I was looking at a website...I believe the name was MaryPages.com...Nice site...Put together real well with Ava Maria playing in the background...
The fella who owns the site has a page for Prayers to Mary...I looked some of those over and I was dumbfounded...I understand that you guys don't feel you worship Mary but I'm going to type in some of the things I read...
One prayer under the title of 'Prayer to Our Lady of Good Council'...And it contained this:
Obtain for me, through the Precious Blood of Your Divine Son, the forgiveness of my sins, the salvation of my soul, and the means necessary to obtain it...
Another one included:
Mary, none of your devout servants has ever perished. May I, too, be saved...
And another:
I venerate You, O Great Queen, and thank you for all of the graces you have obtained for me, especially for having delivered me from Hell, which I have so often deserved. I place all my hopes and my salvation in you.
Now looking at these thru my eyes, I'd say you guys are counting on Mary as your Savior instead of Jesus...
What say you???
Reading comprehension is fundamental.
As Americans, we are very unused-to, and uncomfortable with, courtly language; we certainly lack a robust sense of intricate interconnectedness and interdependence within the Communion of Saints, the Body of Christ.
In every case --- looking beyond the florid fervorino language, which is foreign to our 21st century style of expression --- when we are addressing anybody other than God, we are asking for intercessory prayer. As the Catholic Liturgy says:
And I ask Blessed Mary ever Virgin,
All the angels and saints,
And you, my brothers and sisters,
To pray to the Lord our God for me.
And as the Orthodox Liturgy puts it:
Through the prayers of the Theotokos (Mother of God),
O Savior, save us.