Prayer and worship
I'm trying to better understand the Catholic practice of praying to Mary and the saints. I've always believed that if you pray to anyone other than God, what you're doing is a form of worship and therefore directly violating the first commandment. Am I wrong? What specifically does the Bible say on the topic of prayer as worship? What about responding to those who say that by praying to Mary, what they're doing is not worship, but simply honoring her as the mother of Jesus?
Catholics try to make a distinction between the highest form of worship which is given only to God and a lower form of veneration or adoration given to the saints. Mary receives something in between the two.
That this is simply a word game and not a valid distinction is clear from looking at the content of the prayers to Mary. These prayers do not simply congratulate her on being the mother of God. They ask her to play the role of being an assistant in obtaining salvation for people. Calling this by a different name does not change its nature. It is worship which is idolatrous.
The fact that Catholics call it by a different name cannot excuse it. If people make this claim, ask them to show you a prayer book with the prayers to Mary and ask them to explain how these prayers can be understood as anything less than worship.
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