Do Catholics "pray" to Mary and the saints in the same sense as in prayer to God?

Question

Subquestions: Are Mary and the saints alive? Are they interested in Christians? Can they help us in any way?

CJ, are you saying that Jesus' mother, who had the guts to stand at the foot of the cross as her son was tortured to death, is not alive in heaven? Or do you believe that saints in heaven can't hear the saints on earth?

Several respondents cited the "Hail Mary." Do you see a difference in asking Mary to "pray for us sinners," than praying to the Father, "Forgive us our trespasses"? In prayer, we don't ask God to pray for us.

Bluelf, I like your distinction between asking for intercession and prayer. But I was surprised when you wrote that Mary and the saints are no longer alive. Jesus said, "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

Isabella, I like your insight that the saints in heaven may pray WITH us. "Wherever two or three are gathered in my name . . ."

Answer 1

Catholics ask Mary to pray to Jesus for us. She is interceding, kind of in the way a pastor might pray for you or me. Even in the Rosary we ask Mary to "Pray for us sinners."

Concern is that attention paid to Mary defocuses from Jesus. It is an interesting choice of words because Mary said the opposite about herself. She said "My soul magnifies the Lord."

I think time spent with Mary is no more defocusing than time spent with my other Church friends or with my pastor. To me the logical end to the "defocusing" theory is that I should never talk to or pray with any other Christians. It suggests I shouldn't go to prayer groups, or even read the Old Testament (because it predates Christ). The logical conclusion to the "defocusing theory" is that I should only talk with Christ alone and never even talk to another human being.

God is complete. It is not out of Jesus' incompleteness that he has called angels and saints to join him in ministry. It is not because he is not strong enough and needs help. He could easily snap his fingers and the entire population of the world would suddenly see God and know He exists. He does not need Mary, angels, or saints. Nor does he need you or me. It is not out of his incompleteness that he has invited Mary, the angels, the saints and you and me to join in his ministry. It is out of his overabundance of Graces. It is his generosity, his desire to share his graces, his overflowing goodness, and his great Love for us. The Psalmist said "my cup overflows" (Ps 23). That is what God is. He is overflowing with graces that he shares with his mother and all his children. If he loves you and me so much as to invite us to join in his ministry, it is not hard to imagine that he would invite his mother to join in his ministry.

Answer 2

You do know that this is one of the most over-asked questions we get right? We answer this question several times a day and if I see it more than three times a day, I don't answer because what's the use? No one seems to see that little icon that pops up and says "Wait! We might already have the answer you're looking for!" I'm not uncomfortable about this teaching at all. We're not worshipping the Saints or Mary. We're simply asking them to intercede our prayers for us. It's like asking a friend to pray for you when you're going through a rough time. You're asking the friend to pray for you, not worshipping the friend. There is a distinct difference between worshipping and honoring. We believe that the Saints and Mary are in heaven, along with our loved ones. So what better people to intercede our prayers for us. About the verse that you shared, you didn't read the whole thing. The four verses preceding it says,"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and pleasing to God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Intercessory prayers on behalf of others are "good and pleasing to God." You also misunderstand Christ being human's mediator. He is very unique because He is the only person to be both God and Man. Therefore He is the only one that bridges the two together. Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant just as Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant.

Answer 3

It is a common and understandable misconceptions for non-catholics and catholics alike.

In the true Catholic way: Catholics don't "pray" to Mary and the saints in the same sense that we "pray" to God. To the Virgin Mary and the saints, Catholics ask for intercession -- they ask for assistance in praying to God for whatever it is that they are praying for. They ask the Virgin MAry and the saints to pray with and for them.

Through the years, parents have taught their children the way of the Catholic but somehow it gets distorted along the way -- you see them bowing down in front of statues, wiping these statues and then wiping themselves and then making the sign of the cross everytime. I think the Catholic church lacks a lot in this issue. I am a Catholic and I only understood this when I asked my parents about it after hearing your same questions from some Baptists.

Culture also has a huge role in it. The reason why the Virgin MAry seems to be more popular than Jesus in the "praying" department is because culture dictates that the Mother can easily talk to her Son and He will easily listen to her because He loves and respects her.

The Virgin MAry and the Saints are no longer alive. The Virgin MAry is the Mother of Jesus Christ and the saints were martyrs for God who died under persecution and torture. They refused to denounce God and defended their faiths. Some lived such divine and holy lives. They were true Christians during their lifetime. They are canonized as saints centuries after their deaths and are evaluated based on some really strict rules -- certain number of miracles, bodies are preserved for centuries, etc., etc.

Saints are able to help you if you ask them to intercede for you. SAme with the Holy Virgin MAry

Hope this helps!!

Answer 4

No.

