Except that a huge chunk of the prayers to Mary and the saints are FOR things, not merely asking them to pray for us.
In addition, time spent in prayer to them is time not spent in prayer to God to whom are are commanded by Jesus Himself to pray.
God has promised us that He Himself would hear and answer our prayers. What's the point of going to someone else, when God Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and earth, our loving heavenly Father who knows how to give good gifts to His children, promises us HIMSELF that He will answer HIMSELF.
This is part of the subtle way that Catholicism teaches that God is a capricious, demanding, judgmental and harsh taskmaster. It teaches that we need to go through someone else because it's going to be easier for us to get what we want from Mary, for example, than if we went to the Father Himself.
But really? Mary is going to do something for us that God wouldn't do for us Hinself? She's going to counter His will?
This is a caricature of Catholic teaching, although not of the way some Catholics think. It seems to have been the way that Luther thought, and why despite his gifts he was a bad monk. He should have listened to his dad and become a lawyer. No, Catholics think in more communitarian terms than some protestants, except for those sects who form communities, such as the Amish. or the Pilgrims. In many respects these are much like the monastic communities, except they embrace a wider segment of society. Anyway, Catholics believe in what Chesterton called “the democracy of the dead.” It is not only we who matter, but all Christians living and dead. The dead wait for us at the end of time, waiting for the resurrection, joined with us by the law of Charity.
-—Except that a huge chunk of the prayers to Mary and the saints are FOR things, not merely asking them to pray for us.-—
Who does this? Catholics? What are the percentages? How do you know?
Certainly there are Catholics whose practices contradict Church teaching. Catholics sin, for example. What does this prove?
—In addition, time spent in prayer to them is time not spent in prayer to God to whom are are commanded by Jesus Himself to pray.—
Do you believe that Catholics don’t pray directly to God? I don’t believe you do. What then is the appropriate percentage of prayer that we should devote to praying to God, and asking others to pray for us? Where is this percentage provided in Scripture?
—God has promised us that He Himself would hear and answer our prayers. What’s the point of going to someone else, when God Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and earth, our loving heavenly Father who knows how to give good gifts to His children, promises us HIMSELF that He will answer HIMSELF.—
We are one Body. Our relationship with God is horizontal as well as vertical. If it’s OK to ask other Christians on earth to pray for us, why not the glorified Christians in heaven?
—This is part of the subtle way that Catholicism teaches that God is a capricious, demanding, judgmental and harsh taskmaster. It teaches that we need to go through someone else because it’s going to be easier for us to get what we want from Mary, for example, than if we went to the Father Himself.—
OK, now you’re making stuff up. You need to back this up with a citation from the Catechism. Remember, you’re talking to an old Catholic, who has studied a little, who is active in the Church, who has travelled quite a bit, and this statement has nothing in common with Church teaching or my personal interaction with fellow Catholics.
—But really? Mary is going to do something for us that God wouldn’t do for us Hinself? She’s going to counter His will?—
Did someone say she would? Again, you’re missing out on our horizontal relationship with the Body of Christ. Asking others here on earth to pray for us is OK, right? And the prayer of a righteous man “availeth much.” So it makes perfect sense to ask the righteous, glorified saints in heaven to pray for us.