Why do Catholics worship Virgin Mary?

Question

I have no intention of mocking Mary at all. Indeed, she was a very special, faithful and blessed woman to give a birth to Jesus, our Messiah.

But why do they pray to her and why do they say she has promised all the great things for them? Where in the scripture says she has promised such things? Where in the scripture tells you to pray to Mary? Don't you think it's ironic they're making an idol of the mother of Jesus? Why not focus on Jesus, who actually died on the cross to forgive our sins?

Answer 1

Because:

1. They don't worship her, that's an attack to differentiate the other denominations from the catholics.

2. Because Jesus didn't die for anyone's sins, because that's a story, just like the rest of the bible.

Answer 2

The mother is usually sacred. She molded the son after all. With the Greeks and such, Zeus was the Supreme God, but you weren't supposed to forgo Gaia.  

Answer 3

Mary points us to Christ; her last recorded words in Scripture are "do whatever He tells you", wise words indeed not only for the servants at the Cana wedding feast but also all of us.

We do not worship her.  The Church teaches very clearly that worship is due to God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) alone.

As for my personal habits of prayer, whether I ask the saints (including Mary) to pray for me or just pray spontaneously "from the heart", it's not a salvation issue -- and therefore no one's business but my own.  It's part of that "personal relationship with Christ" which all of us have, even Catholics.

Answer 4

They don't worship her.  They pray to her to ask her to intercede on their behalf.  They ask her to basically put in a good word for them with God.  

Answer 5

First of all Catholic Christians do NOT worship the blessed mother of God. In fact, we are forbidden to worship anyone but God. You saying this is no different than my saying thatyou worship your pastor. It would simply be a lie and bearing false witness. Catholics do focus on Jesus and His salvific work. The Rosary prayer is all about His sacrifice and focuses us on Him. This may help you to understand:

It's OK to pray to saints?

First of all it is disingenuous to state that the practice of praying for each other has no biblical foundation, we are instructed in Scripture to have a prayer life for others as it is part of God’s commandment to love one another.

(2Co 5:8 DRB) But we are confident and have a good will to be absent rather from the body and to be present with the Lord.

The Catholic Church does not teach that it is absolutely necessary for one to ask for the intercession of saints for salvation. The Church does teach that prayer to God is necessary for salvation for all believers. For a Catholic it would be wrong to ignore the liturgical worship offered to God at feast days for the saints and the prayers asking for their intercession.

The Communion of Saints is a dogma of the ancient Church and is recorded in the apostles Creed. It simply states that the faithful because of their relationship with Christ are alive even after the death of their flesh and worship with us. To us the Church is made up of the Church militant who represents all those believers living out their hope in the flesh.

(Phi 2:12 DRB) Wherefore, my dearly beloved, (as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but much more now in my absence) with fear and trembling work out your salvation.

(Phi 2:13 DRB) For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish, according to his good will.

It consists of the Church Suffering who are those who are temporarily in need of further purgation from sin so that they may enjoy the presence of God.

(2Ma 12:46 DRB) It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.

Lastly, the Communion of the Saints consists of those who have won the race:

(Phi 3:14 DRB) I press towards the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ Jesus.

Their immortal souls are in heaven in God’s presence:

(Rev 5:8 DRB) And when he had opened the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty ancients fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

The universal stream connecting all of God’s creation is His love, which we take on in our baptism into our journey towards sanctification. This is not an emotional but a desire placed in us by the Spirit of God that endures as a desire for those other than ourselves and this love extends even to our enemies. This is truly a love that comes only from God and is a foreign concept and nonsense to those who have not received God’s salvific grace. This desire within our souls does not end with the death of our flesh but continues into eternity where the saints through their intercession in prayer encourage us in our race and assist us to endure unto our union with God.

I think that some people of faith, who do not understand the Communion of Saints, somehow believe that asking saints to pray for us is detracting from our love or our trust in God. In truth it is impossible, if we truly love as God commands and has given us the grace to understand, not to pray to those whom we love and in turn we expect them to return that same love to us by praying for us and presenting our prayers to God.

In Christ

Fr. Joseph

Answer 6

The same scripture makes it awfully bloody clear to all of you that no matter what- to keep the sabbath holy, i believe it's the fourth commandment- sandwiched in between all the commandments you choose to observe.

people in glass houses...tut tut.

(for nerds interested in the truth, catholic worship of mary is predicated from the cult of Isis an egyptian derived graeco-romanised virginal mother goddess of the saviour Horus- at the time of early christianity, do some reading on the web- it's quite interesting).

Answer 7

You worship Jesus. If Mother Mary did not pregnant, where did Jesus come from as a human? If he did not come to earth as a human, then how did he save us?

Answer 8

When Jesus became our brother, Mary became our mother.

When Jesus became her son, Mary became the queen of his eternal kingdom, since under God's rules, as detailed in scripture, the mother of the king is the queen.

