Our Lady

[Prodigal Son returns]

Coming from a Portuguese family my parents have always been devoted to Our Lady of Fatima. On my journey back to God I began to question what seemed like the worshiping of Mary. I have no doubt that those children saw an apparition of a lady and that 80,000 people were made to see the sun defy physics.

The local priest in the town of Fatima at the time suggested that this was an apparition from Satan and that has me thinking maybe it is. She asks us to pray the rosary which is over 90% hail Mary's as she is supposed to intercede our prayers and pass them on to God. The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus is the only mediator between us and God.

Then I learn about these Marian dogmas that the church has introduced over the years and find little or no evidence of them in the scriptures. Understand that I'm not suggesting that Mary is evil but that the apparition wasn't of Mary but of a woman projected by Satan. His objective is to draw prayers and attention away from God to him. "Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light" 2 Corinthians 11:13

So I find myself with two options. One is to pray directly to God, the other is to ask Mary to intercede in our prayer so that she can pass it on to God which will take much longer. If I decide to still pray to Mary there is a chance that I am being deceived and am in fact praying to the devil. The risk is too great, it's a much safer option to keep my prayers focused on God.

Some Catholics get offended at my thoughts and attack me. But can anyone understand my logic. I can pray to Mary which will take longer to reach God and has the risk of being false or I can pray to God directly without any risk. I fear for the salvation of my parents that they are not being deceived by turning their prayers away from God.

What do people think? How can we be sure the apparition wasn't a deception of Satan?
Can anyone explain how praying to Mary is more beneficial than praying to God?

 

[anna ~ grace]

Well, if those who have died or fallen asleep in Christ are not truly dead, but live, as Christ said, we can definitely ask for their prayers and intercession.

As I see it, they don't replace God. They just help us to follow Christ.

Fatima was pretty neat. And it does seem like Mary pops in now and again to remind, warn, comfort, or prepare her children.

Check out Revelation 12, and compare it to Psalms 2.

 

[anna ~ grace]

This may interest you, too!

Zeitun - OrthodoxWiki

 

[Rhamiel]

The Hail Mary is a very God focused prayer

The main body of the prayer comes from scripture, the word of God, a greeting from an angel of the lord and the greeting of a pious kinswoman

Let’s look at the prayer

Hail Mary (the greeting of the holy angel) full of grace (the Lords grace) the Lord is with thee (the reason why she is full of grace) blessed are you among women (blessed by the Lord) and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus (being the mother of Jesus is a big part of how she was blessed) holy Mary (made holy by God) mother of God (how she was set aside) pray for us sinners (pray to God for us for we have sinned against God) now (for we need the grace of God to sustain us constantly) and at the hour of our death (the moment before we go before Christ as Judge when we need the most prayers)
Amen

 

[concretecamper]

Then I learn about these Marian dogmas that the church has introduced over the years and find little or no evidence of them in the scriptures.

First, the evidence is there, but those outside The Church of course will disagree. Anyway, it doesnt need to be in scripture to be true and believed.

So I find myself with two options. One is to pray directly to God, the other is to ask Mary to intercede in our prayer so that she can pass it on to God which will take much longer

it is not an either/or, but a both/and.

Can anyone explain how praying to Mary is more beneficial than praying to God?

asking someone to pray for you isnt bad, but very beneficial.