I have been told by many on these pages that the RCC does not endorse praying to Mary, that she is not a God to Catholics, and that she is not a mediator between us and God (the Bible says there is only one mediator). But I just attended a Catholic funeral and the following "prayer" was handed to all attendees to quietly mediate upon.
'Remember O most gracious Virgin Mary that never was it known that anyone who fled to Thy protection, implored Thy help, or sought Thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto Thee, O Virgin of virgins, My Mother! to Thee I come; before Thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. Oh Mother of the Word incarnate! despise not my petitions, but, in Thy mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.
No changes were made by me as far as grammar, punctuation, or capital letters. Please tell me how it is possible to construe such a 'prayer' as anything but? There is no mention of appealing to Christ through Mary, that must be implied.
It is because prayer and worship do not mean the same thing. Catholics do pray to Mary and ask her to help them through the lord. In no way do they worship her though or believe her to be an equal to god. That is where the misconception lies.
It is the same as when the congregation makes a prayer for a sick church member or friend. The pastor is a channel that is being used to pray to god. It is the same concept. (Actually anytime a person prays for anyone other then them self it is the same.)
Edit: CJ has no idea what he is talking about. I am not even Catholic and he will bash me just for telling the researched and fact based answer I gave.
The relevant words in that prayer are "sought Thy intercession". Catholics believe that Mary and the saints intercede on believer's behalf. Their position is that they don't worship Mary and the saints but they do ask them to intercede with God -- to pull strings if you will.
I'm not defending it or condemning it, just explaining their point of view.
one thing you should note is that there is a difference between Dogma and private devotion.
Dogma is an article of faith which a Christian must believe. For example, Christ's resurrection is a Dogma. Mary's role as intercessor is not. That is, it is not required of a Christian to ask for Mary's intercession in order to be saved.
You have given an example of a prayer that is traditionally stated after the recitation of the Rosary. This is a private devotion, not Dogma, and thus is not required for ones salvation.
That's not praying TO Mary, that's asking for her assistance in our time of need. Just as many Catholics ask for the strength of different Saints, depending on the situation.
It's rather difficult to explain, but it's certainly not worship ping Mary. Asking for her assistance is nothing like praying to God.
"Prayer," in centuries past, meant "request" and not only a prayer to God. Shakespeare's plays are full of "I pray you"s and "I prithee"s (same thing), addressed from one person to another.
In this sense Catholics do "pray" to Mary and to others for aid, just as I might ask for your prayers and you might ask for mine. It is intuitive to suppose that somebody very close to God, like Mary, might have a more effective prayer life than average.
Although Jesus is indeed the only mediator who can take away sin and bring salvation, we are all capable of mediating, to some extent, using the gifts God gave us to minister to others. This is what Jesus instructed his followers to do. Again, Mary being especially blessed, it might be supposed that she has more to offer us than the average person.
You did a very good job of quoting the prayer called the Memorare. It is indeed a prayer to Mary, but there is no worship ping of Mary being done in that prayer.
The Catholic Church DOES endorse praying to Mary and all of the saints in Heaven. The Catholic Church also endorses people in this life to pray on hate behalf of others. The catholic Church does not endorse worship ping anyone other than God.
I am afraid you have either misunderstood or gotten some bad information. We Catholics do pray to Mary. For us there is a difference between praying to and worshiping. To pray means to ask or to ask for, this is not worship. Mary is not God but she is a saint. We do consider Mary as a mediator. This belief comes from the book of John and the wedding at Cana.
This prayer is asking for Mary's help "intercession" with her son "Mother of the Word Incarnate". I agree, the flowery wording of the prayer is a bit confusing. This is a catch-all prayer which asks Mary to help us through her son.
In the book of John, Jesus tells us that Mary is the mother of all of us. We see nothing wrong with asking our mother for help when we need it.
This "Prayer" is Indeed to "Mary" and is Totally Irrational from it's onset!!! If (and it's not True) "Mary" had "ANY SUPERNATURAL POWERS", why do U need to ask her to "Remember Anything"??? The "Supposition" that follows that she can "Protect, Help or Intercede" is LUDICROUS!!! It has NO BASIS IN SCRIPTURE and in FACT, Christ PRAYED TO HIS FATHER, NOT Mary!!! Christ also says that "Whatever we ask of "THE FATHER" in Faith, we shall receive", and No mention is EVER made of "Praying to Mary" FOR ANYTHING!!! Now as to Marys' "Virgin Status", guess what??? Christ had a total of 7 brothers & sisters after He was born some of which are mentioned in Scripture!!! Now ask Urself, "If Mary is so "Good", why would she "Despise" someones "Petition / Prayer" or Not "Hear" it??? Easy, SHE IS DEAD AND HAS NO "SUPER POWERS"!!! John
"Marys Oblate" is correct about what dogma means but the Memorare appears in Catholic books which have "Nihil Obstat" which means that there is no doctrinal or moral error, that there is nothing contradictory to the faith in the book.
Because they make it up as they go.They deny their own doctrines when shown the umbilical nature of them.Or worse,they say the Bible just simply is insufficient or incomplete or error-ridden,and must be rewritten by the Pope.Catholics are brainwashed as bad as any Moonies on this planet.
Confused with Roman Catholicism?
