On Praying to Mary

What do you say to others when they ask you why you pray to Mary? My personal response: She’s real. She intercedes, she listens, she comforts me.

“Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to you o virgin of virgins, my Mother. To you I come, before you I stand, sinful, and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in your mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.

This prayer made it’s way to me during a trying time in my life. I felt empty, brutally fatigued, and lost. My tired soul recited this prayer and I felt her presence like a light in a very dark place. I hung on to that hope, believing that Mary could hear me - just like it says in the prayer: “...never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection...was left unaided...” Never. This meant there was a 100 percent possibility that Mary would help me, and she did. 

I have many people in my life who question my devotion to Mary, but how am I to deny someone who is very real? Mary answers prayer. This is a bona fide truth for me. She’s Christ’s Mother. Our Mother. Jesus even said so: “Here is your Mother,” (John 19:27). The woman, who was personally selected by God to carry Christ in her womb, is real. She’s in heaven with her Holy Son and our Father. How is it unreasonable to pray to her? Or better yet, how is it reasonable to deny her?

I may not always have a satisfactory answer for those who question why I pray to Mary, but that will never stop me from doing so. Mary has answered me in moments of great distress, and as previously stated, it’s always been a consistent return; she doesn’t leave anyone unaided. I can’t imagine that she would, because she’s our Mother 

I don’t know why we justify praying to Mary at all. She is who she is to us, and somebody outside of our Church isn’t necessarily set up to understand our relationship with her. Why not just accept that difference in our prayer lifestyles? We’re different. We pray to Mary and others don’t. We seek intercession from her, and there’s nothing wrong with that. To that end I pray:

Hail Mary, full of grace.
Our Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.