There's something about (the Blessed Virgin) Mary

Growing up in Texas left me with no shortage of Protestant friends. Sure, there are a lot of Catholics, well, practically everywhere, but there were very few who were friends of mine, at least at my school. So I had Protestant friends, Protestant girlfriends (nothing more fun than dealing with spiritual differences in high school), and Protestant, well, acquaintances. One thing that always came up when we talked about faith was Mary. Catholics have a devotion to Mary that other Christian denominations don’t. I had one friend who said "When I go to a doctor I don't want to talk to his mother" (which I thought was an interesting analogy especially for someone in high school). However, this person always had some sort of family/personal issues and continually asked for me to pray for her. I didn’t turn her away by saying, "Don't talk to me! Don't ask me to pray for you! Go straight to Jesus!" I had compassion and "interceded" (stands in the gap) for her. I prayed for everyone I knew (still do). I had compassion and wanted to assist people in their relationship with Christ. This in no way diminishes Jesus' role as the Lord and Savior.

Catholics ask Mary to pray to Jesus for us. She is interceding, kind of in the way a pastor might pray for you or me. In the Rosary we ask Mary to "Pray for us sinners." And we think she is quite good at that. Mary is a "born again" Christian who received the Holy Spirit at the Pentecost (Acts 1:14, 2:3). She knows how to pray...even in tongues! When I use meditative prayer and visualize myself at the crucifixion I always see Mary at the foot of the Cross. I would like to have that woman pray for me. I ask her to do just that, pray for me. I also ask her to pray for you. I feel her prayers and I thank her for spending so much time praying for our world.

Does hanging out with Mary defocus us from Jesus?

I fielded a question once that said: “Why then would we want to take the focus off of Jesus and pray through Mary, or anyone else for that matter? I also see a lot of the issues surrounding Mary as distractions.” I appreciate concern that attention paid to Mary defocuses from Jesus. It is an interesting choice of words because Mary said the opposite about herself. In the Bible, Mary clearly spells out her role in eternity: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed (Lk 1:46-49).

The Bible says Jesus is magnified by Mary's soul. A soul is not limited by life on earth. Mary reinforces her eternal ministry by saying "all generations will call me blessed." If the Bible intended Mary's ministry to end with the birth of Jesus, or at Jesus' death, or even at Mary's death, I don't think it would use that language. A magnifying glass increases the object it is focused on, so being in relation to Mary's eternal soul does not draw focus away from Jesus, it does the opposite. It magnifies him. This is the Bible's word to the people of God.

Catholics believe Mary's soul still "magnifies the Lord" for Christians of our generation who choose to relate to her. Currently, Catholics are pretty well the only ones upholding the biblical prophecy to call her blessed, which was intended for all generations, and for all Christians. My experience with Mary has actually significantly improved my relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus. I think time spent with Mary is no more defocusing than time spent with my other Church friends or with my priest. To me the logical end to the "defocusing" theory is that I should never talk to or pray with any other Christians. It suggests I shouldn't go to prayer groups, or even read the Old Testament (because it predates Christ). It suggests I should only talk with Christ alone and never even talk to another human being. To me, that is a definition of a hermit and although it is a valuable calling, I don't think it is for me.

There is a fun argument that says: “... unlike Kings here on earth, God doesn't need a Queen. He has been, He is, and He always will be complete on His own.” Absolutely. God is complete. It is not out of Jesus' incompleteness that he has called angels and saints to join him in ministry. It is not because he is not strong enough and needs help. He could easily snap his fingers and the entire population of the world would suddenly see God and know He exists. He does not need Mary, angels, or saints. Nor does he need you or me. If he loves you and me so much as to invite us to join in his ministry, it is not hard to imagine that he would invite his mother to join in his ministry.

Isn't there only one mediator between God and man?

The argument here goes like this: “Christ is the one and only mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 8:6; 9:15; 12:24)...It cannot be made any clearer in the scriptures that God wants to communicate with us directly, and to be cautious of those who try to step in to mediate.” 1 Timothy 2 does not say that God wants us to only communicate with Jesus. It says there is only one mediator between God and man, which is a different thing. The passage does not say "be cautious" of asking people to pray for us. It doesn't do anything of the sort. The chapter begins by not only allowing intercessory prayer by third parties, but requiring it and indicating that it actually helps bring them to salvation and knowledge of truth. Any mother who prays for her children knows that (as my mother does every night).

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone ...This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:1-4). In Hebrews 8:6, it says Jesus has obtained a more excellent ministry than any of the high priests. In 9:15 and 12:24 the passage goes on to say he is the mediator of a New Covenant, which Catholics fully agree with. We fully agree he is the mediator. We think Christians in heaven are a heck of a lot more aware of whom Christ is than we are. The Bible says that he has helpers that participate in his ministry by his invitation. We believe he has invited Christians on both sides of heaven to do that.

When a saint enters into the joy of their Master, they are "put in charge of many things" (Mat 25:21). Saints are serious prayer warriors. I don't think that praying with the Saints detracts from the worship of God anymore than praying with friends detracts from worship of God, which I do a lot. Saints are not all knowing, but they know a heck of a lot more about this spiritual game than me. They are creatures. This does not take away the tremendous benefit we can get from communing with them. Catholics think "their intercession is their most exalted service to God's plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world" (Catechism 2683)

What about praying to Mary? What's that about?

