The misunderstanding arises from the older meaning of the verb "to pray" - it originally meant simply to ask. When we "pray" to a saint (or to the Blessed Virgin), we are not worshiping that saint - we are simply asking him or her to join us in praying to Jesus.
At the end of the Rosary, the final prayer makes this quite clear:
"Pray for us, holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ."
"Let us pray [i.e. we haven't been praying in the newer sense before].
"O God, who by the life, death, and resurrection of thine only begotten Son, hath gained for us the fruits of everlasting life: grant that we, in meditating upon the mysteries of the holy Rosary, may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise; through the same Christ our Lord. Amen."
It's that time thing again. The great saints in heaven stand outside time, and they can be asked to pray with us and for us, just as we might ask a particularly righteous friend on earth to join us in prayer.
Word it as you wish with gray areas. We pray to the Lord, and we shall have no other gods before Him.
One can pray FOR friends, one should not pray TO them, nor to another besides the Lord. Paul, Mary, Peter or otherwise.
It is not a time thing, it is a person thing. The person of the father, His Son and His Holy Spirit are those that deserve being prayed to, that deserve to hear OUR prayer.
TRUE!