if mary is dead, how do you pray to her? lets assume, because im sure its safe to asssume this, that Mary is in heaven. how can she hear your prayers? the bible teaches to pray only to jesus.
so why do you pray to her?
i agree she was great and all, mother of jesus, but she's not god!
2006-07-05 07:15:17 · 24 answers · asked by Blonda 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
i know swordsman, but maybe your not a real catholic. just gettin more input to make a more educated evualtion of my own beliefs.
2006-07-05 07:18:47 · update #1
good one Triple! i dont know, was not on purpose!
2006-07-05 07:19:43 · update #2
or i could just pray to Jesus! he has to have more for my prayer to matter?
2006-07-05 07:34:29 · update #3
no Veritatum17 i was referring to something he said to me in an email.
i dont know the diff between a real catholic and someone faking it.
so how do i get my answers?
2006-07-05 08:14:33 · update #4
I sent you an email answer to this.
Well God and Jesus are in heaven, don't you pray to them? The Catholic Church believes in the communion of saints. This refers to the bond of unity among all believers both living and dead who are committed followers of Christ. In Christ, we are made part of God's family. In addition Catholics don't just believe in Heaven and Hell. We also believe in purgatory. It's an intermediate state of purification that some souls go to before they go to heaven. The Bible does teach this, but for some reason Protestants threw it out.
2006-07-05 07:18:06 · answer #1 · answered by Swordsman 3 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Mary is not dead. She was resurrected and assumed into heaven. By assumed, we mean she was pulled into heaven by God's power. That is different from Jesus. Jesus ascended to heaven with his own power.
Mary was made Queen of heaven and is a saint. All saints will someday have their bodies again. Mary has hers now.
It never ceases to amaze me how many protestants wrongfully believe that Catholics worship Mary as a God. We don't. Their is only one God. We venerate Mary. Big, Big difference. Any veneration to any Saint, including Mary, always should end with "through christ our lord, Amen." or something to the effect of that.
When someone becomes a Saint, they are where ever God is. A saint is not God. But a saint can be at many places at one time. A Saint can do many things at one time.
Protestants are mistaken in their hatred of the veneration of Mary. A great way for Satan to get at Christ is through attacking his mother. Did you ever think about that? After all - who is it that is supposed to crush his head?
2006-07-05 14:35:51 · answer #2 · answered by Think.for.your.self 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All saints throughout history are alive today in Heaven through the power, grace, and mercy of God.
Read about Moses. He died and then was later seen having a conversation with Jesus in the New Testament gospels. Also read about the good thief who died on the cross. Jesus said, "Today you will be with me in Paradise".
P.S.
I don't believe that Mary is God, and I've never met a Catholic who believed that Mary is God. And I am a real Catholic. Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church to find out what the Catholic Church really teaches. Also, try this link about Mary and the Saints:
http://www.catholic.com/library/mary_saints.asp
The Catholic Church is not against praying directly to Jesus, but Catholics are not limited to it. We can ask the Saints in Heaven to pray for us, just like you ask your friends to pray for you. By God's power, not the power of the saints, God allows those saints in Heaven to hear your prayer in order to participate with God in His plan for our salvation.
The Church is the body of Christ, and Jesus is the Head of the Church. That's why praying through the body of the Church (the saints) is still praying through the one mediator, Jesus Christ. Jesus is as connected with the Church as our head is connected to our body.
2006-07-05 14:17:20 · answer #3 · answered by Life 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Would it help to know that Catholics aren't required to pray to Mary, but are required to pray to Jesus in order to be in relationship with Him?
You say Swordsman is different from other Catholics, and you want to talk to a "real" Catholic. Are you just picking and choosing in order to make your point?
2006-07-05 15:12:28 · answer #4 · answered by Veritatum17 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Catholics and many other Christians believe in the Communion of Saints where all saints are intimately related in the Body of Christ, a family. When you die and go to heaven, you do not leave this family.
Everyone in heaven or on their way to heaven are saints. You, me, my deceased grandmother, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mother Teresa.
As part of this family, you may ask your family and friends here on earth to pray for you. Or you may also ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Andrew, or your deceased grandmother in heaven to pray for you.
Or, of course, you can pray to Jesus all by yourself.
With love and prayers in Christ.
2006-07-06 00:02:02 · answer #5 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mary is a saint and a saint, by definition, is someone in heaven. We believe that saints can observe what is happening on earth and so can hear our prayers. We do not pray TO Mary, but rather with her. We ask her and other saints to pray FOR us TO God. Yes, we can pray directly to God, but it is nice to have others praying for you. Virtually every church service has a time when they collectively pray to God for needs and forgiveness. Why do they ask each other to pray for them when they can just pray to God themselves? Because it helps; it feels better to know someone else is praying for you or with you. Same thing here. We ask Mary and the other saints to pray for us to God; we do not pray to them.
2006-07-05 14:22:11 · answer #6 · answered by holdemhero07 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
catholics pray to mary in the same way someone would talk to a deceased relative. according to the church, mary is in heaven with god. so if people ask her for help - she has access to god. there seems to be a confusion between prayer and worship. catholics do not believe that mary can actually do anything. they simply ask her to represent their intentions. it's like if you ask a friend to pray for you.
2006-07-06 16:19:57 · answer #7 · answered by phly1001 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It seems those people who aren't catholic has a big problem with us catholics who pray with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Some asume we pray to her/we pray to what she represent to us. The mother of Jesuse. If you are a mother you would know this.She is important to all Catholics. Maybe one day she will come to you in a dream and tell you herself who she is and why is a very special person to us.
2006-07-05 14:24:48 · answer #8 · answered by squrrelfeeder@yahoo.com 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
So wait, where do you think Jesus is? Do you not think he's in Heaven? Do you not think God is in Heaven? I know they're both in Heaven so if you don't think prayers can reach Mary in Heaven, the none of our prayers must get to Heaven and we all pray in vain. Could you please show me the bible verse where it says "Do not pray to anyone but Jesus"? I'd be curious to see where it is in your Bible since its not in mine.
2006-07-05 14:20:26 · answer #9 · answered by Candice H 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
as you have asked if you are a catholic, yes i am catholic and i hope my answar will satisfy you.Catholic dont pray to mary they pray through mary through jesus to god. Because god is only one.our prayer is like this o hail mary pray for us and pray for you too.
2006-07-05 14:26:25 · answer #10 · answered by justchill 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