Why pray to Mary when we can appeal directly to God?

Robert Fastiggi, a professor of theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit and former president of the Mariological Society of America, answers common questions about Mary to help readers more fully understand the church’s teachings regarding the Virgin Mary and why she is truly the “cause of our joy.”

Q: Why do Catholics pray to Mary when we can appeal directly to God?

A: Catholics, of course, can pray directly to God, the Holy Trinity. Vatican II, though, recognized the “close and indissoluble tie” that unites Mary to her divine son (“Lumen Gentium,” No. 53). Mary is intimately united to her divine son, and she is “our mother in the order of grace” (“Lumen Gentium,” No. 61).

Prayers to Mary are especially effective in uniting us more closely to Jesus. As St. Louis de Montfort teaches in “True Devotion to Mary,” Mary is “the safest, easiest, shortest, and most perfect way of approaching Jesus.” Jesuit Father Suárez explained that we should pray to Mary “so that the dignity of the intercessor may make up for our deficiency.”

Robert Fastiggi, 2024 May 7

excerpt from www.catholicreview.org