Why do we venerate Mary and ask for her prayers? Read this excerpt to hear Marian wisdom from St. Alphonsus Liguori and St. Louis de Montfort, the greatest Mariologists in Church history!
Prayer to Mary Is Good and Right
St. Alphonsus Liguori, one of the great Marian theologians, notes that it’s an article of the Catholic faith that we can and should call on Mary and the other saints to pray for us. And it’s only reasonable to do so.
It’s not only lawful but beneficial to invoke and pray to the saints—and more especially to the queen of saints, the most holy and ever-blessed Virgin Mary—so that they may obtain for us God’s grace. This is an article of faith. It has been defined by ecumenical councils, against heretics who condemned it as injurious to Jesus Christ, who is our only Mediator. But if the prophet Jeremiah after his death prayed for Jerusalem (see 2 Mc 15:14); if the elders in the Book of Revelation presented the prayers of the saints to God (see Rv 6:8); if St. Peter promises his disciples that after his death he will be mindful of them (see 2 Pt 1:15); if holy Stephen prays for his persecutors (see Acts 7:59); if St. Paul prays for his companions (see Acts 27:24; Eph 2:16; Phil 1:4; Col 1:3)—in short, if the saints can pray for us, why can’t we ask the saints to intercede for us? St. Paul recommends himself to the prayers of his disciples: “Brethren, pray for us” (1 Th 5:25). St. James exhorts us to pray one for another: “Pray one for another, that you may be healed” (Jas 5:16). So we can do the same.
No one denies that Jesus Christ is our only mediator of justice, and that he by his merits has obtained our reconciliation with God. But, on the other hand, it is impious to assert that God is not pleased to grant graces at the intercession of his saints, and more especially of Mary his mother, whom Jesus desires so much to see loved and honored by all.
Who can pretend that the honor bestowed on a mother doesn’t redound to the honor of the son? For this reason St. Bernard says, “We must not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the great praise we lavish on the mother; for the more she is honored, the greater is the glory of her Son.”
—St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary
Consideration
Has anyone ever tried to convince me not to ask Mary or the other saints to
pray for me? How might St. Alphonsus’ insights help me respond convincingly?
Prayer
From the “Litany of the Saints”: All you holy, righteous, and chosen ones of God,
pray for us!
Of Mary, There Is Never Enough!
St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort was one of the Church’s greatest promoters of devotion to Our Lady. To those who would suggest that Mary should not have a prominent role in Christian faith and practice, he responds that we can never say enough about her.
Every day from one end of the earth to the other, in the highest heights of the heavens and in the profoundest depths of the abysses, everything preaches, everything publishes, the admirable Mary! The nine choirs of angels, men of all ages, sexes, conditions and religions, the good and the bad—even the demons themselves, willingly or unwillingly—are compelled by the force of truth to call her “blessed.”
St. Bonaventure tells us that all the angels in heaven cry out incessantly to her: “Holy, holy, holy, Mother of God and Virgin”; and that they offer to her, millions and millions of times a day, the angelical salutation, Ave Maria, prostrating themselves before her, and begging of her in her graciousness to honor them with some of her commands. Even St. Michael, as St. Augustine says, although the prince of the heavenly court, is the most zealous in honoring her and causing her to be honored.
The whole earth is full of her glory, especially among Christians, by whom she is taken as the protector of many kingdoms, provinces, dioceses, and cities. Many cathedrals are consecrated to God under her name. There is not a church without an altar in her honor, not a country nor a canton where there are not some miraculous images of her. After that, we must cry out with the saints: “De Maria numquam satis”—“Of Mary, there is never enough!”
—St. Louis de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary
Consideration
Is devotion to Jesus’ mother a part of my devotion to Jesus? Have I considered how her unique role in the world’s salvation deserves my gratitude and praise?
Prayer
From a prayer of St. Alphonsus Liguori: I love you, Mary, my Mother, and I wish I could speak with a thousand tongues, so that all might know your greatness, your holiness, your mercy, and the love with which you love all those who love you.
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This article is taken from a chapter in A Year With Mary by Paul Thigpen, PhD which is available from TAN Books.
