Why Do We Pray to Mary?

Since Catholics pray to Mary we’re sometimes accused of mariolatry, or the worship of Mary.  Yet nothing could be further to the truth.  Everything that begins with Mary always ends with Jesus, and so it is with prayer as well.

We pray to the Virgin Mary because we want her intercession.  Whenever we pray to Our Lady we are in essence asking her to pray for us, and with us, to her Son.  Could we skip Mary and go straight to Jesus?  Yes.  But this is a mistake.  We ask our family and friends to pray for us, so why would we not ask our Heavenly Mother to pray for us?  I don’t know about you, but I need all the help I can get down here.  So there’s no way I’m going to deprive myself of the help of the most powerful intercessor in the Church!

Praying to Mary doesn’t take anything away from Jesus.  In fact it honors Him, because now instead of just one person praying to Him (us), there’s two (Mary and us).  It also honors Jesus because He gave Mary to us as our Mother.  When we pray to her, we are honoring His command to take her into our homes/hearts (Jn 19:26-27)!  But when we don’t allow her that role in our lives, it is we as her children who suffer.  Like any good mother Mary loves us and wants to help.  But she can only help as much as we allow her to.  So the more we make her a part of our lives, the more she can help lead us to Jesus.

I like to think of it this way.  Mary is seated at the right of Christ (like Queen Bathsheba seated to the right of her son King Solomon in 1 Kings 2:19).  I go to her with a request, and she and I both turn to her Son with my request.  Then, knowing His divine will perfectly, she turns back to me and dispenses the appropriate and necessary graces to do His will.  Then we both turn back to Christ in thanksgiving, since it is only because of Him that those graces are there to be given.  Could we ignore Mary and only talk to Jesus?  Yes.  But she’s right there next to Him so that would be insult to both the King and Queen.

The bottom line is that Mary loves us and wants to help.  The more we “behold our Mother” (Jn 19:27), the more she can work in our lives.  Mary’s will was, and is, in perfect conformity with the will of her Son – so therefore like her Son, she desires the good for us more than we ever could for ourselves.  Let us not deprive ourselves of so great a Mother and Advocate!

Pray for us O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!  Tota tua…

See Also: Why Bother with Mary?

The Power of Prayer for Those We Love

For most of my life I didn’t understand the point of prayer.  God knows the future, I can’t change His will – why bother praying?  In Making Time for Prayer I talked a little about why prayer matters for us as individuals, but just as important is why our prayer matters for those we love.  But if everyone has free will, and we can’t change God’s will, what exactly can our prayer do for them?

God has given prayer immense power because through it we can release graces that He has been waiting to bestow on us and on others.  Does He need our intercession to dispense His grace?  Of course not.  But He loves us and wants us to participate in the work begun by His Son.  So God has ordained that for certain graces to be released they must be called down by you and me in prayer!  This is why St. Paul wrote, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men” (1 Tim 2:1).

I had a teacher explain it in this memorable way: if a parent wants to bake cookies, he doesn’t need his three-year-old’s help.  In fact, letting little Johnny help will result in the process taking longer, creating more of a mess, and the cookies themselves coming out not quite as perfectly.  But the father loves his child, and so it’s his pleasure to make Johnny happy by letting him help.  It lets Johnny know his dad loves him, that he’s important.  It’s an analogy that fits well with prayer because our Father doesn’t need our prayers to rain down any of His blessings.  But He loves us, and has given us the dignity of knowing that what we do matters, for ourselves and for others.  So He chooses to let us help through prayer (needless to say this holds true for many other actions related to salvation).

Yet the analogy eventually breaks down because whether or not the cookies get baked doesn’t matter, but whether or not we pray is of the greatest importance.  If our prayers have an effect, the natural corollary is that a failure to pray also has an effect (or lack of an effect).  If God has reserved certain blessings to be released only when we pray, then that means He won’t release them unless we pray.  Sometimes I honestly don’t feel like praying, but this thought always drives me to my knees.  My prayers matter, they are needed.  And so are yours, for your family, friends and all others you pray for!

It can be tempting to view prayer as an obligation or a burden, but in truth it’s an immense privilege.  Through prayer, God has given us the great gift (and, admittedly, responsibility) of being able to play a part in the salvation of others.  How amazing is that?  You and I get to affect other people’s eternities!

I can’t wait for the day when all will be revealed in Heaven and we (God willing we’re there!) will know the many people whose prayers and actions brought us closer to the Lord.  And we likewise will be able to see the incredible effects our prayers and good deeds had on others, even on those we never met.  Oh what rejoicing there will be as we thank the Lord for all the people who have made a difference for us, and together spend eternity glorifying Him!

Special thanks to Dave Turri for witnessing to this truth in such a powerful way that (way-back-when) it made me rethink my prayer life

Turning To God Through Prayer, Fasting, and Alms-Giving

Lent is traditionally a time when we focus on prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  Why?  Because during this penitential season we are supposed to be turning away from sin and opening ourselves to Christ in new ways – and this is exactly what these three things help us do.

It’s not a coincidence that prayer, fasting and giving alms are potential remedies for the three types of sin John described: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes or pride of life (1 John 2:16).  Let’s see how they match up:

It’s never easy to become less attached to sin but we are all called to perfect: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).  Jesus was kind and gentle with sinners, but He was always firm and unflinching about sin itself.  He never lowered the bar for men even though they kept falling short.  Instead, He gave us the Holy Spirit, Who gives us the power to live according to the incredibly hard standard Jesus set.  He has given us the power to live in love, as sons and daughters of our heavenly Father!

As this Lent progresses, may we all fast more, give more alms, and pray more, so that we may sin less and love more.

Making Time for Prayer

Prayer is probably one of the most difficult parts of any spiritual life.  It’s so simple but so demanding.  It takes discipline, patience and most importantly, faith.  As the Church celebrates the feast of St. Teresa of Avila, a doctor of the Church and a great mystic, it seemed fitting to write about prayer.

St. Teresa said that those who don’t pray commit something like soul-murder.  How’s that for strong words?  For her prayer is an indispensable way of getting to know God.  The way to understand how much God does for us and therefore our dependence on Him (a concept much lost on many in today’s world).

I went to Adoration this morning and it was just such a relief to talk to and see Jesus.  I needed so very badly to just rest in God for a little while.  Life gets so busy sometimes that we feel like we don’t have time for prayer, or that the extra 15 or 30 minutes of sleep is more important.  But the funny thing about prayer is that the more we pray, the more we realize just how much we need it.  We start to see how much it affects our relationship with God, our efforts towards holiness, and our love for others.

Part of the problem is that when we’re not praying we usually don’t feel the effects of our lack of prayer.  It’s usually only once we get into the habit of praying that we begin to feel the ramifications on the days where we don’t make time for it.  But while getting into the habit can be really difficult, it’s so worth it!  It’s a sacrifice whose reward can’t even be put into words, because how do you explain the transformation that occurs when every day in prayer you open yourself to God and let Him mold your heart?

I love the way Teresa of Avila phrases it, “Don’t be discouraged at the many things you must consider before setting out on this Divine journey, which is the royal road to Heaven.  By taking this road we gain such precious treasures that it is no wonder that the cost is so high.  Eventually we will realize that everything we have paid has been like nothing at all in comparison with the prize’s greatness.”

St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us!

See Also: The Struggles of Spiritual Growth