Prayer to the saints in heaven is communication not worship.

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, Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II.

As part of this family, you may ask your family and friends living here on earth to pray for you. Or, you may also ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Andrew, or your deceased grandmother living in heaven to pray for you.

Prayer to saints in heaven is simple communication, not worship.

Asking others to pray for you whether your loved ones on Earth or your loved ones in heaven is always optional.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 946 and following: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p5.htm#946

With love in Christ.

Answer 5

No. Today, pray means to praise God, ask his blessings, confess our sins and seek his forgiveness, and promise him our lives. Original Christians do none of these things with Mary.

Virtually all Christians ask other Christians to pray for us. Original Christians don't discriminate against those who live in heaven, like Mary. We ask her prayers, too, but we don't pray to Mary.

Conclusion: We ask Mary for her prayers (as we ask other saints in heaven and on earth), but we pray to God alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

CDF

Answer 6

Hi Bruce,

"To pray" is simply to ask.

We pray to saints to ask them to pray for us, in the same way you might pray for me if I ask and I would pray for you if you ask. Christians are called to pray for each other: James 5:16 "Pray one for another... The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

The Truth of Catholic doctrine is just as true now as it was 2,000 years ago, no matter how badly it may be presented in our confusing times. Hang on to the Faith and never let hierarchs or bad presentations of the Faith keep you from Truth and the Sacraments.

The Bible directs us to invoke those in heaven and ask them to pray with us. Thus in Psalms 103, we pray, "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!" (Ps. 103:20-21). And in Psalms 148 we pray, "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!" (Ps. 148:1-2).


Not only do those in heaven pray with us, they also pray for us.

Answer 7

Love is all around like Christmas season. We feel the presence of love. If someone is so special to you like bestfriend- it is forever. With all the works of the saints in spreading the love of Jesus until this very moment, which means their spirit is alive. Our life is spirit.
Are they interested? So much like love. A gift of God to us.

Answer 8

Well, lots of others have expressed the official view so I'll just tell you how I feel.
My parents are both dead and I trust they are in heaven. I believe they have an interest in me and what's happening in my life. Right now I am dealing with a cancer diagnosis and I often "talk" to my parents about it. Some would call this conversation "prayer". I also have close friends here in this life. I talk to them about what's happening to me. I ask them to pray for me just as I ask my parents to pray for me.
I know that none of them are God and my conversations with God are different. I do believe my parents can hear me just as my friends can. I trust that they all are praying for me just as I pray for them. Perhaps we need a new vocabulary. I "pray" to God and I "talk" to my parents. (I've also been know to talk to Mary and some of the official Saints.)
Hope this make sense.

Answer 9

CJ is again pretending to be an expert on religion and an authority on the Bible.

Hey CJ, people here can see your true intentions. You pretend to be a Christian but you slander Catholics and others who don't agree with your distorted beliefs. You like spreading lies just like your master Satan.

Answer 10

Prayer is a "request". When we pray to those who have gone to heaven ahead of us, we are making a "request" of them. And what is that request? It is that THEY pray for US. Protestants do it all the time, but they limit themselves to making this request only of people still on earth. In this, the protestant view of the Church is very narrow. You see, Romans 8: 38-39 says: "neither death nor life... ...neither the present nor the future.. ..neither height nor depth, nor anything else.. ..will be able to separate us". The Family of God transcends death. We ALL LIVE IN CHRIST.

Hebrews 12: 22-24 says that as we approach God, Jesus and the angels, we also approach "the spirits of righteous men made perfect". In other words, THE SAINTS


BUT, can They Hear Us? One charge against us is that the saints in heaven cannot even hear our prayers, making it useless to ask for their intercession. However, this is not true. As Scripture indicates, those in heaven are aware of the prayers of those on earth. For example, in Revelation 5:8, John depicts the saints in heaven offering our prayers to God under the form of "golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." But if the saints in heaven are offering our prayers to God, then they must be aware of our prayers. They are aware of our petitions and present them to God by interceding for us.


I invite people to read this information:
http://www.catholic.com/library/Praying_to_the_Saints.asp

Oh, the intercession of fellow Christians—which is what the saints in heaven are—also clearly does not interfere with Christ’s unique mediatorship because in the four verses immediately preceding 1 Timothy 2:5, Paul says that Christians should interceed: "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and pleasing to God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:1–4). Clearly, then, intercessory prayers offered by Christians on behalf of others is something "good and pleasing to God," not something infringing on Christ’s role as mediator.

Answer 11

no. i am a catholic we pray to Mary and the saints so they will tell God our message. They are like messengers in a way. Like if you tell your friend to tell a some one something for you it is like that

we also pray to they to keep us safe and to help us.