Catholics do not pray to Mary as if she were God. Prayer to Mary is memory of the great mysteries of our faith (Incarnation, Redemption through Christ in the rosary), praise to God for the wonderful things he has done in and through one of his creatures (Hail Mary) and intercession (second half of the Hail Mary).
All Christian prayer, whether the prayer of saints in heaven or Mary, the mother of the Lord, or of us the saints here on earth, is directed to the Father through Jesus, who is the “one mediator between God and men” (1 Timothy 2:5).
Answer: Why Pray to Mary? Because Jesus has given us his Blessed Mother as our great spiritual mother (Rev. 12:17), a heavenly advocate who intercedes for us.
Catholics do not view Mary as equal to Christ, but rather venerate Mary because of her relationship to Christ. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “Mary's role in the Church is inseparable from her union with Christ and flows directly from it” (CCC 964).
The justification for asking Mary to intercede for us is once again found in the Bible. Revelation 5:8 depicts "the prayers of the saints" being set before the altar of God in heaven.
Why not pray directly to God? The mother of Jesus Christ and the other saints have no meaning or power independent of God. Catholics and many other Christians venerate the saints as ongoing examples of what a life generously open to God's grace can look like in a great variety of circumstances.
The earliest recorded prayer to Mary is the sub tuum praesidium (3rd or 4th century) and the earliest depictions of her are from the Priscilla catacombs in Rome (early 3rd century).
The Catholic's honor and love for Mary reflects their deep love of God, who made Mary who she is. In Luke 1:48 Mary proclaims that “All generations will call me blessed..” God created Mary as such a pure, graced filled creation that from then until all eternity she will be called blessed.
The perpetual virginity of Mary is a Christian doctrine that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin "before, during and after" the birth of Christ. In Western Christianity, the Catholic Church adheres to the doctrine, as do some Lutherans, Anglicans, Reformed, and other Protestants.
The official position of the Holy See is that while the Holy Office has approved a few apparitions of the Virgin Mary, Roman Catholics at large are not required to believe them. However, many Catholics express belief in Marian apparitions.
Catholics do not pray to Mary as if she were God. Prayer to Mary is memory of the great mysteries of our faith (Incarnation, Redemption through Christ in the rosary), praise to God for the wonderful things he has done in and through one of his creatures (Hail Mary) and intercession (second half of the Hail Mary).
Devotion to the Virgin Mary does not, however, amount to worship – which is reserved for God; Catholics view Mary as subordinate to Christ, but uniquely so, in that she is seen as above all other creatures.
John Calvin
Calvin stated that Mary cannot be the advocate of the faithful, since she needs God's grace as much as any other human being. If the Catholic Church praises her as Queen of Heaven, it is blasphemous and contradicts her own intention, because she is praised and not God.
The prayer of the Church, nourished by the Word of God and the celebration of the liturgy, teaches us to pray to the Lord Jesus. Even though her prayer is addressed above all to the Father, it includes in all the liturgical traditions forms of prayer addressed to Christ (CCC 2665; emphasis added).
Origin. The Hail Mary is rooted in Scripture — the initial lines are taken directly from the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke. We read that God sends the Angel Gabriel to proclaim to the Virgin Mary that she is to bear the Son of God. Upon coming to her, the Angel greets Mary, saying, “Hail, favored one!
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite), founded by James Jesse Strang rejects the virgin birth and believes that Jesus' father was Joseph, husband of Mary.
A careful look at the New Testament shows that Mary kept her vow of virginity and never had any children other than Jesus.
Theotokos: Mary is the Mother of God. Perpetual Virginity: Mary was a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Jesus. Immaculate Conception: Mary was conceived without original sin. Assumption: Mary was taken body and soul into heaven.
In a prominent place near by, display a statue or picture of Mary. Add a bouquet if possible. At grace before meals, add a special prayer to Mary. Get a statue of Mary for your garden, then honor her by planting some special blooms.
This is shown in Luke 2:51, "And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was SUBJECT to them." Jesus also obeyed her by performing His first miracle at her request at Cana when He turned the water into wine in John 2:1-5. Jesus Christ therefore kept the commandment 'honor thy mother'.
The purpose of the Rosary is to help keep in memory certain principal events or mysteries in history. There are twenty mysteries reflected upon in the Rosary, and these are divided into five main mysteries which correspond to the five decades of the rosary. Five Joyful Mysteries are prayed on Mondays and Saturdays.
The honoring of Mary as the Mother of God can be traced back to the Council of Ephesus in 431. By the 7th century, January 1st was observedas a celebration of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the 13th century, the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ had come to replace the feast honoring Mary.
A popular German religious manual of the fifteenth century ("Der Selen Troïst", 1474) even divides the Hail Mary into four portions, and declares that the first part was composed by the Angel Gabriel, the second by St. Elizabeth, the third, consisting only of the Sacred Name.