Brian,
Thanks for your response, you've raised some good points and once again did so in a charitable fashion, for which I commend you.
you wrote:
The Bible is clear that "no not one is righteous" I understand that Catholic tradition teaches differently on this but it is hard to make a motal righteous when the Bible declares that NONE have been.
I'm not sure what you mean by "no not one is righteous". Paticularly in regard to those in heaven as Mary is now in heaven. By the virtue of her being in heaven alone I could make the claim that she is more "righteous" than you or I. As you and I are sinners and still capable of sinning more.
The further context of your comment from Roman 3:10, ("There is no one righteous, not even one; 11there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.")
is about how no one is made righteous by the observance of the old law:
Romans 3:20 ("Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin."),
and then gets into how one is made righteous:
Roman 3:21 ("But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe....")
I wouldn't think you would deny Mary would be counted as the righteous in heaven. It is not necessarily that she has to be any more righteous than Moses or Peter for her to be the preferred person to multiply our prayers. It could be viewed that just as the Lord chose Mary specifically to bring Life into the world (as opposed to Eve bringing Death)through her humble submission to God's will, we aknowledge and honor His work, this "Ark of the new covenant", His "handmaid of the Lord" by choosing to utilize this avenue. And she humbly accepts her role to present our petitions without taking any glory and honor from God as she is the first to admit that it is her Son who has all authority and power to answer our supplications. She will always and only point us to her Son pleading "Do as my son says".
So it is not a question of who is more righteous, but an aknowledgement of God's chosen plan of Salvation. We feel we honor that plan by aknowledging Mary and the special role she has for presenting her Son into that plan. One that didn't just end once she gave birth to Jesus. But one that continues as she prays that Jesus be reborn into the hearts and beings of her spirtual children.
You finished with:
On rep. prayer. What you gave was interesting but was more opinion based then scripture based. Scripture warns of prayers that are rep. The real issue was the actual asking the same person over and over and over to pray for you. That aspect you both tried to address but still fell short somewhat in my humble opinion. To say there is no time in Heaven and then say that the saints or Mary listen to prayer after prayer has some problems of its own. Then there is the issue of being able to hear the pray of millions at once and at the same time beworshipping God, as we know from Rev. that we will be doing. also from the story in Luke, speaking of Laz. and the rich man there seems to be some basic earthlike communication in the afterlife. Can you hear, speak, bring prayers, sit on a throne, etc... at the same time? and not be God. The bible says we will see him as he truely is but we will not become God or have His power.
On the repetiveness of prayer I would again ask of you to consider the pious reciting or singing of the Psalms, and keep in mind the Rosary (which is what you are really referring to by referencing the praying of the Hail Mary over and over)is a meditation and a supplication. Look at the whole.
1.) a series of prayers that may have numerous requests for a variety of reasons.
and
2.) a meditation whereas the person in prayer receives numerous graces, insights etc. (i.e. peacefulness, acceptance of a tragedy, patience, humility, enlightenment at seeing in ones minds eye the Gospel made alive etc.)
My contention about there not being the confines or restraints of time is to put in our understanding something we do not really have any concrete way of knowing. Afterall we don't even really know how it is the saints receive or present our prayers see for example the following:
Rev 5:8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twentyfour elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
My point is your guess as to how things work in heaven is as good as mine.
God Bless
Stephen