to pray the Our Father, no?

How perfect do we have to be? That’s a little scary.

 

[LilyM]

How perfect do we have to be? That’s a little scary.

Not at all - all things are possible with God, and He certainly never promises more than He can deliver. If He says we can be perfect, then we can, with His grace.

All we have to do for our part is keep striving every day to grow a little in holiness and virtue. And trust to Him for the rest.

 

[Gabriel_of_12]

When you say ‘saints’, you’re referring to all Christians, right? like Paul talks about?

Well I was referring to the Living Saints in heaven, but my comment does not limit our intercession of prayers from the small “s” saints on earth. Paul was one who believed as Catholics do still today, especially in the Eucharist see 1Cor.11:23-29. So if Paul and others including James believe to call the presbetyers (priests and deacons) to pray for one another is all of those who believe as Paul does in the definition of Christian.

 

[Guyonthestreet]

Catholicism is very much the wrong religion for you if you are a reductionist and a minimalist.

Great. That’s that sorted then

Jesus didn’t ask us to ‘just do the minimum that you need to be saved’, but he rather COMMANDED (didn’t just suggest) that we be perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect. In other words to get rid of all ideas of just doing the bare minimum.

I’m not making myself clear. I’m not aiming to do the bare minimum. Im aiming to do what God asked me to do.

To love God and love my neighbor is a fulltime, ever expanding job - not the bare minimum. What I mean is, I want to worship and adore God and God alone. This is what Catholics do. I am missing something. The Eucharist.

Im struggling with the idea that Catholics have the Eucharist, as ordained and given by Christ Himself, yet seem to spend so much time in prayer with saints, Mary and so on. If I had access to the Eucharist as catholics do, if I could worship God truely present as catholics do, I canot think that I could have a nanogram of thought or energy for anything else than my God. Im trying to understand why catholics do what they do. And I cant. So you may be right, Catholicism maybe isnt for me.

 

[Sillara]

I once wrote something on this. I came from a Protestant background, so I can understand what you are saying. Does this help at all?

“I can pray to God myself. I don’t need anyone to ask Him for me. He listens to me.” These words, and others like them, are commonly addressed to Catholics by Protestants who object to the Church’s teaching on the communion of the saints. No Catholic would deny that God hears the prayers of even the least of His servants. Why, then, do Catholics ask for the intercession of the saints? Why not just pray directly?

First, the assumption behind the statement, “I can pray to God myself,” is that all prayers are equal. All those who pray are also equal, at least in God’s sight. For the statement to have validity, the premises which support it must also be valid, and there is no evidence that in God’s sight all men are equal.

God loves all men; God loves each man enough to have sent, for that man’s sake alone, Jesus Christ as the atoning sacrifice for sin. We are told that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.” That, however, is all that is assured. Other Scripture references show that there is, indeed, a hierarchy in Heaven, degrees of merit in God’s sight.

For example, in James 5:16, it reads, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” This implies that the prayer of a righteous man avails more than that of an unrighteous man. There are prayers, it would seem, which God favors more than others.

Again, in Jeremiah 15:1 we read, “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people.’” God preferred the prayers of Moses and Samuel to the prayers of others. (In this case, sadly, even Moses and Samuel could not avail Israel.)

In Matthew 11:11 we find, “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen on greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” Jesus is obviously speaking here of John the Baptist’s position in God’s sight, for in worldly terms, John the Baptist was an indigent beggar. And again we find that there is a hierarchy in the view God takes.

In I Corinthians 3:12-15 we read, “Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” The reward in question here cannot be Heaven itself; it cannot be the Beatific Vision. The man whose work has been burned “suffers loss,” but he is not damned. He is saved; he will be in Heaven. What can this mean then, but that there are varying degrees of glory in Heaven? In short, that there is a hierarchy?

This is not to deny Galatians 2:6, that God “shows personal favoritism to no man.” To show favoritism is to show an undeserved preference. This passage is dealing with the earthly differences of slaves and freemen, Jews and Greeks, things which God, who looks on the heart, does not take into account. God looks at the heart, and it is there that He finds the differences which give birth to the hierarchy of Heaven.
Heaven is the kingdom of God. Jesus chose the terminology, the metaphor, of a “kingdom,” and therefore it is profitable for us to examine it. There is an element present in a kingdom that is absent from most other forms of government—a court. The court of a kingdom is made up of its nobility, those who rank high in the hierarchy of that government. Now, suppose that I, a simple commoner, had a request to make of the King. It is true that I might simply present myself before the King’s throne and throw myself on His mercy. Given the graciousness of our King, that is a possibility. On the other hand, would it not be both more effective and more humble to approach the King through one of His nobles, one who had once been a commoner like myself? Would it not be better to request that, say, St. Joseph approach the King on my behalf? I know that St. Joseph, a Prince with God, would certainly benefit from the King’s favor. St. Joseph, too, was once a simple commoner like myself. It is less presumptuous of me to ask him, to have him approach God the King with my request, than simply to present it myself.
As for the Blessed Virgin, Her position in the Kingdom of God is privileged indeed. Christ has been crowned King, making His Mother the Queen. She is, like all the saints, a former commoner like ourselves, but She is the Queen of Heaven, the most favored of all God’s nobles. Her prayers are heeded in a fashion it would be the height of arrogance to suppose that ours would be. Dare we presume such a thing? If we would, then our very pride has proven us unworthy, unrighteous, bringing us back to the Scripture which clearly teaches that it is the prayers of a righteous man which are most effective.