Also as detailed in scripture, the official job of the queen is to intercede for the people, with the King.

That's what Catholics have always understood ... and it has nothing at all to do with any type of worship.

For all the specifics, go here:

http://douglawrence.wordpress.com/a-shor...

Answer 9

I dont understand why they pray through her, when Jesus himself said NO-ONE comes to the father except through ME.  

Answer 10

because of their unbelief! for mary, herself believes and obeys God!

Luk 1:26  And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

Luk 1:27  To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

Luk 1:28  And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

Luk 1:29  And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

Luk 1:30  And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.

Luk 1:31  And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

Luk 1:32  He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

Luk 1:33  And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Luk 1:34  Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

Luk 1:35  And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Luk 1:36  And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

Luk 1:37  For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Luk 1:38  And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Luk 1:45  And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.

Luk 1:46  And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,

Luk 1:47  And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

Luk 1:48  For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

Luk 1:49  For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.

Luk 1:50  And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.

Luk 1:51  He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

And besides roman catholics prefer to follow doctrines of men rather than God's Holy Words;

Act 5:27  And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,

Act 5:28  Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.

Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Pro 30:1  The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal,

Pro 30:2  Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.

Pro 30:3  I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.

Pro 30:4  Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?

Pro 30:5  Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

Pro 30:6  Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

Rev 22:16  I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

Rev 22:17  And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Rev 22:20  He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Answer 11

It is all to do with the Egyptian religion that  incorporated into Catholicism by the pope. He says that he is God on earth. If you look at the whole religion and study it you will come to the conclusion that Martin Luther was right in so far as he is the antichrist. Gods word is not the truth and the whole truth as it is according to him. He has changed so many things and one of them is the misguided use of Mary to intercede with God. Jesus said that no one comes to the Father except by Me. Not Mary or the pope or the bishop or the priest.The pope is the greatest deceiver of man and he will never ever get to Heaven. He will join his lord in h**l. The last thing he will do before the end of the world will be to have Sabbath worshiping banned. It will become law that everyone will worship on a Sunday. The freedom to keep the Sabbath is the last of the 10 commandments that has not been scrapped by laws all over the world.

Answer 12

Another misinformed non-catholic christian. So who gave you the idea? Your pastor?

Answer 13

*DRINK*

Boy am I tired of this question

As everyone who is Catholic or knows Catholicism has pointed out.  We do not worship Mary.

We ask her to pray for us, we honor the fact that she is the mother of our savior, and we also know that her Son will listen to her, long before He'll listen to us.

You ask your friends to pray for you?  That's called intercession, that's what we ask for from Mary and the saints, that they pray for us.  As for scripture, I believe Fr Joe gave you the scripture, so I do not need to repeat it.

Love in Christ

Answer 14

Not only do they worship Virgin Mary but all the Saints that they have gathered over the centuries since Paul kicked off the religion about Jesus.

Answer 15

They do not worship the Virgin Mary.  They ask her to intercede for them, which IS Scriptural, and has been part of Catholicism for centuries.

Catholics do not believe that the Bible is the ONLY source for Christianity.  It's the Word of God, but they also use early church writings, and Tradition that was passed down through the generations.

If you want to get really technical, many Protestant denominations have a lot of practices that aren't in the Bible: altar calls, the "sinner's prayer", no drinking, no gambling, no smoking, no dancing, using the Bible alone, faith alone (according to the Bible, faith and works are intertwined, and a person needs both!)... the list goes on and on.

For Catholics, there is only one God, and only one Savior, Jesus Christ.  But it's perfectly acceptable to ask the Saints and the Virgin Mary to pray for us.

I'm not Catholic, by the way, though I am studying it, and considering converting.

Answer 16

It's called INTERCESSION we ask Mary and Saints to pray for us just like you would ask a family or friend to pray for you. We pray DIRECTLY to God and Worship God alone not Saints or Mary!.

And it is Bibilical here you have some referance,Thus, in Psalm 103 we pray, "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!" (Ps. 103:20–21). And in the opening verses of Psalms 148 we pray, "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!"

Not only do those in heaven pray with us, they also pray for us. In the book of Revelation, John sees that "the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8). Thus the saints in heaven offer to God the prayers of the saints on earth.

Angels do the same thing: "[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God" (Rev. 8:3–4).

Catholics and Orthodox Worship God and God alone

Mary is not dead 'she is no longer in this World' but she is in Heaven. I will give you one easy example that is even in the KJV. When Elijah and Moses appeared to Jesus were they dead?, NO!. We do pray directly and Worship God but we ask the Saints and Mary for intercession ' For them to pray for us'.

Answer 17

Cause she's hot.. and apparently she is easy!

Why does anyone worship anyone?  It is ridiculous!

Except for George Clooney and Johnny Depp, They ROCK!