Nevertheless, we pray to Mary that she may intercede for us with her Divine Son. How often we request the assistance of prayers from our fellow men — how much more powerful are the prayers and intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary! In the Old Testament, we read how Moses prayed with arms outstretched and interceded with God to procure the victory of the Israelites over their enemies in a crucial battle.
As long as he prayed, they were victorious. When he ceased his prayers, the Israelites began to lose. Also, we read in the Old Testament how Josue prayed to God to have the day prolonged in order to win another crucial battle.
If Moses and Josue could have such intercession before God, how much more powerful are the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary! The Gospel of St. John relates two significant accounts which relate to Mary — the wedding feast of Cana and the Crucifixion.
Of the first account we read:. And Jesus also was invited, and His disciples, to the marriage. My hour is not yet come. Everything related in the Gospels is inspired by God, and there is a reason for it. Does not this narrative of the wedding feast manifest the intercessory power of Mary with Jesus Christ, her Divine Son? In both accounts, Jesus addressed Mary by the term woman.
He said it was not his time yet, but his mother asked for help. The Bible is clear: Mary influences her Son. The Blessed Mother was part of the incarnation, birth, first miracle, passion and the death of Jesus and with the apostles for the descent of the Holy Spirit. The first part of the Hail Mary is from Scripture and is centered on Jesus. Jesus and Mary go together. The best chance at getting a good answer from the king was to run it by his mother.
A multitude of Church-approved Marian apparitions shows that God continues to send his mother to help us. For instance, at Fatima, years ago on Oct. Her message to us is to pray and make reparation for sin. Padre Pio and a host of saints called it a weapon against evil and prayed it continually. There are many documented miracle stories and many personal stories attributed to praying the Rosary.
No one can argue that she must be the most righteous, therefore, the Bible attests to the power of her prayers. But by already being grounded in a love of Mary and the Rosary, such books help deepen that love. He opens with the words of St. It is a monumental work that begins with the history of the Rosary and includes miracle and conversion stories attributed to the Rosary throughout history.
It also contains beautiful artwork honoring Mary, much of it commissioned for the book. She picked up the young Calloway, bent on destruction and brought him to her son. This is possible because, through the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary was the only person ever to be preserved from the stain of original sin. God, in choosing her to be His mother, bestowed the grace of her Immaculate Conception, or birth without original sin. This dogma has been recognized since the early Church and is revealed in scripture.
From that moment, she forms a truly unique and inseparable bond with Christ as His mother. She stands by the cross, perfectly trusting the divine plan, even as her only Son suffers and dies for our salvation. By her perfect charity, or love of God above all things, Mary serves as a model for everyone.
Think about it—much must not have made sense for Mary. After all, an angel visited her saying she would conceive the Son of God while remaining a virgin—how would you react? If we can put that same trust in God and love Him above all things, then one day we too will live, body and soul, in heaven.
Too often, non-Catholics confuse honoring, or veneration, for worship or direct prayer. There are three levels of respect given by Catholics: Latria , Dulia and Hyperdulia. Therefore, Catholics do not pray to Mary. No, to interpret it that way would be strange.
This is not an absolute. There are exceptions. That is faulty logic. It is the true Queen of Heaven, Mary, the mother of the male child who is to rule the nations.
As Catholics, we do not worship Mary; we honor her, just as Jesus honors her. So there is absolutely nothing wrong, from a scriptural point of view, in calling Mary the Queen of Heaven, and in honoring her just as Jesus honors her. What I mean by that is in John , right before Jesus dies, it says that Jesus entrusted the care of His mother to the beloved disciple, John.
If Mary had had any other sons, it would have been a bit of a slap in the face to them that the Apostle John was entrusted with the care of their mother. There were 11 Apostles at the time. So that puts us up to 30 or 40 or so. It is hard to argue that Mary had 80 or 90 children. More on the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Pelikan assesses the ways Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and Muslims, artists, musicians, and writers, and men and women everywhere have depicted, venerated, and been inspired by Mary, a symbol of hope and solace for all generations. Patrick Madrid explains in a clear, easy-to-follow style why Catholics pray to and honor Mary and the saints.
Using the Bible and the testimony of the early Church Fathers, he provides a concise overview of the biblical and historical foundations of this often misunderstood Catholic doctrine. He also walks you through the standard anti-Catholic arguments against praying to Mary and the saints and demonstrates from the Bible why these arguments are themselves unbiblical.
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