Chatholics, Help me understand why you pray to Mother Mary to intercede for us to God?

Question

I thought the bible taught us that to go to the Father, we go through Jesus and not to worship any other. Help me understand please.

Answer 1

It's not a prayer of worship, it's a plea for her to pray with worship to God.

The key difference there is that it's a plea, not a prayer. They aren't worshiping Mary, they're worshiping the same God, and additionally asking Mary if she would be a sweetie and talk to her son on their behalf.

Read the Ave Maria:
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.

No worship there. Just a Hey Mary! Full of God's grace (which the bible claims she has), you're blessed, and could you, if we ask real nice, pray for us? After all, the Bible says if a group prays, he will listen, so in addition to praying ourselves, could you join our group prayer?

Answer 2

Catholics thought: (NOT in the Bible)

1. Mary is the spiritual mother of Jesus.
2. Mary talks to Jesus and plead for mercy to forgive our sins.
3. Mary is the mediator between men and God.

What the Bible says:

1. Mary is just the instrument to give birth to Jesus. If you read the book of Mathew, it does not state there that she's the spiritual mother. In the first place, Jesus does not need a mother. He is God. Jesus and God the Father is one.

2. Mary do not ask for mercy for the men. As we all know, God is mercufil and just. He does not need to be reminded to be merciful to men because that is what He is.

3. Jesus is the mediator between God the Father and men. In John 14:6, Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." What? Oh, yeah, He said that. Not Mary, but Jesus only.

Answer 3

Catholics don't worship Mary. Praying to someone is not the same as worshiping them. Praying just means asking, and as a Christian, I am pretty sure you ask your friends and family to pray for you. You don't think that is worshiping them do you?

Why Mary though, you might ask? Think back to the wedding at Cana. Jesus knew that they were out of wine, but he only turned the water into wine (his first miracle) at the request of Mary.

The point of praying to Mary is not to avoid her Son. The point is that praying to Mary will lead you closer to her Son. You are still praying to Jesus, just through Mary. We do realize that we can pray directly to Jesus, but really it isn't a case where we must do only one or the other. Personally, when I pray to Mary, I find my prayers lose some of their selfishness and become more centered on seeking God's will. This does make sense when you consider that there is no human being who cooperated more fully with God's will than Mary. We also pray to Mary because she never lets us down.

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection,
implored your help or sought your intercession,
was left unaided.
Inspired with this confidence,
I fly to you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother;
to you do I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful.

O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in your mercy hear and answer me.

Amen.

Answer 4

Hello, actually you ask her to intercede to Christ who will intercede to God.

And with that, she is merely one of the 1000's of saints that may be asked upon to speak to Christ on our behalf.

And this is not just Catholics, but the Orthodox, and several Protestant churches do it also, Anglican, Episcopial, and some Lutheran groups ( lutherans more 100 year ago than today)

But as a Christian I will assume, don't you ask your church group to pray for you, why, if you can pray, why do you ask others to pray for you, this is the same difference, merely asking the saints in heaven to also pray for us.

If you were told that Mary intercedes to God, someone told you wrong.

Answer 5

Even though the Bible says there is only one mediator between God and man (that being Christ), Catholics point to the wedding at Caana where the disciples went to Mary to speak to Jesus about the wine at the wedding getting low. They use this one example to show that people can get things out of Jesus by going to Mary who they think will then go to Jesus on their behalf.

Answer 6

The Nicene Creed, believed by all Christians, states we believe in "the Communion of Saints." This is understood to mean that all Christians are united, living and dead, and that we all ought to prayer for each other. The saints in Heaven help us by praying for us just as we pray for others.

The merit and status of the Virgin Mary is unique. Hence, her intercession is also unique.

Such things were the tradition of the Church in the ancient world until modern times. St. Basil in the penultimate chapter of 'On the Holy Spirit' writes that to reject the unwritten traditions of the Church is to reject the "vital parts" of the Gospel.

Answer 7

In the bible Jesus taught to pray "Our father, who art in heaven..." Why lump all Catholics together as mindless idiots? The hate in the religious bickering on Y answers is really pathetic. Get a hobby.

Answer 8

Catholics do not worship Mary. At all.

We ask her to pray for us just as we would ask our friends and family to pray for us. Also, she holds a place of honor in our hearts because she was so special- the mother of God! But she is NOT worshipped.

Answer 9

Because we are taught that God will always listen to Mary, because she is the mother of Jesus

Answer 10

They can pray to Mary, God, the Easter Bunny, or a rock in their backyard, the end result is the same.