Why do a lot of Catholics pray to the virgin Mary?

Question

I'm Christian and I dont understand this. Jesus/God is Who you're supposed to pray to, right? can someone please explain this to me?

Answer 1

In Catholicism Mary(mother of Jesus) is a Saint. The prayers to her are so she'll intercede & help them with their needs. There are saints for just about eveything thing.
Do I beleive this? No. I find most Catholics fine Chrsitain people with different practices than my own.

Answer 2

I agree we are all saints. I don't agree you need to pray through Mary to God.
God is a spirit. He is in us all. When we pray, we pray directly to God the father, the Son Christ and he holy Spirit.
I realise they don't pray to the Statue, the statue is there so people can imagine praying through the Virgin Mary to get an Audience. To me this is wrong because God gives us the power to become Sons and Daughters of God. Why then do we need to pray through a statue? I know the statue is there to help the imagination.. but then again so was the Gold calf.

Catholiosism have been around a long time, but then so have Apostolics. I just don't think it's nesccesary to pray through the Mary, whether standing infront of a statue or not.

Answer 3

Any mention of the Communion of Saints by Catholic apologists, pr agents and spin doctors is totally irrelevant to this question. So too is any argument that Mary is just considered one of the more important saints of the church.

Catholics worship, I mean as a Goddess- Mary as Queen of Heaven. That is precisely how she is viewed and many, thousands of churches have statues of Mary with a crown in recognition of this official catholic position.

Catholics since 1871 also worship the Pope as a Living Deity (God) on Earth being infallible and therefore above all human law and all other human beings.

Jesus was human and never considered himself infallible, so today Pope Benedict is technically a more powerful God under the pantheon of Gods and saints of the Catholic Church.

Of course, such concepts are strenuously denied. So too are 20 centuries of crimes against humanity
See: The Almanac of Evil.
http://one-faith-of-god.org/final_testament/end_of_darkness/evil/evil_0190.htm

I'll let you decide who is telling the truth.

Answer 4

Catholics do not pray to Virgin Mary. It is honor and respect.
God sent His only son to us in the form of a man, i.e Jesus to teach us what God wants of us, through simple parables.

The greatest commandment is love and if one finds the mother of Jesus spiteful and unworthy, how can that person be worthy to face Jesus.

I do not know if God favours a person who has knowledge and intelligence to give complicated sola fide arguments and interpretations to the Bible, but I know God will NEVER penalise a
humble and faithful man who truly loves God and
everything of His Kingdom (incld. Jesus's mother)

Answer 5

hail mary full of grace the lord is with thee
blessed art thou amongs women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb
(all lines are taken from the gospel of luke)

holy mary mother of god PRAY for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. amen

we are asking the blessed mother to pray for us, the same as you may ask another church member,pastor,relative or friend to pray for you. scripture supports the fact that holy peoples, such as the saints and blessed mother, are very effective. the blessed mother never replaces the role of jesus. try these sites, they will cover your concerns about prayer to the blessed mary and other areas of the catholic faith you don't understand. remember it is all scriptural aswell.

www.scripturecatholic.com
www.catholiceducation.org
www.ewtn.com
www.fisheaters.com
www.salvationhistory.com
www.newadvent.org

i read a portion of the answer from "the architect", please ignore these anti catholic and extremly misguided comments. there is sadly a large amount of anti catholicism that comes from protestant propaganda,they have even released a book called the catholic bible as an attempt to falsify the truth of the catholic church. if you want to learn about the catholic church use catholic resources,you don't have to like it or agree with it but that is the best source for th reality of the church. the same logic applies to learning about pentecostal,baptist,methodist etc......

Answer 6

Catholics supplicate to all the saints for intercession. It isn't the same thing as prayer to God, but more like asking someone to pray for you.

Answer 7

I've been surprised to discover how much larger Mary looms in many Protestant minds than in Catholic ones.

