CHRISTIANS -- Are Catholics committing a sin when they pray the "Hail Mary"?

Question

Here's the prayer as I used to recite it (as a Catholic):

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Is such a prayer sinful?

I'm not kidding and I'm not trying to be contentious.

I saw an answer from a Christian on this site that described praying to a statue of Mary as "sinful". I wondered if praying to her at all was considered sinful by non-Catholic Christians, so I decided to ask.

I find it interesting that SEVERAL respondents chose to take jabs at my intelligence and intentions for daring to ask such a question at all. I don't mean to scold, but... I really have to wonder if that's a "Christ-like" kind of reaction.

Answer 1

THOU SHALT NOT WORSHIP ANY OTHER GODS...yooh tell me.

Answer 2

Thanks for writing the words, ZC.
I've heard it a few times but never understood or 'heard' the words.
Being an atheist from the time I got here I'm outa the loop when it comes to most rituals and practices - I've read about them but nothing can beat the real thing, can it?

Back to the question - if that's all it is then I can't really see what the problem is, other than for the fact that I can ...
EVERY sect of xianity broke from the main trunk, Roman Catholicism, because some fellas wanted Power and Money for themselves whilst scamming True Believers™ into thinking the newest cult was closest to ‘god’.

I love reading where fundies reckon various branches of xianity aren't True Christians™.
Earlier I read some kid's comments 'strongly hinting' that Lutherans were xians but no one else was.

They all seem to miss the fact religion was invented to keep control over the peasants- it’s still doing a mighty fine job, huh?
LOLz
.

Answer 3

Some people are SO ridiculous...they don't even stop to think about what they're answering. A lot of people have said "Thou shalt not worship any other gods"...well yeah, I totally agree! Mary isn't a god, and we never claimed that she was! A lot of other people said that we shouldn't pray to anyone but God, and again, I agree. When I say the Hail Mary, I'm asking Mary to pray for me and my sins. I don't say, "Mary, wash away my sins", because only Jesus can do that! Anyway, people are SO quick to judge, and I think its ridiculous. Christians are supposed to be understanding, no? oi vey. Oh, and FYI, Catholics are Christians. It would be better if you said neo-protestant/non-denominational Christians. :)

Answer 4

You just want lots of answers, don't you, you answer whore!!!!! XD

A couple of points to ponder: the church did not officially acknowledge that women had souls until the Council of Nicea. I do believe this started one day when some bishop was preaching against the Blessed Virgin, and some yokel in the congregation had the balls to stand up there and then and tell that bishop the whatfor. Then and there, the bishop excommunicated this upstart, and two years later, the bishop was excommunicated and the peasant was reinstated.

Meh. Maybe it was some other issue. Not the council of Nicea.

Another thing: St Dominic was said to have popularized the use of the Psalter (which at the time was a strand of beads divided to enumerate the Psalms so that monks could recite them on a daily basis. (This practice probably was one Jesus and Mary did, since He recited one while on the cross)

By some miracle and sign, the taking up of the Psalter and making it a Rosary turned out to be a milestone in the Catholic Church. It's a neat story involving church bells that rang with no one there to ring them.

Answer 5

I can't begin to understand how asking for prayers for yourself and others, from the woman that was chosen by God to bear the Son of God into humanity, in order to fulfill His plan to save the world, could be considered a sin!

Are you a sinner? Is asking your own mother to pray for you and other people important to you a sin? Is asking someone else's mother to pray for you and other people important to you a sin? That's what Catholics do when they say the "Hail Mary".

Mary is someone else's mother. It just so happens she was entrusted by the Father to be the Mother of the most important man to ever walk the face of the earth. Read the words of the prayer carefully. Nothing is stated or implied that she is anything more. Anyone (Catholic or otherwise) that considers her to be more than the holiest woman of all time is reading something into the prayer that not really there. Her life of total surrender to the will of God is worthy of respect, admiration and emulation by all Christians. All Christians (including Catholics) know who is God, who isn't.

Answer 6

This prayer is a meditation on the Bible. Read your Bible and you will find it all there!! I grew up Protestant and was taught by people of the Protestant faith that Catholics worship Mary. Then, I educated myself by talking with devout Catholics about the true teachings of their faith and have read parts of their Catechism. What I learned... Catholics do not worship Mary as an idol - they treat her with the utmost respect as Jesus' mother. Catholics pray to God. Catholics believe in the "communion of saints." Which (from what I gather!) basically means that they believe that they can send their thoughts and feelings or hopes to those people who have gone to Heaven. Catholics believe that those thoughts, feelings and hopes can be "relayed" to God for them. SO, the "Hail Mary" is a request to Mary to pray to God for "us sinners" here on Earth - after in their thoughts/words they tell her in the words of the Bible how much she is respected. So, I guess the answer to your question might be this... Prayers to God of any sort are NOT sinful. This is a request to Mary to pray to God for either oneself or a group. If a person believes that we cannot send our thoughts and feelings or hopes to anyone who has passed on to Heaven then they wouldn't be saying a "Hail Mary." I hope that this helps. Maybe the question should be... Is a belief in the ability to have a communion with saints sinful?

Answer 7

"Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord is with thee" is a direct quote from Luke 1:28.

"Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb," is a direct quote of Luke 1:4-something (sorry, I left my bible in the other room).

Neither of those two lines could possibly be sinful unless quoting Scripture is sinful.

"Jesus" comes next -- surely it's not sinful to say His name in prayer, is it?

"Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death" is a request for somebody to pray for you, which the Bible recommends (James 5:16).

Not seeing how this could be sinful.

Answer 8

I used to wonder about that too, so I dissected the prayer. It's safe enough:

Hail Mary = a greeting. Hi there!

Full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee = quoted from Gabriel. I don't think God's Angels can sin.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb = quoted from her cousin Elizabeth. Again, hardly sinful.

Holy Mary, mother of God = whole, complete, capable of bearing the Son of God

Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death = prayer request. Surely not sinful! Jesus said that our God is a God of the Living, not of the dead.

That said, I'm not enamoured of the Catholic Church's tendency to multiply that prayer into insensibility.

Answer 9

I don't know; I don't fully understand Catholicism and I am still learning about the doctrine. Though, if Catholics truly believe this not to be a sin, then they cannot willfully be committing a sin. Since this is such a conflicting idea among Christians and the many denominations; it is only for God to decide whether it's a sin or not. There are too many things I do that are unethical in my life; I couldn't even begin to lift my finger in judgment.

Answer 10

Where do people see this as worshipping Mary? The first two lines are direct quotes from the Bible: Luke 1:28 and Luke 1:48 and the last part is a simple request for her to pray for us, no different from asking your grandmother to pray for you. Not one word of worship, not one suggestion that she is greater than God/Jesus, not one inkling that she is divine. Why would this prayer possibly be sinful?

Answer 11

Some Protestants might agree such a prayer is sinful. They believe it is a sin to pray to anyone but God. I don't think so, though. They are not holding Mary above God; they are just trying to beseech Mary's soul to intervene on their behalf. They think God will pay more attention to Jesus' mom than to them.