Hail Mary. Hail Mary. Hail Mary. Hail Mary. Sigh…Hail Mary.
Yesterday morning I saw a bumper sticker on a car that read, “Pray One More Hail Mary.”
Naturally, I have problems with this.
As if that’ll be enough, right? That one last ‘Hail Mary’ is exactly what God Mary is waiting on. Once that prayer is recited, all is well in your spiritual life. You’ve fulfilled your quota. Pat yourself on your religious back with your holy hand.
Or, maybe it’s meant in a more infinite/lifestyle manner. “Ok, I prayed one more ‘Hail Mary.’ Oh! Guess it’s time to pray one more!”
Disregard that fact that I’d be praying to a dead lady for a minute (harsh or true? you be the judge). Call me crazy (no really, please do), but I just don’t think it’s supposed to be like that. Praying without ceasing (there, I have satisfied my annual ‘King Jimmy (James)’ requirement), in my opinion, does not mean reciting a scripted prayer (to a human idol) repeatedly. I prefer to just be in constant conversation with the spirit of God that lives within me. Yes, I have quiet prayer time as well.
In summary, I don’t feel like praying “One More Hail Mary” will do anything other than satisfy a religious requirement that YOU have put on yourself. You will earn no favor with God and he will love you no more than he did before.
Now that I’ve had some time to think about it, maybe this lady was just a football fan…? Get it?
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17 Responses for "Hail Mary. Hail Mary. Hail Mary. Hail Mary. Sigh…Hail Mary."
Do you believe in intercessory prayer?
I was raised Catholic and respect my upbringing although I am currently not practicing. I’ve always believed the Hail Mary as a prayer honoring the woman who chose to be Jesus’s mother. Oh yes, that whole free will thing. For God so loved the world he gave his only son. Well, she also gave her son. We honor her and ask for prayer on our own behalf.
I am sure there are those out there who see it as more than that, but I’ll worry about my own beams and potential idols first.
You think Mary is dead and I think Jesus is dead. So what’s the difference?
Heather,
Wow, what a loaded question! Without getting into a long discussion, yes, I believe in intercessory prayer (in the sense of one believer praying FOR, not TO, another believer). I also believe that any Christ follower is a saint (so should I pray to you?). Jesus said that there’s none greater than John the Baptist (why don’t we pray to him?), how did Mary get put on the pedestal?
I also believe that there’s a huge difference between intercessory prayer and idol worship. I believe that Christ is the only mediator between us and God. I don’t believe that there was anything divine about Mary, and therefore I don’t direct my prayers towards her. I wouldn’t pray to her just as I wouldn’t pray to Peter, Moses, Abe, Paul, or anyone else besides Jesus (God). If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. But I’d rather play it safe and steer clear from potential idol worship.
Did I say ‘I believe’ enough?
writerdd,
Well, in the eyes of a Christian, the difference is eternal, ya know? I do understand what you’re saying, though. I ain’t mad at ya!
Bill, what do you think God thinks when he sees that bumper sticker? Is he annoyed? Is he jealous of Mary?
In general I think evangelicals win the ‘annoying Christian bumper sticker’ contest hands down.
Helen,
As far as the bumper stickers go, I couldn’t possibly agree more.
Well, if praying to Mary (I haven’t even mentioned the statue worship, incense burning, etc) is considered idol worship, then I’d imagine he’s not a happy camper. If it’s not, then I guess all is well.
What do you think (if you wouldn’t mind briefly playing the part)?
Matthew 6:7. Nothing more really needs to be said?
OK, well maybe just this:
Mary did not choose to be Jesus’ mother; she was chosen.
Mary is not to be esteemed over any other human, she was as much of a sinner as any of us and she needed the Salvation that came from Christ the same as the rest of humanity. Here is a couple of verses that will show you how Jesus felt about giving praise to his mother…(Luke 11:27-28)
Finally, and I do mean finally…
There is written history about Jesus’ resurrection. Is there proof? Not if you don’t believe in history, but there is no record of Mary’s resurrection from the dead or her ascending into heaven either.
