[P-Marlowe]

Explain to me how this is not a Prayer To Mary:

Prayer by St. Alphonsus de Liguori

From the Glories of Mary

Most Holy Virgin Immaculate, my Mother Mary, to Thee who art the Mother of my Lord, the Queen of the universe, the advocate, the hope, the refuge of sinners, I who am the most miserable of all sinners, have recourse this day.

I venerate Thee, great Queen, and I thank Thee for the many graces Thou hast bestowed upon me even unto this day; in particular for having delivered me from the hell which I have so often deserved by my sins. 

I love Thee, most dear Lady; and for the love I bear Thee, I promise to serve Thee willingly for ever and to do what I can to make Thee loved by others also. I place in Thee all my hopes for salvation; accept me as thy servant and shelter me under thy mantle, thou who art the Mother of mercy.

 And since thou art so powerful with God, deliver me from all temptations, or at least obtain for me the strength to overcome them until death. From Thee I implore a true love for Jesus Christ. Through Thee I hope to die a holy death. My dear Mother, by the love thou bearest to Almighty God, I pray Thee to assist me always, but most of all at the last moment of my life. Forsake me not then, until thou shalt see me safe in heaven, there to bless Thee and sing of thy mercies through all eternity. Such is my hope. Amen. 

[Claud]

Which brings me to another point. I’ve been developing this proto-thesis on why Catholics and Protestants don’t see eye to eye on idolatry. I dunno if this is right or not, but here’s what I’ve come up with.

Protestant theology (please correct me if I’m wrong) holds that the time of sacrificing is over. Thus, the Reformed faith orients itself wholly toward praise and worship of God primarily through prayer. To direct this prayer to some other being, like Mary, is therefore seen to be idolatry, because it can’t practically be separated from what is done for God Himself.

Catholics, however, still believe in the sacrifice the “pure oblation” described by Malachi. To us, the height of worship is not our own personal devotional prayer, but the offering of the Son to the Father at Mass. No matter how effusive our prayers are to Mary, they never reach this plane. We *never ever ever* offer sacrifice to Mary or to any one else but God. THAT we would consider idolatry.

So rest assured, there is an infinite gulf between what we offer to God and what we offer to Mary; only to see it, you have to come at it from our theology, not your own.