WHY CATHOLICS PRAY TO MARY & SAINTS?

WHY CATHOLICS PRAY TO THE SAINTS?
.
Good day to all of us! We will discuss now on why we Catholics prayed to Mary and the Saints. This was used long time ago by non-Catholics in attacking Catholic teachings on praying to the Saints. They usually argued on why don't we pray directly to God?
.
Our answer to that is that we can actually pray directly to God. An example to that is our prayer called "Our Father" or the Lord's Prayer which is directly asking to God the Father. However, we are not prohibited to asked for an intercessory prayer from Saints. That is why we ask for example we uttered, "Holy Mary, Pray for Us". Because the prayer of the Saints is pleasing to God and God will hear the prayer of the Saints. According to Prov. 15:29
.
"The Lord is far from the wicked, and he will hear the prayers of the saints" (Prov 15:29)
.
If you think that you are holy or a saint already, then you may pray directly to God without asking help from Saints. But how sure are you that God will hear your prayer? That's the question that we can't answer.
.
.
So that we will not be confused with the words we are using, we will define first the meaning of the word "pray". Let us make it clear that the term "pray" is not automatically means "worship" to God. Because if we look at the Dictionaries, the word "pray" also means "to beg", "to ask", "to implore", "to entreat", "to make a request in a humble manner". Thus, prayer is not only applicable for God, because we can also beg or ask help from humans. In fact, in Legal Terminology, a lawyer is frequently using the term "prayer" or "pray" when he asked favor from the court. However, it doesn't mean that the lawyer is worshiping the judge, just because the former is praying to the latter, but is only asking for a favor. In the same manner, we Catholics prayed to the Saints not because we worshiped them as God, but to ask for help that they will pray for us. Because they are already in heaven with God, and their prayers will be heard by God. This is what we called by the term "intercessory prayer". Since we Christians should also do intercession, as what we can read in 1 Tim. 2:1 where St. Paul says:
.
"I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people" (1Tim 2:1)
.
It is clear in the verse we've read that there is actually an intercession. That is what we Catholics do when we pray to the Saints. We utter, "Holy Mary, Pray pray for Us", since we beg Mary to pray for us to her Son Jesus. Because there is no good son who can reject the request of his loving mother.
.
Non-catholics argued that Christ is the only mediator, but why we still go to Mary?

Our answer to that is: Since Christ is truly human and truly God, it should be necessary that he must be the mediator between God the Father and the mankind. Thus, it was Christ who redeemed us when he was crucified to save mankind. If we will read 1 Tim. 2:5 in context, intercessory prayer is not actually prohibited there. In fact, it is urged that we do intercession. This is the verse that they interpreted out of context:
.
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus".
.
But if you will read Verse 1 it says:
.
"I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people". (1 Tim. 2:1)
.
Also in verse 3 it says that: "This is good, and pleases God our Savior"
.
That passage did not say that there is no need for intercessors, because intercessions is pleasing to God. It is true that Christ is our mediator to God the Father. However, the Saints are our intercessors to Jesus Christ.
.
The Bible said that we should pray for one another in James 5:16.
.
“Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”(James 5:16)
.
.
Why we ask help to the Saints? Because God will hear their prayers. We can read it in John 9:31
.
“We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.” (John 9:31)
.
This is explained in the Bible where God commanded the friends of Job that they should let Job (a righteous man) pray for them. We can read this in Job 42:7-8:
.
"...Go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant JOB SHALL PRAY FOR YOU, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly... .” So Eli′phaz the Te′manite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Na′amathite went and did what the Lord had told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer. And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had PRAYED FOR HIS FRIENDS... ." (Job 42:7-8)
.
It is clear in this passage that the friends of Job had directly prayed to God, but God did not heard them, instead He instructed them to let Job pray for them.