My fellow Catholics: do any of you pray to Mary to forgive sins, or put her above God?

Question

No. I didn't think so.

Someone here posted these two lies tonight as part of her answers to questions. I will give her the benefit of the doubt and presume she is just ill-informed. Otherwise I'd have no choice other than to think she hates Catholics and intentionally spreads such untruths.

In one response she said, "When did Jesus actually say to pray to his mother for forgiveness? "

Umm...He didn't. And I don't know anyone who thinks Mary can forgive sins.

In another answer she said that Catholics put Mary first.

I don't know a single Catholic who does either of these. I'd love to know where she is meeting these people.

I will be presumptuous and speak for all one billion of my brother and sister Catholics world wide. I don't think they'll mind.

CATHOLICS PUT GOD ABOVE EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING ELSE.

ONLY GOD CAN FORGIVE SINS.

Got it?

To Mr. Unpope: I often ask my friends to pray FOR me. That includes my friends on earth and in heaven. And I am blessed to call Mary, the mother of my Savior, "my friend".

booellis, I deliberately didn't include your name in my question. I have emailed you, and if you're interest is sincere, I welcome the opportunity to discuss with you what the Catholic Church really believes.

unpope: NO I DO NOT PRAY TO MARY.

Answer 1

Her soul magnifies the Lord
(Luke 1:46-55)!

Answer 2

One question comes to mind here and that is, why do we ask one another to forgive our sins which is an every day occurrence and yet the same people slander the unique position of the Blessed Virgin at every turn, Mary can forgive those who slander Her if they ask forgiveness just like anyone else,but She cannot take away our sins of course.
Of course the real reason for the offences commited against the Immaculate Heart of Mary is because the Devil hates Her with a vengeance, She is the new Eve the one who said `Yes` to God`s plan of salvation and brought ruin upon the kingdom of Satan by the virgin birth of Christ.
Catholics have alway`s loved the Mother of God in a special way and will continue to do so, those who have a problem with this will also continue to cast slurs and heap their acid comments on this all the while failing to understand that Satan is behind it all,` sad isn`t it?

Answer 3

No we do not pray to Mary TO FORGIVE SINS. No we do not put her above God.
The "Hail Mary" for example, is first half the address of the Angel Gabriel to her (Right from the bible) and the second half is a petition to her to pray for us as the Mother of God.
Yes, how dare we presume she could possibly do any good for us, being she is so favored by God above all others, that we would beseech her so humbly by reciting the words of Angels, quoted from the bible.

I personally think that people who don't understand this and who think we are evil for it and hate us for it and cast slurs at us for it, deserve our pity. I also think they should take a long walk off a short pier.
But that's just me. Honestly I feel no need to defend our practices and beliefs against this kind of slander. There truly is no real point. They are unwilling to listen or leave us in peace. All that is left is to ignore them and chalk it up to being the mark of the true church.

Edit:
One final note. This will really pop some corks. The bible contains the chief truths, not every truth. That is why using only the bible is using only part of the understanding. Remember, the bible was assembled in the fourth century AD by catholic scholars under the direction of the catholic church. Before that there was no bible as a official scripture authority, just an assortment of writings letters sermons and old testament scriptures. And yet Christianity flourished. The word bible is from the root greek word "biblio" which means "source" or "reference".

Answer 4

Thank you so much for this question (and answer!)

When will Protestants and non- Catholics stop persecuting us and spreading lies. Do they feel that their faiths are so fragile that they need to damage our beautiful catholic faith- which they will never do!
As a Catholic I would like to re-affirm all that the questioner has said (thanking him once more) and telling Protestants to go read some history and learn that the Catholic Church has been the true Church of God for 2000 and is not the result of a heretic Monk's attempt to gain salvation by making the path to God a ridiculously butchered and ludicrously simplified form of the true faith.
When we beseech Mary in our Prayers we never ask her to forgive us! We ask her to pray for us to her son! No one except God can forgive sins- and we’ve never thought otherwise.
May the lord enlighten you, you poor lost protestant souls, and remove the scales that blind your eyes, and May the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom you have insulted beyond logic and reason over the past centuries, never cease to ask for your forgiveness and redemption.

Answer 5

No, of course not! The Blessed Virgin Mary can't forgive our sins, only God can.

As to putting Mary first, above God, the person must have been looking in an upside-down mirror.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love Mary for all she has done, or will accomplish as she intercedes on our behalf to pass our prayers and our requests for forgiveness to God. Maybe that's the part they don't understand? Just like how we don't ask a priest to forgive us our sins directly (only God can do that), but rather we use the priest as intercessor with God when we make a confession of our sins, we ask that he pray for us, to bless us, & to forgive us our trespasses.

Answer 6

The only time I asked Mary to forgive me was when I was asking for her forgiveness for something I had specifically done against her. Oh, and since that thing was a serious sin, I went to confession and asked God to forgive me the sin first.

I would never assume to put Mary above God nor to think she can forgive my sins in anyway other than the way a single person can forgive another for personal offences commited against them. But the sin aspect is still forgiven by God alone.

Booellis: Try comparing the first half of the "Hail Mary" to the things people say to Mary in the first chapter of Luke. "Hail" is a greeting from Greek and Roman times. The Greek is "Xaire" (which is actually used in Luke 1:28) the Latin is "Salve."

Answer 7

Booellis - - -
You say, why confess sins to a priest? The answer is because scripture says: in James, Chapter 5 -
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of
the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him
with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the
Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed
sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for
another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

And don't forget that Jesus Himself said to the Apostles (who were the first priests of the Catholic Church) - - -
'whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, and whose sins you retain they are retained'.

So the basis of confessing sins to a priest is entirely Biblical.

The real question that needs to be asked is, why do other denominations ignore this part of scripture?

Answer 8

I'm not Catholic, but even I know that. I think the people that keep "asking" the question know it too. They get plenty of right answers when they ask but always choose the answer that just agrees with what they said. I really think their churches must be teaching them to lie and discredit the Catholic Church. Some have even included church-based websites, which means this type of propaganda is part of the church's doctrine. Personally, if my religion began bashing other religions, I'd leave.

Answer 9

Mary the Mother of Jesus is a blessing to God! She was founded in good favor with Him. She is our connection when we ask her to pray with us, or for us.
As a mother, I find great compassion for her. I couldn't imagine watching my kid/s suffer like Jesus did!
People will say what they want, think what they want, and obviously do what they want out of pure ignorance. Unless someone is a Catholic, they don't know how it is. And the people that don't understand or agree...well, let's just say we can leave it up to God.
If it specifically said in the BIBLE: Do not pray to Mary. I know we wouldn't .
Praying to and worshiping are two different things. I can ask you to pray for me, vise versa... and still pray to God myself with the same prayer I asked you. Mary hears our prayers. She wants the best for us! But she doesn't want us to replace her for God. Big misunderstanding!!

Answer 10

There are many who lack the knowledge of our deposit of faith which was handed down from Christ, not something made up as we go along. It is true that through prayer, contemplation and discernment we go deeper into the truth and a new understanding of that truth is revealed. The truth is often rejected which is a sure sign it comes from Christ via His Beloved Bride the Church.

Answer 11

I applaud you for making the effort. I just wish more people here really cared to know what different religions teach. It's just laziness that they don't, and ignorance that they promote rumors and misinformation.
To answer one of the responders, yes, Catholics pray to Mary, and it's because she's close to Jesus and our belief is that she is a kind of go-between when we are praying for something. If you wanted a favor from the king, you would ask someone who knew the king to put a word in his ear, right? It's like that, in a way. Not necessary, but she's human and he loves her, so we talk to her as well as pray to Christ.