Thank you for your ministry! I continue to learn so much from your site. The bible teaches that we are to pray for one another. Many Catholics will pray to Mary to intercede on their behalf to Jesus. How is this different from asking ones own mother to pray for you? I understand that it is a sin to deify anything or anyone, but isn’t a prayer to Mary asking her to pray for you the same as asking your Pastor or friends to pray for you. Shouldn’t it be even more effective since you are asking the Lord’s own mother to intercede on your behalf? I look forward to your teaching on this.
There’s a huge difference between the way Catholics think of Mary and the way you think of your mother. You don’t think of your mother as being enthroned with Jesus in heaven as His co-redemptrix, having participated with Him in the redemption of mankind through her suffering, and therefore being uniquely qualified to intercede on your behalf.
When you ask your mother, Pastor, or friend to pray for you, you’re invoking the Lord’s promise that what ever two of us agree to on Earth will be done in Heaven (Matt. 18:19-20) Paul wrote that when we don’t know what we ought to pray for the Holy Spirit intercedes for us (Romans 8:26). He said Jesus, who died and was raised to life, is also at the right hand of God interceding for us. But there’s no Scripture to justify asking the dead to pray for the living, no matter who they are.