We can learn a lot from Mary about faith and devotion to God’s will and His plan, but it does us absolutely no good to say a prayer to Mary because she can do nothing to save us from our sins. And besides that, idolatry is a sin!
For His Glory,
Jason
“Do I have to be a judgmental, arrogant, prideful jerk if I want to be a Christian? Watch me fight the stereotype.”
Way to fight that stereotype, Bill.
Yikes Marianne…That’s borderline judgmental!
[…] Bill shares his feelings on the relatively common Say one Hail Mary bumper stickers. […]
Humm. I find it funny that one criticizes One form of praying and thinking it actually does something, yet isn’t using those same critical thinking skills to realize that it all isn’t doing anything. Or is it just because it isn’t your way that makes it silly?
Dear Mr. Rev. BigDumbChimp:
I find your logic lacking substance. Your claim, as I understand it, is that because one form of prayer is pointless, [because there are no grounds for it] then therefore any other form of prayer must also be pointless as well, even if there are historical grounds for this belief?
The burden of proof in this situation is the scripture. The Bible has history, it has been verified to be historically accurate on all accounts [including scientifically], and it is also supernaturally significant.
The idea of praying to a Creator is giving credit to a being of much greater intelligence and importance then us [humanity]. The idea of praying to ‘Mother Mary’ is giving us a divine nature, which is simply said, preposterous.
The divinity of God the Father and Jesus Christ have been documented throughout the scriptures. The divinity of Mary is lacking any evidence.
That is the difference in these two forms of prayer, and is why you can’t simply chalk of all prayer because one form is not valid.
I like C.S. Lewis’s (perhaps fictional) take on prayer. This is what I wrote about it on my blog some time ago:
In the movie Shadowlands, C.S. Lewis (played by Anthony Hopkins) tells a young boy whose mother has just died, that we don’t pray to get what we want or to ask God to do something for us, as if he were a big Santa figure in the sky. “That’s not why I pray, Harry;” Lewis told the boy, “I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless; I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God; it changes me.”
We pray to change ourselves. I love this sentiment, because I believe that prayer is a form of meditation that puts us in touch with the strength and compassion deep inside our own hearts. Although I personally don’t believe in gods or the supernatural, I definitely believe in the power of prayer. It is a force that can bring love and goodness into the world because prayerful meditation makes us shut out the bad news and stress of every day life, and puts us in a position to allow our own compassion to come to the surface.
I beg to differ. The burden of proof depends on evidence. Not ancient writings.
writerdd:
There are so many things I could say to that, but I’ll start with this. There is plenty of ‘evidence’ for God. It is all around us in His wonderful creation.
And the Bible [those pesky ancient writings] exemplifies that very idea.
Praise God for that!
I enjoyed your post on C.S. Lewis’ take on prayer. I would agree w/ him whole-heartedly. However, I think you missed part of his point in your summery of his statement.
He said, “I pray because I can’t help myself”.
You said:
“We pray to change ourselves. I love this sentiment, because I believe that prayer is a form of meditation that puts us in touch with the strength and compassion deep inside our own hearts.”
These (2) statements don’t agree with each other at all. They are in complete contradiction actually. According to Lewis, there isn’t anything inside of our heart that can change us. And scripture agrees–> Jeremiah 17:9 tells us what our hearts condition is.
Amen and Amen.
Bill, what I think is: I’d like to see Catholics included in your commitment to being friendly.
In my opinion, calling Catholics idol worshippers is unkind and inflammatory.
And most people who do it (maybe this isn’t true of you though) know very little about Catholicism. They’ve just heard a teaching or read a website that says Catholics are idol worshippers by some other protestant evangelical who knows very little about Catholicism.
By the way, completely off-topic (sorry): have you read The Shack? I think you’d like it.
I didn’t mean the question to be inflammatory, rather an example for how I and many Catholics view that form of prayer.
My problem, and reason for not reconciling with the Catholic church is the closed manner in which Protestants are viewed. The same view from other Christians raises my ire.
it’s no more ridiculous that speaking in tongues for some of the stuff evangelicals do. the catholic bashing is starting to sound quite unfriendly. I have my own issues with the church, but it’s rather comical to see people who believe in things like creationism going off other forms of superstition.
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