 

[Trishie]

Great. That’s that sorted then
… So you may be right, Catholicism maybe isnt for me.

O dear, if you think that maybe I’m in the wrong place! I direct all my personal prayer to Jesus. Even while I do accept that our brothers and sister can pray for us, just as I can ask you to pray for me and you can ask me and I will, just as our heavenly family will…because that’s who they are…and while with deep conviction I share the Cana story because of it’s validity, and am profoundly Catholic, I still have my personal responses. I wondered maybe if I could share a couple of prayers I’ve written that I guess speak of something of Mary’s place.

I wrote the following withoutg settin out to do so. But I’d been saying to Jesus…it was soon after I returned to the faith some years ago…anyway, I’d been saying to Him, “Jesus, how do I approach Your Mother. I know You love her, and would like us to love her and even approach her, but how should I?” Because like you, I chat to Him any time.

Anyway, the following just flowed out and when I read it next day, I cried, and did each time for a while after that. I figure it was possible and answer to my question/request of Jesus…

Woman of faith, pray for us
Dear Mother Mary, you have been honoured, blessed, and gifted by God. You are our mother because in figure of John, Jesus gave us to you as your children as He hung dying on the cross. We ask you to speak to God on our behalf.

It was through your faith that Jesus first manifested His power at Cana, thus beginning His work before the appointed time. Although it concerned neither life nor death, nor eternal salvation but the human feelings of others, He granted your trusting prayer.

Such was your faith, and God’s love for you, Saint of all saints!
Therefore, we trust our prayer to Your faith in God! You see everything that we need in service of God, and all that we desire for each other. You feel the aching of our hearts and hear our longing prayers. You behold our faith, our repentance, and our love.

Stand not silently by, Mother! Our Father, your Son, and the Holy Spirit who overshadowed you and blessed you with our Saviour—They cannot refuse you!

Please give us your unfailing intercession before God so that the fullest gifts and blessings are granted to each of us. We stand humbly before you, Mother, and entreat you with our hearts, minds, and spirits…Mother!

 

[Guyonthestreet]

I once wrote something on this. I came from a Protestant background, so I can understand what you are saying. Does this help at all?

Yes. Yes it does. Very interesting. Im going to have to read and reread it a few times as it’s brought up stuff I wasnt aware of - a hierarchy in the Kingdom of God. Thank you.

 

[Trishie]

I think for me the most meaningful and intimate approach I’ve made to Mary is the following that I wrote some time later

Woman, behold your Child
Dear Mother… please intercede with the Father that I may grow in worthy fraternity with Jesus, for this kinship was His dying wish. So deep was this astonishing desire, that He bridged earth to heaven for me by the racked sufferings of His soul, mind, and body.

As His humanity strained to shattering point, He knew even then my sins and faults, which He understood and forgave even as He suffered. He knew that I do not comprehend the heinousness of offence against God or against others whom He lovingly created.

He knew that I could not grasp the greatness of His act of incarnation and immolation, of His redemption of us, of me. For selfishness and worldliness dims the human soul’s limited perception regarding truth and love.

He, this suffering Being subject to all human vicissitude and weakness, was aware—with pain that deepened His own—of the anguish that filled your being and drenched your face with unconscious tears of love and distress as He died for me. He knew the depth of your pain—poignant with memories of the best of sons, of the greatest of men—loving, wise and innocent, compassionate, beloved, and vibrantly human.

Disfigured beyond recognition, He died for me in apparent failure and disgrace, yet He still asked your maternal love for me, inviting me to loving fraternity. Your love, transcending all, accepted me wholly.

Lovely Lady, pure crystal of divine glory, I humbly slip my hand in yours with obedient trust. I feel unworthy, sinful, wondering and hopeful. Why has He, this wonderful, promising, intelligent young man allowed Himself to be degraded and destroyed, emptied in loving endurance that escalates throughout indescribable torment—piercing your soul? Why has He done this for one such as me, who am so insignificant and sinful! Yet He draws me into His household and gives me His own Mother and His divine Father.

Gentle Mother, most blessed, you were chosen from amongst all women to cooperate in the incarnation of the only begotten of the most high God! You were entrusted with His nurture, His moulding and protection from conception until the beginning of His public ministry. Now your suffering eyes are filled with love and pity that calm the shame, confusion and discouragement that might otherwise overwhelm me.

Mother, intercede that what He has done, and all that He promises, be fulfilled in me and in everyone for whom I pray. Please lead me to love your Son and our God as He has loved and to cherish others with such love. Lead me to give my paltry all to Him in humble, obedient, creative service. Let this small gift be blessed in your maternal love for me and in the intercession of the entire heavenly household. Thus may I live for His glory, offering atonement, gratitude and petition for us poor sinners—so that His joy and delight in me, and yours, is as great as His suffering for me, and yours.

Mother as gift to Him for such undeserved love, please obtain of the Father, that whenever Jesus looks upon me He knows only gladness, finding in me for Himself…the pleasure of an innocent child…the love and nurture of Nazareth with you…the intimacy and repose of a perfect Bethany. Let Him know with thrilled awareness, that His blood and torment, and your tears, are not wasted to me nor to souls whom His salvation reaches through me.

As I say, like you, it’s Jesus I meet at Mass in Communion each day, Jesus with whom I share my thoughts and prayers…and there’s nothing wrong or unCatholic in that, so despite the impression from one of our loved members who was simply a bit confused about where you were coming from, you’re not unsuited to be Catholic…unless I am too!