When a person prays to Mary, it is in request for her prayers for sinners. Have you ever asked your Mom to pray for you? Or your friends? If they can pray for you, then why cannot Jesus’s Mother pray for us? Or do you think she is dead? Her spirit is alive just as all the spirits of the dead who are in Christ are alive. We Catholics call this the Communion of Saints.
Second - Jesus’s first public miracle was at the wedding in Cana in Galilee. He performed the miracle because his Mother told him they were out of wine for the guests. This despite the fact the He said His time had not yet come. Still, he listened to his mother! We should understand that Jesus’s love for his earthly mother was great indeed, and we should respect and honor her. It takes nothing away from Jesus or God to honor her or to ask her for prayers.
Gumdrop: “When a person prays to Mary, it is in request for her prayers for sinners....Her spirit is alive just as all the spirits of the dead who are in Christ are alive. We Catholics call this the Communion of Saints.”
I see no problem with Mary as a highly regarded historical character. I just don’t see why she is singled out as one of the primary intercessors to Christ. It seems that the “Saints” to which the Roman Catholics pray are focused on new testament (or later) persons. Why don’t the Roman Catholics pray to Abraham, Sarah, Moses, or Noah? Even Paul claimed the faith of these were among the greatest.
What is the benchmark for being prayed to? Is there some sort of qualification these “saints” have earned that seperate them from other great biblical characters???