Many Evangelicals think the word "pray" means "worship." So it makes sense that they think Catholics who "pray" to Mary actually "worship" her. Let's look up the word "pray" in the dictionary. Here is what Webster's says about the word pray: (1) To utter petition to God ... (2) To make a fervent request: PLEAD (3) To beseech: implore (4) to make a devout or earnest request for.

The first thing to notice is that the word "worship" is not included in the definition of "pray." It does not mean "worship." A prayer to Mary is clearly not a petition to God. Mary is not God, and there is not one faithful Catholic since the apostles who has said she is. So clearly it is not the first meaning. The English language is often limited in that we often have to use the same word to say different things. There are several meanings of the word "pray." When Catholics pray to God they "utter a petition to God." When they pray to Mary and the Saints they are making a “devout or earnest request for” prayer from Mary or the saints. In mediaeval times when a royal court official was asking something of a person who outranked him, he would say "I pray thee your majesty" (you have to say that in an English accent to get the full effect). The person was simply making a request in a polite manner.

Catholics think Mary is a prayer warrior. That's her job. We think she was given a full-time 24/7 prayer ministry. She said "all generations will call me blessed" and "my soul magnifies the Lord" (Luke 1:46). Catholics think this is significant. Martin Luther said "The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart." (Sermon, September 1, 1522). There is a difference between veneration of Mary and worship of Jesus. John Pacheco says: There is a great difference between veneration ("douleia" in Greek) and worship ("latreia"). The word "douleia" occurs 5 times in the Bible. (Rm 8:15, 21; Gal 4:24, 5:1; Heb 2:15) never does it refer to worship of God. The word "latreia" occurs 5 times but it always refers to God only. (Jn 16:2, Rm: 9:4, 12:6, Heb 9:1,6) And there are plenty of Old Testament references that distinguish veneration from worship. "Then Moses went out to meet his father in law, and he bowed down and kissed him...” (Exo 18:7).

"I don't pray to dead people"

An Evangelical friend said to me one time long ago, "I don't pray to dead people." Catholics don't think heaven is a "dead" place. Catholics believe people in heaven are alive (Mat 19:29, 25:46, Mat 10:17-22, Mk 10:30, Lk 10:25-30, Lk 18:18-30, Jn 3:15-16). We see Lazarus alive by Abraham's side (Lk 16:22). And at the transfiguration we see Moses and Elijah alive beside Jesus (Mat 17:3). There seems to be a lot of conversing in Heaven in Revelation (i.e. Rev 4:10). The Church thinks heaven is a lively place with lots of singing and stuff. Jesus opened the gates to Heaven. "Graves of the dead were opened and they went into town to preach the Gospel" (Mat 27:52). Jesus said "Now he is a God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive" (Lk 20:39-40).

Isn't the Bible against invoking "the dead?"

Some Protestants think that asking a person in heaven to intercede for us is condemned in Deuteronomy 18:10-12. The Catholic Church believes that Deuteronomy 18:10-12 speaks about the occult, soothsayers, sorcerers, spells, ghosts and spirits. It is not about heaven, angels and Jesus. Ghosts have not entered into heaven so it would displease God to talk with them. Also this passage occurs before Jesus was on the scene so no one was in heaven. Samuel was in the ground (1 Sam 28:8-25). They were all in Sheol (dead) so the passage makes sense. Leave them in peace. Catholics believe that it is perfectly safe to ask Christians in heaven to pray for us. Mary is in Heaven and as such she can be a trusted friend. All Christians are baptized into one Body. I see nothing in Scripture that tells me that that relationship ends after a Christian gets into heaven. Martin Luther said: There can be no doubt that the Virgin Mary is in heaven (Sermon, August 15, 1522).

How can Mary be in Heaven before the final Judgment?

There are Protestants who are nervous about asking Christians in heaven to pray for us because the final judgment hasn't occurred yet (Yet they are certain that a Christian's place in heaven is assured the moment they are "born again"). At every funeral (Catholic or otherwise) I hear people saying "He is with the Lord now." They are confident the person is in Heaven. We Catholics think the faithful guy who "dies" is dancing and singing and rejoicing in heaven. If a faithful Christian is alive in heaven, why would we not ask for them to pray for us? And Catholics don't think any Christian has ever been more faithful than Mary.

An invitation - Pray to Jesus about Mary

I hope I have not caused anxiety with this discussion. I wish only to help build a bridge between Catholics and Protestants. I don't believe that avoiding Mary will help build this bridge. I can't see this issue going away, at least in my own life and in the lives of the millions of Christians who are alive in the spirit of Christ and have been enriched by their relationship to Mary. Time spent with Mary does not take away from Jesus any more than time spent with other Christians.

I would like to conclude with an invitation. It may be very difficult and perhaps impossible for some. I would like to ask you to forget everything you have ever heard about Mary, everything that you have ever read about her, including what I have said here.

I would like to invite you to pray to Jesus. Most Christians would agree that it is completely safe to pray to Jesus about anything. I would like to invite you to pray to Jesus about Mary. Simply ask Jesus to show you the truth about his mother. Ask Him to direct your thinking about her. Ask Jesus if his mother is alive with Him. Ask Him if Mary is praying for us. Just pray to Jesus about her. Try this every night for six weeks. I am thoroughly convinced that He will bring you to the truth about his mother.