Who has understanding on Catholic prayers?

Question

Can anyone tell me why do Catholics pray to Mother Mary, St. Jude (and other Saints), and pray the Rosary? What is the meaning of the Rosary? After praying to all these other's where is your time to pray to your Heavenly Father YHWH/Jehovah? Who did Jesus SPECIFICALLY say we must pray too?

Larry R, that's interesting, but I would think everyone should want to go in prayer's with Jesus. Jesus did say "no one goes to the Father except through me." I don't recalling reading anywhere's in the Bible where Jesus or God said anything about praying to Mary or any other angels (saints).

Answer 1

They don't know any better. Since Catholics are not encouraged to read their Bibles, it makes it easier for their leaders to tell them anything without being questioned.

A rosary is a chain consisting of fifteen “decades” or sets of ten small beads, each set marked off by one larger bead; usually it also has a crucifix and a medal.

In the use of the rosary the following recitations are involved: The “Apostles’ Creed,” our Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, Glory Be, and five “Mysteries.” Optional is the adding of the prayer of “the Lady of Fatima” and the concluding prayers. The so-called Apostles’ Creed, which starts off the reciting of the rosary, even as also is our Lord’s Prayer.

The repeating of fifty-three Hail Marys every time the rosary is recited flies in the face of Jesus’ express condemnation of saying the “same things over and over again.” Its widespread use outside of professedly Christian lands argues that its origin is pagan. And the same must also be said regarding its associated features, the exaltation of Mary, the offering of indulgences for saying the rosary, the crediting of victories to it and its claimed power to decrease purgatorial suffering. None of these find any support in the Scriptures, but they do find parallels in pagan religions.

The Catholics have the name Yaweh in their Jerusalem Bible, but I have never heard one of them use that name. Besides, it's rather hard to pray to a trinitarian God who is made up of three separate Gods. They may not be sure who they are supposed to pray for.

At Matt. 6:9, Jesus instructed his followers to pray ONLY to his Father in his name. John 14:13, 14.

Answer 2

You have an excellent point, the problem comes from people using the phrase "pray to". It is sloppy language and it gives people the wrong impression. Still that is what everybody says, even though it just creates confusion.

Think for a moment about a Protestant Church. Most Protestants will have "prayer partners" or "prayer circles"... where you get a group together to pray for something. You can find these on the internet at places like beliefenet.com. People gather together to pray together for the same thing... "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am" said Jesus. All very biblical.

Well Catholics take it one step further. They ask the angels and the Saints and the Virgin Mary to be part of their prayer circles. After all... who makes a better prayer partner than someone who is already in Heaven?

This is called "intercessory prayer". You prayer is more or less a way of saying "St. Jude, I ask that you go before the throne of God and present my request to God with me." Think of how a lawyer represents you before a judge. You and the Lawyer go into court and present your case to the Judge together...but it is still about You and the Judge. The lawyer isn' t going to send you to jail and the lawyer isn't going to go to jail... he's just there to help you make your case. In a similar way you and St. Jude go before God and present your request. St. Jude doesn't grant the request, God does, St. Jude just prays to God with you. Make sense?

So you ARE NOT "praying to" St. Jude or the Virgin Mary, you are asking them to pray TO GOD ...WITH YOU.

Look at the words of the "Hail Mary" prayer

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.
Blessed are you amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen.

What are you asking Mary to do in that prayer? You are asking HER to PRAY to her son JESUS for you. That's all.

Same idea is when someone stands up in Church and says "Barbara Morgan's Dad just got told he has cancer, so if everyone could pray for him, that would be appreicated."

So that is what praying "to" the angels and saints is all about. It really should be called "praying with" the angels and saints, but people keep using the wrong word and it confuses everybody.

Answer 3

Catholics pray to Mary, the saints AND to God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Go to http://home.att.net/~sergei592/novusordo.htm and you will see that teh Mass is full of prayers to God.

The purpose of the rosary is twofold - one is to ask Mary to pray for us and the other is to reflect on the life of Mary and Jesus as told in the Gospels. The Rosary is a review of the Gospels.

Answer 4

Catholics pray to Mary and other Saints as interscession. They are not praying TTo that Saint they are asking that Saint to pray for them. The purpose of the rosary id to pray to God. Catholics believe that while saying the hail Mary 's in between each "mystery" you concentrate on what happened during that Mystery and say the Hail Mary's. For instance if the Mystery is " The Scourging at the cross" you meditate on what happened to Christ during the scourging as you pray the ten Hail Marys. I admit that old school Catholics seem to sort of worship Mary. But doctrine says that they don't worship the Saint but are asking that Saint to pray to God for them. Have you ever had a relative that died and you talk to them? It is sort of like that. Jesus said to pray in HIS name to God.

Answer 5

If you listen to the words to the prayers, they are asking the Saints and Mother Mary to "pray for us." That is NOT praying to them. In the "Hail Mary" prayer it says "Pray for US sinners." During the litiny of the saints Catholics chant "pray for us."

Answer 6

We pray (ask) the blessed mother of God to pray for us because the Bible teaches that the prayers of the righteous are good for us and we are to pray for others and ask others to pray for us out of love for each other in the Body of Christ.

The Rosary is a focusing prayer that allows us to focus on the work of Christ through His sacrifice. There are many websites that explain the Rosary prayer. A simple Google will find them. After asking others to pray for us and praying ourselves to God for others we have time to pray to god for ourselves and just to praise Him for all His gifts to us by grace. We pray to God and ask others to pray for us as well just as the Scriptures teach.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

Answer 7

There are Biblical "principals" on which Christian teachings are based. Not everything is “specifically” stated in black and white in the Scriptures. For example, the word "Trinity" is not in the Bible but most Christians believe in the Trinity.

So, what about prayer to Mary and the saints in heaven?

Those in heaven pray with us and for us, as in the book of Revelation when John sees that "the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8).

A prayer is a request. When we pray to Mary and the saints in heaven, we are asking them to pray for us, the same way non-Catholic Christians ask their friends or family to pray for them.

Question: When you ask your friends or family to pray for you, does that take away from Jesus or his role as mediator? Of course not, and neither does praying to our brother and sisters in heaven. Because he is the only God-man and the Mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus is the only mediator between man and God (1 Tim. 2:5), but this in no way means we cannot or should not ask our fellow Christians to pray with us and for us (1 Tim. 2:1–4). In particular, we should ask the intercession of those Christians in heaven, who have already had their sanctification completed, for "[t]he prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects" (Jas. 5:16). The family of God transcends death: You are still a Christian even when you are in heaven, and you can still pray for your brothers and sisters when you are there.

Answer 8

this is a poem no longer a prayer. sounds positive, yet no longer very sturdy for a prayer. provide God time to artwork issues out on your behalf. besides the shown fact that, God supplies us the needs in our hearts and our goals. Then He classes us in a thank you to fulfill them. maximum goals are from God interior the 1st place. so I disagree with it. Does act as a reminder once you're taking a difficulty to God, turn it over, enable circulate, and relax certain God will guard it. don't be impatient, look ahead to God. besides the shown fact that God lives outdoors of time. Time in basic terms exists in earth in actual airplane, interior of this click, counting. subsequently God can say one thousand years are as a million day to God. so which you wait 20 years for some thing, a minimum of it does come. yet for us, phewww, 20 years looks like this type of long term.

Answer 9

Catholics don't pray to saints, they ask the saints to pray for them and others.

Answer 10

Jesus said we must pray to the Father in His name. we shouldn't be praying to anybody else.