Mariolatry (Pt. 6) Praying to Mary as a Mediator and Helper?

Should we pray to Mary as our Helper and Mediator?

No!

First, Prayer is a form of worship that is reserved to our Triune God alone. As Jesus said to Satan in Matt. 4:10, “It is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'”

Second, In Matt. 6:9, when Jesus taught his disciples to pray He said “In this manner, therefore, pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name’”. Also, the Apostle Paul taught us in Phil. 4:6 who it is that we should pray to, saying, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God”. And even James the brother of Jesus said in James 4:8, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

Therefore, No prayer is ever directed to Mary nor should it ever. The Catholic would have you believe that we should cast our cares and petitions to Mary, but Scripture is quite clear that we Christians should pray ONLY to Jesus, “casting ALL your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (1 Pet. 5:7)

Now some Catholics might object saying, “We don’t pray to Mary, we ask Mary to pray for us, just like you would ask your family or friends to pray for you, because Mary has direct access to Jesus and can see Him face to face”

There are two problems to this statement.

1. The Bible says “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Heb. 4:16; NIV). The Bible also tells us that it’s because of Jesus that we may approach God. As Eph. 3:12 proclaims, it’s “in whom [Jesus] we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.” (NKJV). “So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is MY HELPER; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” (Heb. 13:6, ESV)

Believers in Christ can approach the throne of grace with confidence. Therefore, true believers have direct access to God Himself, which was signified at Christ’s death on the Cross when the veil in God’s Temple was ripped top to bottom, showing that all believers can now pray to God directly. There is no need for Mary or the saints to give you access to Jesus, since all those saved by Christ through faith can now enter into direct fellowship with God.

2. When a Catholic claims that they can pray to Mary or ask Mary to pray for you, he or she is assuming that Mary has the divine attributes of Omnipotence and Omnipresence which only God alone has. It is ridiculous to claim that Mary can answer prayers or pray for those asking her to pray for them, when millions of Catholics cry out to her at the same time, which would assume that Mary, a mere human being, is to a certain degree omnipotent and omnipresent. This is blasphemy. Mary is not our Mediator nor can she ever be our Mediator.

Now another Catholic might object saying, “Well, we don’t worship Mary, we venerate her.”

My response would be that, “the bigger issue is, how is it you venerate her in practice. You see it doesn’t matter what you call it, what matters is how it is in reality. Whether you call it worship or veneration, it’s all just semantics. One could say “We don’t eat, we feast”, or “We don’t cry, we weep” or “We don’t scream, we yell”. It’s all semantics, because in reality, when one venerates, one is giving their devotion, their heart, their life to a person who is no longer here on Earth.

For example look at these pictures of people venerating Mary.

Looking at these pictures one realizes that no matter how you put it, this is worship of an idol.

The Word of God in Exodus 20:3-4, says “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me” (NKJV)

Now we true Christians do respect greatly Mary, mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, but not in a way that belongs to God alone. The Glory, worship, honor, and praise belonging only to God, must be given to God alone and to no one else, not even to Mary. Scripture tells us in 1 John 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” (NKJV)

And in Deuteronomy 4:15-19, “Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female,  the likeness of any animal that [is] on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that [is] in the water beneath the earth.  And [take heed], lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and [when] you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.”

The command is clear. One must not bow down to idols of any kind including Marian statues.

And even scripture shows us that no one was to worship any person whether human or angel. For example, in Acts 10:24-26, it says “And the following day they entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them, and had called together his relatives and close friends.  As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.  But Peter lifted him up, saying, "Stand up; I myself am also a man.”

Also in Acts 14:11-15, “Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!"  And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.  Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes.  But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them” (NKJV)

And in Revelation 19:9-10, “Then he (the angel) said to me, "Write: 'Blessed [are] those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!' " And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God."  And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! ...” (NKJV)

Finally, Rev. 22:8-9, “Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.  Then he said to me, "See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!"  (NKJV)

As the Bible has shown, idolatry is a very serious matter that no one is allowed to worship any other thing or person, except God Himself.

Mediatrix of all Graces

There are two ways in which Catholics call Mary the Mediatrix of all Graces.

The first meaning is that Mary gave birth to Jesus. And since Jesus brings grace to all men, Mary can be said to be Mediatrix of all Graces. True Christians aren’t really opposed to this first meaning, nonetheless we wouldn’t use the term Mediatrix of all Graces.

