WHY PRAY TO MARY WHEN YOU CAN GO STRAIGHT TO JESUS?
Why go to Mary when you can go straight to Jesus is a very important question? Did not Jesus tell us to come to him when we are weary and burdened? It is a question my Protestant friends used to ask me when I was young. I found there was some idea that Catholics who prayed to Mary always did so to the exclusion of Jesus. But nothing could be further from the truth.
When I was young I believed that Catholics were all united and happy and no questions were ever asked within the Church that were hostile to the Faith. My first shock came when a priest who had one of those tape recorders asked me to copy a speech by Cardinal Heenan to the priests of his diocese after he had returned from Vatican II. I knew a little shorthand and quickly copied the speech in one go. It really really shocked me. Cardinal Heenan was talking about the attack on Mary from mainly German bishops and the eventual withdrawal of a document on Mary from the Council. The document on Our Lady they said "would put Ecumenism back ten years". The document was withdrawn but when the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church was being prepared, the Cardinal with many of the loyal bishops fought back and we did see Our Lady being discussed in that document/
The Cardinal traced German Ecumenism back to HItler and the sufferings of both Churches, Protestant and Catholics, had thrown them as he said 'into each others arms' It became almost impossible to have a Catholic Church without a Protestant influence. Ecumenism became more e important than the truths of the Catholic Church.
The Cardinal went on to make the important and prophetic point that if we lose Devotion to Mary we would lose devotion to Jesus, especially Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Who in today's Church can deny this prophecy and indeed the truth of what he said. When there is Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament it is a proven fact that it is the devotees of Mary who are there with the Blessed Sacrament. Modernist Catholics do not usually attend although I will caution myself that this is not true of every individual. That is what I remember from that tape and it shocked me. I do not know if that recording kept up with the rapid progress made in audio recording. Did it go onto and Audio Tape and is there anyone who has a copy of what was said, for perhaps after fifty one years I did not do the tape justice. If anyone knows let me know.
So we therefore have a link between Devotion to Mary and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. IN other words those who love Mary are brought to the feet of Jesus and in a very intimate way adore Him, talk to Him, and learn to love Him. But why pray to Mary? You will remember in the Gospel that Jesus asked us to pray "Our FATHER, who art in Heaven........." This is a COMMUNITY prayer. He did not say pray "My FATHER..." He was telling us that we are God's children and as God's children we are FAMILY. Now nothing makes a parent more happy than to witness the love that their children, as brothers and sisters, have for one another. My grown up sons met up in our home recently and the love and respect they had for each other made me want to weep. And so with God the Father. And so with the Church Community on earth and in heaven. We pray for one another, we support one another, and we love one another. The Church calls this the Communion of Saints and we profess our belief that members of the Church in Earth, Heaven, and Purgatory, pray for us and support us. And God delights in our prayers for one another.
But what give hims great delight is the prayers of His Mother. She who was the bridge between the Father and Himself that brought about our Salvation. She who kept him safe and loved him as a child knowing that he would die on Calvary, and that she too would suffer grievously. If we claim to be the Body of Christ then se is the Mother of that Body and so Our Mother. Indeed Jesus in giving her to St John, "Son, behold your mother" gave her to all of us.
In heaven there is still relationships between people. And often when we ask Jesus he might relate to tis the story of the widow and the judge where the widow kept pestering the judge till he gave in. Jesus was teaching us perseverance in prayer. But in all our petitions we do not have to pester Jesus. on our own We have Mary beside us..
When I was young I believed that Catholics were all united and happy and no questions were ever asked within the Church that were hostile to the Faith. My first shock came when a priest who had one of those tape recorders asked me to copy a speech by Cardinal Heenan to the priests of his diocese after he had returned from Vatican II. I knew a little shorthand and quickly copied the speech in one go. It really really shocked me. Cardinal Heenan was talking about the attack on Mary from mainly German bishops and the eventual withdrawal of a document on Mary from the Council. The document on Our Lady they said "would put Ecumenism back ten years". The document was withdrawn but when the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church was being prepared, the Cardinal with many of the loyal bishops fought back and we did see Our Lady being discussed in that document/
The Cardinal traced German Ecumenism back to HItler and the sufferings of both Churches, Protestant and Catholics, had thrown them as he said 'into each others arms' It became almost impossible to have a Catholic Church without a Protestant influence. Ecumenism became more e important than the truths of the Catholic Church.
The Cardinal went on to make the important and prophetic point that if we lose Devotion to Mary we would lose devotion to Jesus, especially Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Who in today's Church can deny this prophecy and indeed the truth of what he said. When there is Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament it is a proven fact that it is the devotees of Mary who are there with the Blessed Sacrament. Modernist Catholics do not usually attend although I will caution myself that this is not true of every individual. That is what I remember from that tape and it shocked me. I do not know if that recording kept up with the rapid progress made in audio recording. Did it go onto and Audio Tape and is there anyone who has a copy of what was said, for perhaps after fifty one years I did not do the tape justice. If anyone knows let me know.
So we therefore have a link between Devotion to Mary and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. IN other words those who love Mary are brought to the feet of Jesus and in a very intimate way adore Him, talk to Him, and learn to love Him. But why pray to Mary? You will remember in the Gospel that Jesus asked us to pray "Our FATHER, who art in Heaven........." This is a COMMUNITY prayer. He did not say pray "My FATHER..." He was telling us that we are God's children and as God's children we are FAMILY. Now nothing makes a parent more happy than to witness the love that their children, as brothers and sisters, have for one another. My grown up sons met up in our home recently and the love and respect they had for each other made me want to weep. And so with God the Father. And so with the Church Community on earth and in heaven. We pray for one another, we support one another, and we love one another. The Church calls this the Communion of Saints and we profess our belief that members of the Church in Earth, Heaven, and Purgatory, pray for us and support us. And God delights in our prayers for one another.
But what give hims great delight is the prayers of His Mother. She who was the bridge between the Father and Himself that brought about our Salvation. She who kept him safe and loved him as a child knowing that he would die on Calvary, and that she too would suffer grievously. If we claim to be the Body of Christ then se is the Mother of that Body and so Our Mother. Indeed Jesus in giving her to St John, "Son, behold your mother" gave her to all of us.
In heaven there is still relationships between people. And often when we ask Jesus he might relate to tis the story of the widow and the judge where the widow kept pestering the judge till he gave in. Jesus was teaching us perseverance in prayer. But in all our petitions we do not have to pester Jesus. on our own We have Mary beside us..
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