Why Do Catholics Pray to Mary?

A week ago, this YouTube short from Fr. David Michael Moses, a Texas Catholic Priest, came across my Instagram news feed and I had to make a response. This is exactly what Catholics have told me for years as to why they need to pray to Mary to get anything done with Jesus. But there is nothing biblical about his answer. Watch the video below.

There are several obvious problems with this answer that completely misses the mark of who God is, Jesus is, and Mary is, that must be addressed.

None of This is Found in Scripture

Nothing in what this man says is biblical.

But this is what the Catholic Church teaches. In the end of the day it’s not about what Scripture says, but what the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Magesterium says. Even though nothing is right in what he says, he has to maintain his church teachings and traditions:

• “We can pray with and to her. The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary.” (CCC 2679).
• “prayer united us in the Chruch with the Mother of Jesus.” (CCC 2673)
• “The Churches developed their prayers to the holy Mother of God.” (CCC2675)
• “in countless hymns and antiphons expressing this prayer…entrusts the supplications and praises of the children of God to the Mother of Jesus” (CCC 2675)
• “we can entrust all our cares and petitions to her: she prays for us” (CCCC 2677)
• “by entrusting ourselves to her prayer we abandon ourselves to the will of God together with her” (CCC 2677)
• “The Church encourages us to prepare ourselves for the house of death. … to ask the Mother of God to intercede for us ‘at the hour of our death’ in the Hail Mary; and to entrust ourselves to St. Joseph, the patron of a happy death” (CCC 1014)

Jesus Does Not Get Busy or Grow Weary

If God is all powerful, He cannot fall behind. He doesn’t have a stack of to-do’s that are just eating up His time. He is eternal. He is the Creator of all. Numbers 11:23 says that the Lord’s arm has not been shortened. He has no limiting power. God cannot get overwhelmed, fall behind, or get stuck with duties He doesn’t want. God is all powerful.

‘Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You. ‘You show lovingkindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them–the Great, the Mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts. ‘You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. –

Jeremiah 32:17-19 NKJV

But to think that God has limiting power, but not Mary is just idolatry. That is ludicrus, and a flat out lie.

Jesus is Not Caught by Suprise

God is the sovereign Lord over all the universe as we saw in Jeremiah 32. He sees all of what is going on in His creation. Proverbs 15:3 says, “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” Hebrews 4:13 states, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Read the rest of Psalm 139 as it starts off saying:

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.

Psalm 139:1-4 NKJV

God is the God who sees (Genesis 16:13) and he never abandons His children (Hebrews 13:5-6). I don’t need Mary or the saints to get Christ’s attention. How ridiculous.

God is Not at the Mercy of a Created Being

Jesus, God, is the Creator of all things. The book of Colossians is a perfect example of Scripture that dives deep into who Jesus is, who He is to us, and who we are in Christ.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him ALL THINGS WERE CREATED that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. ALL THINGS WERE CREATED BY HIM AND THROUGH HIM. And HE IS BEFORE ALL THINGS, AND IN HIM ALL THINGS CONSIST. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that IN ALL THINGS HE MAY HAVE THE PREEMINIENCE. For it pleased the Father that IN HIM ALL THE FULLNESS SHOULD DWELL, and BY HIM TO RECONCILLE ALL THINGS TO HIMSELF, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight– if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.” – Colossians 1:15-23 NKJV

All things were created by Him, and for Him. By the blood of His cross He reconcilled us to Himself. Not Mary. He created all things–including Mary. Does this priest not remember that it is by Christ that He created all things in six litteral days, yet He needs help through one of His created beings to answer prayer? Really? Jesus is preeminent above all things in heaven and on earth–including his earthly mother.

Not only that, but how is it that Mary doesn’t get bogged down needing the help of her mother to answer prayer? How come Jesus needs help, but Mary doesn’t? None of this priest’s answers and explanations make sense. And why is that? Because he doesn’t use Scripture at all to support anything he says.

Not Without Pushback

Fr. Michael David Moses found out that he was getting much pushback from the first video that it prompted to make a second video to “clarify” the parable or analogy he was trying to convey. But ultimately, he was just “doubling-down” on what he said in the first. It made no sense. At the end of the day, it is just word-vomit because he is yet to show in Holy Scripture how praying to Mary to get her Son’s attention is biblical–because it’s not.

This is why, fundamentally, Catholics are not Christians. It’s a separate religion because they add to and take away from the canon of Scriputre. Pray that Roman Catholics throughout the world will read their Bibles and not listen to Catholic tradition and dogma any longer.