Why Do We Pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary?

One question I get most often form non-Catholics, but also sometimes from Catholics, is why we pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to the saints.

Redeemed Into the Family of God

The simple but really, really important answer is this: we pray to Mary and the saints because we are all the Family of God. When we pray to Mary and the saints, we do not pray to them as the source of goodness, as we do God. I’ll admit that sometimes our prayers sound like we do. We ask them for favors, help, and strength. But the true understanding of these prayers is that we are asking them to pray for us that God would grant us the favor we ask.

To pray to Mary and the saints is no different than asking a friend or relative or prayer chain to pray for us, except that Mary and the saints are in the Beatific vision and full of grace so their prayers

But it’s a very important part of Catholic spirituality. God created us to be His children, and Jesus redeems us back into God’s Family. The Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints are members of God’s Family. So our redemption unites us to them, just as the Holy Eucharist unites us to each other in this world.

Human Cooperation in the Covenant

We see throughout Sacred Scripture the theme of human cooperation in the Covenant. A covenant is a sacred family bond. God wants a real relationship with us. Even though He could have performed every act of salvation history alone, God asked human beings to participate in His power and goodness. God could have saved the Hebrew people from the clutches of Egyptian slavery without Moses. But He chose to use Moses as His mouthpiece. What’s more, Moses was revered for his role. The same with Abraham, David, the judges, the prophets, and many others.

The Old Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament. Human participation in God’s act of salvation is made perfect in Jesus, who is both God and man. However, other human beings also take on important roles. Mary plays a very special role as the Mother of God. God chose to give Mary the all-important hinge position for His act of salvation. Because of her “yes” to God, Jesus was incarnated and came into the world. Jesus’ human body was taken from Mary’s DNA. Jesus chose to be raised in a human family with Mary and Joseph. Mary was at Jesus’ side throughout his life and also on the Cross. She participated completely in our Lord’s act of redemption and like Moses is revered for her role.

But her role in salvation history goes even deeper. God fulfills many of the Old Testament promises through Mary.

The New Eve

The third chapter of Genesis recounts the story of the Fall of humanity through Adam and Eve. As God is laying out the consequences for Original Sin, He says to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel (Genesis 3:15).

Jesus fulfills this promise as the new Adam. Saint Paul clearly identifies Jesus as the new Adam, or the last Adam, in 1 Corinthians 15:45. Early Church Fathers such as Saint Justin Martyr, Saint Irenaeus, and Tertullian recognized that since Adam and Eve fell together, the new Adam required a new Eve. Mary fit the role perfectly

We see through the Old Testament signs that the Early Church Fathers were right on target. The Old Testament gives signs that God’s promise that Satan’s head would be crushed would be fulfilled through the woman and her offspring together. Righteous women are portrayed as heroes who crush the heads of Israel’s enemies. In Judges 4:17-33, Jael drives a tent peg through the skull of the Canaanite general, Sisera. Judges 5:24 celebrates her as “Most blessed of women.” Judges 9:50-55 tells the story of a woman dropping a millstone on the head of tyrannical King Abimelech. Judith (the original “Judge Judy”), beheads the commander of the Assyrian army, Holofernes, with his own sword (Judith 12-13). Judiths’ heroism is heralded in Judith 13:8

O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, who created the heavens and the earth, who has guided you to strike the head of the leader of our enemies.

The praise given to Jael and to Judith should sound familiar to us. Elizabeth greets Mary with very similar words, and those words make up the first part of the Hail Mary prayer. This parallel is no accident. Elizabeth is recognizing through the Holy Spirit not only Jesus but also Mary as the promised victor over Satan.

Jesus also recognized Mary as the New Eve. This was the reason He addressed her as “Woman” both at the wedding at Cana (John 2) and at the foot of the cross (John 19).

The New Ark of the Covenant

Mary is also recognized as the fulfillment of the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was the most sacred object in the Old Testament. It carried the tablets of the Law, manna, and the staff of Aaron, and it represented the covenant made with the Hebrew people through Moses. While Mary was pregnant with Jesus, she carried within her body the very Word of God, the New Law, the Bread from Heaven, and the perfect eternal priest. While the Ark carried sacred symbols of God’s presence with His people, Mary carried God Himself – Emmanuel, God with us.

Again, we see this verified in the words of Elizabeth in her greeting to Mary. “And who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43). These words parallel the words of David in 2 Samuel 6:9, “How shall the Ark of the Lord come to me?” Furthermore, we hear of John dancing in his mother’s womb the same way David danced before the Ark. The Ark stayed in the house of Obededom for three months, just as Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months.  These details aren’t just coincidence. They are signs that the Old Testament is being fulfilled in the New Testament.

Queen Mother

In western tradition, the queen is the wife of the king. That was not the case for the Hebrew people. King Solomon established the tradition seen in 1 Kings 2:19-20 of enthroning the mother of the king as the “Queen Mother.” This tradition lasted throughout the reigns of the Kings of Judah, nealy 400 years. The Queen Mother was the king’s main confidant and advisor. This was not just an honorific, either. It was an official position. The Queen Mother had to be deposed in order to be removed (1 Kings 15:13).

The Jewish people in the time of Jesus would have expected the messianic descendent of King David to have a Queen Mother. We see in Revelation 12:1 Jesus enthroning His mother as Queen Mother just as Solomon enthroned Bathsheba. Her role is also seen at the wedding feast in Cana where Mary acts as a mediatrix between Jesus and the chief steward, just as a Queen Mother would.

Praying to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mary plays a very important role in fulfilling many of the signs and promises of the Old Testament. Since the fulfillment is always greater than the promise, Mary deserves at least as much honor as Moses or the Ark or any of the Old Testament queens. The honor we give to Mary has a special name. We call it hyperdulia. Dulia means honor. It describes the honor that we give to the saints for their holiness. Hyperdulia means “greater honor.” But the word dulia is always differentiated from latria. Latria is the praise that we give to God alone.

Likewise, we always recognize that when we pray to the saints or even to Mary that we are doing nothing more than asking them to pray for us. Mary and the saints do not have the ability to grant us blessings and goodness apart from God. All good things come from God alone. Mary is not a goddess. She is a human participant in God’s act of salvation.

Now, within this understanding of Mary’s role there is quite a range of devotion among Catholic theologians. For example, Saint Louis de Montfort teaches that all of our prayers must go through Mary because we are not worthy to approach Jesus ourselves. I find this to be too hard a line. It just doesn’t seem to mesh with the Jesus who came to dine with sinners and to live among the lowly. So chances are pretty good that you’ll find something within the great range of teachings on Mary that makes you a little uncomfortable.

However, we shouldn’t be uncomfortable at all approaching Mary as our Mother and asking her to pray for us to her Son. We are all members of the Family of God – supporting each other and participating in God’s goodness for each other. That’s what being members of the Body of Christ is all about. May the Blessed Virgin Mary conceive in our hearts He whom she conceived in her womb.

Clearing Up the Confusion

Without the knowledge of how the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament, we can miss many of the details in Sacred Scripture that clear up our confusion about things like honoring Mary. As a Catholic educator, my mission is to help Catholic adults clear up these confusions and to delve ever more deeply into the Mysteries of the Faith. If you found greater understanding and beauty in these teachings about Mary, please consider joining me for more education and formation in the Faith! Below you will find an offer to get more involved with my work as a Catholic educator. You can learn the faith with online courses and articles or live your faith more deeply with online spirituality programs. I would love to take the next steps with you on our journey toward holiness.

Brought to you by Jeffrey S. Arrowood at From the Abbey, dedicated to helping you rediscover the JOY of learning and living your faith so you can grow in intimacy with God.