Worship is for God alone. Catholics venerate Mary. Jesus said: "Honor thy mother and father: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death, (Mt. 15:5)." Just as Jesus honors His mother, so do we, for on the cross Jesus gave His mother to all mankind when he said to St. John: …Behold thy mother! (Jn. 19:27)

- Mary is NOT a Goddess. She has no power or authority of her own. Mary cannot save your soul, you can only be saved through Jesus Christ. Mary's only mission is to lead us to Christ.

No one knows or loves her son more than Mary. We ask Mary to pray for us (mediate) or anyone else in need in the same manner we ask a friend to pray (mediate) for us. We believe that Mary continues to intercede for us to her son. It is for this reason we ask Mary, in faith, for her prayers. Our prayers to Mary are an addition to our prayers to God--not a replacement.

Yes, there is one mediator between God and man--Jesus Christ, but does not praying for each other honor Christ? Who would know a son better than a mother? Why should we not ask Mary to pray for us? For those who think that no one is in heaven and and that our prayers to Mary are meaningless; then why did Jesus say on the cross to the poor thief, "This day you will be with me in Paradise!" (Lk. 23:43) Do you think Jesus would take a thief to Paradise and leave His beloved mother behind?

Mary is not only the mother of Catholics but of all God's children. In Revelation 12:1-17 it clearly shows Mary as the mother of all.

Answer 8

They have been taught man made doctrine. Their Catholic doctrine goes against what the KJV Bible teaches, which is the true Word of God. I was a Catholic for 11 years and never did I ever see a KJV Holy Bible or hold one or even read one.

I am a Christian who was brought out of my 11 year darkness and into Jesus light by a young man wearing a Church suite and carrying a KJV Bible, who introduced me to Jesus on the corner of the street where I lived. Praise the Lord!!!

Answer 9

We are asking for her prayers to God because we believe she loves us. Certainly the saints hear our prayer according to the Scriptures. Read Romans 12:1-2 to learn that we are surrounded by the witnesses of the Church Triumphant who observe our running of our race for salvation. The Scriptures offer evidence of the roles of witnesses in Mat 26:65, Luk 24:48, Acts 1:22, Acts 2:32 and 1 Tim 6:12 telling us of their awareness of our efforts. In Rev 5:8 we find that the result of the help of these witnesses that they offer prayers for us to God Rev 8:3-4. Rev. 6:9-11 also shows us that the saints are aware of what happens on earth. There are other verses in Revelation that point to the fact that the saints in heaven are aware of what happens on earth and do what they can to praise and encourage us. Christ Himself talks of the knowledge of those in heaven knowing what happens on earth. See Luk 15:7-10 and in Luk 20:36 He says that the saints are equal to the angels. So, surely according to scriptures and Christ’s on teaching the saints hear our prayers and present them before the throne of God. You can do further study by Googling the “Communion of Saints”. God bless, I pray this helps you on the right path.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

Answer 10

+ Saints +

Catholics share the belief in the Communion of Saints with many other Christians, including the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopal, and Methodist Churches.

The Communion of Saints is the belief 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.

Prayer to saints is communication, not worship.

+ The Blessed Virgin Mary +

"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Luke 1:28)

"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb" (Luke 1:42).

In Luke 1:48, Mary prophesied: "From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed."

A question for Christians who take the Bible literally: Do you call Mary "blessed"? If no, why?

The Hail Mary prayer simply recites Bible passages (the Word of God) and asks Mary to pray for us:

Hail Mary Full of grace, the Lord is with you. (These are the words the angel Gabriel said to Mary, a Bible quote.)

Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. (This is Mary's cousin Elizabeth's greeting, another bible quote.)

Holy Mary, (The angel Gabriel said she was full of grace and Elizabeth said she was blessed.)

Mother of God, (the Bible says Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, God the Son)

Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. (A simple request to pray for us.)

Amen.

+ With love in Christ.