Why do catholics pray to mary when i thought she died?

Question

yes i know she bore jesus but she still was a normal human who died and soul went to either heaven or hell

Answer 1

First of all, Catholics do not pray to Mary. Catholics ask for her intersession, in other words, we ask her to pray for us. One problem here is the understanding of the word “pray”.

Hundreds of years ago the word pray had more than just the modern-day common definition it has now. For example, if you were a subject of a king or some type of nobility and you wished to ask a favor of him or her, you might say something like, “I pray to you my majesty”…or “hear my prayers to you my lord”…”and grant me this favor”. Now you weren’t actually invoking some sort of religious devotion towards this earthy man or woman, you just wanted a favor and given the context of the day in which you were living, you would do so in the most subservient, most formal manner possible.

Now the Roman Catholic Church, being the oldest Christian denomination in the world, has a great sense of history. Some things that the Church does they do it only because the Christians in the days of the Apostles did it. The Bible doesn’t say how to organize a religious service for example; all you have to go on is what the early church did. So it goes almost without saying that some of the language used might be a bit arcane. But it is not unbiblical or at least anti-biblical.

Now the other question that arises out of this is, “why ask Mary to pray for you”? Well, you don’t have to, as a Catholic. As a Catholic, you only need to pray directly to God, in the form of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But why wouldn’t you ask Mary, the ever-virgin Mother of God, to pray for you? Most Christians ask their friends and family to pray for them, Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox, doing so is quite biblical.

So why would you want Mary to pray for you. Yes, Mary is dead…at least in terms of her physical body no longer walking the earth as we do, but where do you think she is? That’s right, heaven, fully clothed in the splendor of our savior, Christ Jesus. And don’t you think Jesus’ mother is a bit closer to his heart than any other person who has ever lived, more your own earthly mother…or your neighbor who doesn’t even go to church every Sunday or whomever? And the closer you are to God, the more you are like him. Heaven is quite the mystery for us living mortals. But one thing is clear; it is not understood to be some kind of blissful cocoon, where you do nothing but float on a cloud, playing a harp. I don’t know anyone who still believes anything like that.

Answer 2

There is only one religion that prays to someone who is alive. All other religions around the world pray to people who have passed on.
If you have any belief in God, then you would never take an instant to think that Mary could have gone to hell. I am not Catholic, but I can tell you that a person hand chosen by God to bear a child who will be a Prophet, would be in heaven with the rest of the saints, listening and answering prayers.
Praying to Mary, she can't answer your prayers personally, she takes the prayers to God. It is the same with any Saint or Prophet or Imam.

Answer 3

Oh, so many misconceptions here ...

First, prayer is defined most simply as talking with someone. A person might say in front of a judge "I pray you ..."

Second, the idea that Mary is dead is wrong on two counts, first, because there is a belief that everyone who dies goes not into non-existence but into a different existence, hopefully heaven. Second, Roman Catholic theology teaches that she never physically died but was taken to heaven before her death.

Have you ever noticed how often some people, especially old people, talk to someone that no one can see? However, they know that person, perhaps a dead husband or parent or child is there, with them.

It's all about life, not about death.

Answer 4

Technically, Mary didn't die. She just ascended into heaven....
For Catholics, Mary represents an ideal, she was free from sin and the mother of Christ. Make sure that you don't make the mistake that many Christians do and assume that just because Catholics pray to her, we see her as the equal to Jesus. I think the whole concept of Mary and of the saints is really only understood by practicing Catholics. Also, all of the other saints died and we still pray to them, so its not a factor of death, just overall goodnes. Hope that helps!

Answer 5

Wow, so many bad answers.

True answer: Catholics do not "pray to Mary". Catholics believe in an "intercessory prayer" where they ask others to pray with them and for them. It is not a form of worship. It is no different than an Evangelical altar call where a sinner goes to the front of the congregation and asks others to pray for him. Sometimes we don't feel worthy, sometimes we ask for the power of prayer from a multitude. Sometimes we feel completely alone and remember the following:

"Where two or more are gathered in my name,
there am I in the midst of them."
Matthew 18:20

Because Catholics, like us Orthodox, do not believe that death is a permanent state, we can be alone but call upon anyone else, alive or dead, who was a good Christian to pray WITH us. Therefore, two or more are gathered in Christ's name and the prayer brings Christ into our midst.

Misunderstanding Marian doctrine is common. I'm not even sure every Catholic understands Marian doctrine...it is very complicated. But Catholicism is NOT alone in intercessory prayer. We have been doing it as Christians since the apostles walked the earth.

Answer 6

Catholics, contrary to Protestant dogma, believe in the intercession of saints which means that praying to various saints will result in those saints interceding with God to grant the request made in the prayer. Catholics pray to Mary because she was the mother of Christ and was taken into heaven (assumed) as is celebrated on August 15th as the Assumption. Another example is that St. Jude is considered the founder of lost causes and St, Anthony is the finder of lost articles. The list goes on and on. It simply is a belief system.

Chow!!

Answer 7

Catholics believe in something called "the communion of saints", which means that there exists a relationship between the natural and the supernatural, the earthly and heavenly and the living and the dead. Catholics pray to the Mother of God as a way, not of worship, but as a gesture of friendship and devotion to the woman who bore God into this world, and to ask for her prayers and intercession, so that we might better appropriate the way of discipleship in Christ and endure in faith, hope and love amidst a troubled and confusing world.

Answer 8

Catholics pray to Mary because the Catholic Church for centuries told people that they were unworthy to talk to God directly. They went through "intermediaries", that is they spoke to Mary (as just one example) and Mary would then plead their case before God. The Catholic dogma that all men (and women) born of Adam became evil because Adam sinned against God, was further corrupted over time to mean that even the act of praying to God was beyond mankind's reach. Since the 1900's, and accompanying the rise of a democratic society in America, modern Christians tend to view that men are responsibile for their own sins, and not the transgression of Adam. The idea that men can approach God directly has been reintroduced through religious leaders of the modern restoration movement, notably Joseph Smith in 1830.

Answer 9

i'd say which you're having a project with this on the grounds which you're analyzing the bible, and such coaching are actually not interior of that e book. What you like is to earnings the heritage of medieval Christianity of the 4th century, the place Constantine performed a considerable function interior the conversion of his pagan matters. In a nutshell, what heritage tells us is this replaced right into a mix of Christian sympathy, political connivance and compromise, the consequence of which produced a distorted form of Christianity with doctrines and practices not of the scriptures. curiously, Jesus prophesised that this would happen at Matthew 15:9

Answer 10

according to Catholic dogma, Mary was born without sin and was 'assumed' into heaven, instead of dying and leaving a corpse on earth.
according to Catholic tradition, saints are those who died in a state of grace, so their souls are in heaven, and they do hear our prayers