Hail Mary.. but why?
- She gave birth to Jesus.
- She raised him..
- She was a good mother.
I dotn see the point. She may have raised Him, and given Him a good home. But if it wasn't for God, the only person we're told to prey to, then Jesus wouldn't be here. Isnt the Hail Mary, in a way, against the bible. God says that He is first, and we should have no other idols before him. We may not be isolizing Mary, but we're ignoring that fact that GOD IS FIRST. Sure we still say the Our Father and some people still pray in their own time, but its not the same. I dont agree with the Hail Mary.

We have a reason to love her and thank her. But praying to her is going over board.

Some of you may have a different opinion and Im fine with that. Im a very strong christian, and I dont believe that Mary should be put on some platform next to God and Jesus.

what do you think?

quote:

Originally posted by CelticNewAger:
And how can a virgin know about all that is life?

That is why she is praised. Even though she was young and foolish she knew enough to trust her life to God.

the hail mary is asking mary to pray for the one who is saying it.

dammit! she is not anything apporaching a God to the Catholics! I apologise I get asked why I worship Mary all the time. Mary is a Saint that is true and we do ask her to pray for us but we sure as hell don't worship her

I don't like Mary. She is alost a god to Catholics. And how can a virgin know about all that is life?

In my opinion, it's basically like prayer circles. You know, the ones where you ask a bunch of other people to pray for you during a difficult time. In asking the saints to pray for us, we are able to get a lot of truly amazing men and women to pray for us.

quote:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art though among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Basically, it says to Mary, "You are a wonderful and holy woman, pray for me." I do not see AT ALL how this would be unreasonable, or how it would be putting Mary up there with God.

Why do you ask Mary to pray for you? Why don't you just ask Jesus or God yourself ?

If you can help me out. That is confussing to me I mean when we pray we ask the Lord to protect us and help us through out the day in Jesus Christ Name Amen or In Jesus Name Amen.

That's not how we pray everyday we all pray different. I may say that prayer and my Dad or Mom might say a different one. That was just an example.

We don't pray to mary or the saints we ask them to pray for us/ intervene on our behalf to God

Believe what you feel is right, not what others tell you is right.

I don't particularly care for praying to anyone (least of all dead people), but that's just me. Praying never resulted in anything for me, so I have reason not to attempt it anymore. Of course, I don't believe in God quite the way Christians do (meaning I don't see God as being able to affect the lives of anyone, also stemming from the lack of answers to my own prayers), so that also figures into the not praying bit.

Again, what you believe is your prerogative. I highly doubt you're going to go to any sort of hell for not asking someone who's been dead nearly 2000 years to pray for you.

quote:

Originally posted by Meagan87:
(I do not know if this includes Jesus or not...he was baptized though, so I would imagine that he DID have original sin.)

I would think not. Our Lord was not conceived in sin, as he was not conceived in a human manner. While I do not agree with the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, if the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived without sin, I would most certainly think that Christ was as well. Mark 3:13 states that St. John the Baptist "tried to deter him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?'" The Baptism of Christ was done not to wash away sin, but to "fulfill all righteousness" (Mk. 3:15). Christ is, by the very teaching of the Church, born without sin but subject to all human temptation, though resisting it.

forevertears: Am I right in my assumption that, while you are Christian, you are not Catholic?


On the subject of Mary, and the other saints, Christianity can pretty much be split into 2 categories...Catholics and non-Catholics. Most Christians believe that it is wrong to "idolize" the saints and to pray "to" them. However, as a pretty devout Catholic, I have an issue with people talking this way.

Mary was a wonderful woman, she was basically chosen from the moment she was born to give birth to Jesus. She was born without original sin...something everyone else on the planet was afflicted with. (I do not know if this includes Jesus or not...he was baptized though, so I would imagine that he DID have original sin.) I think this gives us justification to look up to her.

As far as the whole praying TO her...we do NOT PRAY TO SAINTS. I think this is the thing most people have difficulty grasping. When I pray a saint's prayer, I ask that saint to pray for me. I do not ask the saint directly for anything.


As for the Hail Mary...let me post it in order to provide a visual.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art though among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Basically, it says to Mary, "You are a wonderful and holy woman, pray for me." I do not see AT ALL how this would be unreasonable, or how it would be putting Mary up there with God.


I guess this is your faith, and if you have an issue with asking the saints for prayer, then that is your personal perogitive (sp). I happen to like the extra prayers myself.

Mary is, in every way, the pinnacle of humanity's need for God.

The great Episcopal theologian William Porcher DuBose wrote this about her, which I have always found to be a wonderful explication of her virtue:

quote:

The Virgin Mary represents the highest reach, the focusing upward, as it were of the world's susceptibility for God. She was the truest humility, the truest desire, the truest faith, the truest impotency in herself...the truest readiness and receptivity, therefore, for the coming of God as Savior and Salvation, as completer and completion.

2 Peter 1:13-15 and Revelation 6:9-11 support the notion of believers in Heaven praying for and about occurrences on Earth. So I have never seen a problem with asking one of those believers to pray for me. Perhaps it would be different if I were asking them for remission of my sin or salvation, but it is simply asking someone in Heaven to intercede for me and to pray for me and with me.