~~~~~If I can ask my mother for help, and to pray for me when I am away from her, why not after she is is with God?~~~~~
If you build a statue of your mother and kneel in front of it, it is worship...
On this site, http://www.marypages.com/PrayerstoMary.htm, there are a bunch of 'authorized' prayers to Mary...Throughout these prayers Mary is Glorified, Deified, ask to perform miracles of her own, bring answered prayers to people, grant prayers, etc...
You have turned Mary into a Goddess...
Who is this 'You' you speak of?
I have a picture of my mother on the wall, and I talk to her. Have I turned her into a goddess? There is a mindset that says that even a statue of Jesus is an idol. I take that into a virtual denial of the incarnation--"and the word was made flesh and dwelled among us." But you may see that as an exaggeration.
#1) If honoring a statue of our Lady is worship, then kissing a photograph of your wife when you are on the road is adultery.
#2) If it's only a piece of wood/plaster whatever, then do this (if you dare). Take a statue of Christ, spit on it, put it under your foot, and trample it into the ground.
If you *can't* do that, then I say to you that you understand more than you know that the honor or insult done to an image does not stop at an image but passes to the object it represents.
Nonsense. Have you never knelt at a loved one's grave? Have you never knelt at the bedside of your child? Kneeling has a variety of meanings, such as love, affection, respect. It does not always mean the adoration which is proper to God alone.
If, as you think, Catholics DID worship Mary, why would we deny it? I mean, if we did think she was a goddess, we would certainly trumpet the fact.
It makes no sense at all that a goddess's devotees would adore her as a deity AND deny that they did so. Why would we dissemble, if we actually thought she had all the powers of divinity?
But the fact of the matter is, she is a creature. She is a handmaid. She is a disciple. She is a dearly beloved mother. We have affection and respect for her.
Do you not love your mother? Imagine how much Jesus loves His!