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Hello, Kristen —
Your good Presbyterian friend asked you to explain why we ask Mary to
pray for us and a Biblical basis for it.
Let me first say a few words about the Bible. The New Testament we
are about to reference is a Catholic Book (written by Catholic men inspired
by the Holy Spirit). You can feel very confident our Catholic Doctrines
are NEVER opposed to Sacred Scripture and that is one
of the reasons!
- Did you know it wasn’t until the councils of Hippo (393 A.D.) and
Carthage (397 A.D.) that the New Testament "cannon" was listed and in 410
A.D. this cannon was approved by the Pope?
There were many texts alleging
to be Scripture (inspired), like:
- the Gospel of Peter or
- the Gospel of Thomas
and
- the Apocalypse of Paul, etc.,
that had to be considered. You can still
find many of these texts to read; they are interesting but not inspired.
These councils were Catholic Councils with Catholic Bishops in attendance!
There was no organized written New Testament before this time, and the faith was primarily
passed on by word of mouth. In 2 Timothy 3:16 we read:
"All
scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation,
for correction, and for training in righteousness."
Here St. Paul was referring
to the Old Testament of course because the New Testament did not yet exist in written
form!
OK, now to your question. I assume your Presbyterian friend has asked
you and others to pray for her at various times.
- Can you see how much better
it is to ask our Brothers and Sisters who are in God's presence in heaven
to pray for us?
They know what is happening to us here and care about
us. See Revelation 6:10 and 11
In Mark 12:26-27, Jesus shows how alive and aware these
Saints are because God is:
"not the God of the dead, but of the living."
In Matthew
17:2 and 3 we read:
2 And he was transfigured before them; his
face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. 3 And behold,
Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him.
These following verses give examples of intercessory prayer.
- Ephesians 6:18
- Romans 15:30
- Colossians 4:3
- 2 Thessalonians 1:11
to show we should pray for one another and why: In 1 Corinthians
13:12; 1 John 3:2 ... because we see saints united with God.
Remember we want to follow and be like Christ. One of the Ten Commandments
says, "Honor thy Father and thy Mother!" Jesus did this and we should too,
honor His mother that is.
In Scripture, (Luke 1:48) Mary
said:
"for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold,
henceforth all generations will call me blessed."
- I wonder if she
and her other Presbyterian friends obey this biblical command?
In summary:
- The Bible is "our" book.
- The Saints that have gone before us are alive, aware of us and are part
of the Church.
- We are asked to pray for each other.
- Mary has a special place with the Saints because we follow Christ and
He Honors his Father and Mother.
Kristen, I hope this is of some help to you. Please feel free to
contact us with any comments or questions about the above.
Under His Mercy,
Bob Centamore
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