The second meaning, however, is the one that causes Christians to rightly worry. We read in The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism that “through her continual intercessions, Mary was seen as the dispensatrix  (Latin) who distributed and applied the graces of Christ” (“Mediatrix”, ed. Richard P. McBrien, [HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1995], p.848).

Vatican II declared as fact that Mary is in Heaven supposedly continuously distributing and applying grace to all mankind till the end of the world. As it states, “This maternity of Mary in the order of grace began with the consent which she gave in faith at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross. This maternity will last without interruption until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. For taken up to heaven, she did not lay aside this saving role, but by her manifold acts of intercession continues to win for us gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, Mary cares for the brethren of her Son... the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Auxiliatrix (Helper), Adjutrix (Benefactress), and Mediatrix.” (Lumen Gentium, 62)

Catholic Theologian Ludwigg Ott explains in his book, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, that “Since her assumption into Heaven, Mary cooperates in the application of the grace of Redemption of man. She participates in the distribution of grace” (p.213)

For this reason, Pope Pius VII proclaims Mary as the “Dispensatrix of all graces” (Pius VII, Ampliatio privilegiorum ecclesiae B.M. Virginis ab angelo salutatae in cenobio Fratrum Ordinis Servorum B.M.V. Florentiae, A.D., 1806; Armand J. Robichaud, S.M., “Mary, Dispensatrix of all Graces”, Maiology, II, p.429)

Advocate

The Vatican Church also teaches that Catholics should pray to Mary and offer their needs and petitions to her, which she supposedly brings to Jesus as maternal intercessor, and that Mary turns away God’s anger and wrath for people. Catholic feminist theologian Elizabeth Johnson states that, “Mary had a maternal influence over God, that she could turn away Christ’s just anger and obtain mercy for sinners” (“Blessed Virgin Mary”, ed. Richar P. McBrien, The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism, p.833)

Saint and Doctor of the Church, Alfonso de’Ligouri states in his book, The Glories of Mary, “Be comforted then, O you who fear’ will I say with Saint Thomas of Villanova; ‘breathe freely and take courage, O wretched sinners; this great Virgin who Is the Mother of your God and Judge, is also the Advocate of the whole human race: fits for this office, for she can do whatever she wills with God, most wise, for she knows all the means of appeasing Him” (Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary, [Tucker Printer Perry’s Place, 1852] p.161)

Pope Pius XI proclaimed “O Blessed Mother, our Queen and Advocate...gather together our prayers and we beseech you (our hearts one with yours) present them before God’s throne...that we may reach the portal of salvation” (Pius XI, papal allocation to French pilgrims present for reading of ‘de tuto’, Canonization of Antida Thouret, 15 August 1933, L’Osservatore Romano, August 15, 1993).

Furthermore, Pope Pius XII declared, “Our Advocate, placed between God and the sinner, takes it upon herself to invoke clemency of the Judge so as to temper His justice” (Pius XII, papal allocation at the Canonization of Louis Marie Grignon de Monfort, 21 July 1947, AAS 39, 408).

Some Catholics believe that the doctrine of Mary as Mediatrix of all graces is not official Catholic doctrine, and thus, they do not have to accept or justify it. However, this doctrine is regarded by the Vatican Church as part of the infallible teaching of the Ordinary Universal Magisterium. In others words, since this doctrine has for a long time been accepted and supported by Popes and by bishops united with them, it is infallible for all Catholics because the Vatican claims the Church could not have been in doctrinal error at such a high level within the Hierarchy for such a long time.

On the subject of this doctrine, Catholic Mariologist Mary Miravalle states in her book, Introduction to Mary, that “in light of the fact that the doctrine of Mary as Mediatrix of all graces has been universally taught in the Church by popes of the last two hundred years and by the bishops in union with them (ordinary Magisterium), and in virtue of this universal teaching of the Church, it has been the opinion of certain modern Mariologists that the doctrine of Mediatrix of all graces already possess the nature of a defined doctrine of faith. In short, the Marian roles of Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of all graces represent essential Catholic teaching through the order of the ordinary Magisterium. This charism of the universal teaching authority of all bishops who, when in union with the pope, can exercise the ecclesial element of infallibilty, is disussed in Vatican II’s Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium, No. 25).” (p.111)

Some Catholics believe that these teachings are not official and therefore they do not have to believe them or defend them. However, these teachings constitute what is known as infallible teaching of the Ordinary Universal Magisterium. That is because these have been affirmed for so long by Popes and bishops in union with them it is infallible for Catholics since according to Rome the Church could not be in doctrinal error for so long in such a high level.