Why do Catholics pray to Mary/saints?

by BoogerMan 11 Replies latest jw friends

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  BoogerMan

  A very good friend of many years told me that he prays to Mary and makes requests. I didn't try to discuss/debate the subject - his choice - but wondered how Catholics would view these scriptures:

  (John 14:6) Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

  (John 16:23) In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

  (1 Timothy 2:5) For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus
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  LongHairGal

  BOOGER MAN:

  I was raised Roman Catholic and we certainly did pray to saints as well as pray to God (for which we had no other name except ‘Father’ as in ‘Our Father’ or ‘Dear Father in heaven’ etc.).

  You ask why? It was never explained why and nobody questioned it. As far as quoting those scriptures, we only used missals. Maybe if somebody had a bible in their home they read from the gospels. I would have to say the average person was bible illiterate and only knew maybe Genesis and Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

  You must be younger than me because the churches in general didn’t start having the parishioners using bibles until maybe the ‘70s and later when there was a religious revival in the country.
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  NotFormer

  Some pagan gods became Roman Catholic saints. For example Brigid was a goddess, a member of the Tuatha de Danaan, and when Catholicism came to Ireland, she simply became St. Brigid. You could argue that veneration of the saints was a way of allowing pagan peoples to keep their local gods, while giving lip service to "Christianity".
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  ChildofGod89

  Catholics don't pray to saints, They honor the saints and ask them to pray for us through Jesus Christ. I'm a catholic. We don't worship statues or kiss them that is idolatry not taught or anything ive ever seen in my church or anywhere else. You can only go through prayer through Jesus Christ. What are the JW's thoughts arch angel Michael being Jesus? Also the word you use for Jehovah is Kurios right? Why do you translate it in the old testament but in the new testament you don't translate it? Also what are your basis on blood transfusions in regards to levictus 17:14?
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  TonusOH

  I knew a guy who said his parents were "Marianites." Apparently it was a Catholic sect that focused particularly on worshipping her? I was a JW at the time, so I just kind of saw it as another facet of false religion (oh, if only I'd known at the time).
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  ChildofGod89

  @TonusOH -Are you catholic?
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  TonusOH

  Hi ChildofGod89. I am not religious.
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  ChildofGod89

  Ok. Well these Heretics on the JW with their false bible claim false accusations amongst the catholic church,
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  NotFormer

  The Catholic saints simply subsumed the roles of the pagan gods that preceded them. For example St. Eligius took over the role of Vulcan/Hephaistos from the pagan pantheon. Just as objects, jobs and classes of people had patron gods, they now have patron saints. Just "venerate" (worship) your patron saint and you'll be fine! 🙄

  A lot of "saints" weren't even real historical people. There's the above example of St Brigid. And of course, St Christopher.
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  Big Dog

  Why ask a bunch of ex-JW's? Why not go to the source?

  Here is one explanation from Catholic Answers, there are other even more detailed answers out there if you look. Being raised a JW I always thought Catholics were complete loons and made no sense, these days I think they make as much sense as anyone else in the religious sphere.

  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.

  Some Christians will ask, “Why pray to Mary when we can go directly to Jesus?” And yet they have no problem asking others here on earth to pray for them, instead of simply and solely praying to Jesus on their own. Indeed, St. Paul says that God grants blessings “in answer to many prayers” (2 Cor. 1:11). And if the prayer of a righteous man on earth avails much with God (Jas. 5:16–18), how much more would prayers from one who has finished the race and now reigns with Christ in heaven?

  Scripture elsewhere speaks of the “the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven” and “the spirits of just men made perfect” (Heb. 12:23, emphasis added). Given their heavenly perfection in Jesus, which would include perfection in charity and thus concern for their brothers and sisters in Christ on earth (see 1 Cor. 2:12-26), we should not be surprised that Scripture presents these holy men and women of heaven bringing our prayers to Jesus the Lamb (Rev. 5:8), and that from the early Church onward Christians have asked the intercession of the saints who have gone before them to heaven.

  In this light, we see that the saints—as faithful disciples of Jesus—are his collaborators, not his competitors in interceding for us. Consequently, because Mary is the Mother of God and the disciple par excellence (see Luke 1:28, 38), we should not be surprised that she is our preeminent intercessor among the angels and saints.