You seem like a nice, sincere soul. I’ve questioned a lot of things myself over the years.
I think the problem I have is when people will lay flowers before a “statue” of Mary. That is just way too close to how the pagans worshipped for my taste and I know Jews never laid flowers down before any kind of stone icon or carving, etc. I know Jesus kept the Jewish law perfectly so that’s my take on that one.
Also, as for asking any of the Saints to pray, while on one level I can see the point, my only issue is we are not to talk with dead people. My dad died recently and I wouldn’t ask him to intercede for me, so why would I ask any other dead person to pray for me. As for the “Saint” recognition, even that gets a little fuzzy since the Catholic church has some very procedural process that they do before they determine a person a Saint. I guess for now I’ll just stick with praying to the only dead person that I know actually rose from the dead - Jesus - and the live people I know.
As the Scriptures say, “to him that thinks it sin, it is sin” (that’s my paraphrase).
God bless you as you continue on your journey.
Excellent post!