‘Prayer’ vs ‘Worship’ - Two Totally Different things - Catholics Do Not ‘Worship’ Saint Mary

‘Prayer’ vs ‘Worship’ - Two Totally Different things

Catholics Do Not ‘Worship’ Saint Mary



By Dell Hill

I’m going to open up the proverbial “can of worms”.  Mostly because I can.

I’m Catholic.  Perhaps you are, too.  Perhaps you’re not.  It really doesn’t matter to me one way or another.  While I hope you believe in God, I don’t demand that you do so, nor does my church make any such demand of you. Catholics believe what Catholics believe.  Other religions do likewise, and I happen to believe that all of us worship the very same God; we just do so in slightly different ways.

I’m sure you’ve heard and read many times that I, as a Catholic, pray to Mary, the mother of God and that violates some rule about praying to a “false god”; that prayer must be directed solely to the one and only God.

That’s not true.  And I’m going to tell you why.

Prayer is being confused with worship, and they are two very distinct and different things.  Catholics utter prayers, but worship only God.  When Catholics recite this prayer -

“Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou 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 death. Amen.”

- we are recognizing Mary as the Mother of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, and asking her to intercede for us in prayer to God Almighty.  Catholics do not worship Mary...nor do we worship any of the Saints, 49’s, Dolphins or Cowboys.  We worship only God.

When tragedy strikes.  When our family members are seriously ill.  When accidents have family or friends clinging to life in the hospital, what do we do?

Many of us pray.  And we ask others to join us in prayer.  Our priests and pastors beseech us to pray and even lead us in prayer.  Our friends on Facebook fervently request - and receive - our prayers almost daily.  

They’re not asking us to worship their loved one; they’re asking us to pray for their loved one.  And that’s exactly what Catholics do when they ask Mary to “pray for us sinners”.

Saint Mary is a pretty “special mom” to Catholics.  We happen to believe she is THE most special mom in Heaven and has God’s ear, as it were, when it comes to our prayerful requests, and some of us need all the help we can get.

Why is it perfectly OK for Facebook friends to ask people we’ve never met to pray for someone, but it’s not OK for Catholics to ask Saint Mary to pray for us?

And please don’t ask me where in the Bible it says all of this.  Do your own research; ask your pastor or priest.  It’s there; I’ve read it many times and I refuse to play any role in yet another online Biblical debate with non-Catholics who simply repeat ages-old and incorrect myths about a religion they haven’t studied.  It’s one thing to question.  That’s how you learn.  But to denigrate and openly reject Catholicism - or any other religion - based on myths and without knowing the facts is wrong.

Much, from a Catholics point of view, can be studied at the New Advent.org, commonly referred to as the Catholic Encyclopedia.  That link will take you directly to the pages of discussion involving Saint Mary.  Other topics can be accessed by clicking on the alphabet near the top of each page.  There are other excellent resources available online via every search engine.

Knowledge is power.