Mary can hear no prayers. Period.
>Mary can hear no prayers. Period.
That’s silly. I don’t know boo about your denomination but I’m going to guess you’re OK with the Apostle’s creed which says in part that we believe in “the communion of saints” which is all of us Christians.
Secondly Jesus reminded the Sadducees that life is ongoing: “Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” (Mark 12:26-27, NIV)
If as living Christians we are encouraged to pray for one another — for instance if I knew you were ill, I could pray for you, or vice versa, or us for this convert, etc. — then the same can be true of those in Heaven. (Except they’re closer to the Source now). So certainly those Christians formerly on earth can hear us, being alive and not dead.
I’m guessing what you wish to communicate is that one cannot pray to Mary as to God, and that’s quite right. Among the people one could ask to pray on your behalf, she’s in this unique position, being the person whose positive response at the Annunciation allowed God to use her as the means by which He came into the world to save us. I don’t think it’s a big stretch to say she is the first and best Christian.
And among Catholic prayers you’ll find that exemplified. One might read “Holy Mary, pray for us” (not we pray to you as one who has God’s power or is God) or “most gracious advocate.”
Certainly one ought to stay on the right side of that line, but in my actual experience (vs. Catholics saying things they think Protestants think or Protestants saying things they think Catholics think) I’ve not encountered actual people mixing it up.