I have just read St. Louis de Montfort's book True Devotion to Mary and have a question.  We are told that we can deal with Jesus through Mary because it is more humble and more fitting because to go straight to Jesus would be too presumptuous.  I can appreciate that, but does that mean that we should never go directly to Jesus?  Doesn't Jesus want us to go directly to Him?
o.  It's not too presumptious to go to Jesus.  You can.  But Mary's prayers to Jesus are more effacious than yours.  Otherwise, St. Paul's command to pray for one another would have been superflous.  Why even ask others to pray for you in the first place if it's just between "you and the Lord"?  The prayers of a righteous man availeth much; a less righteous man less.
[The Questioner continues:]
We can go to Jesus through Mary because Mary is Jesus, so to speak, knowing that Mary is fully conformed to her Son in every way.  So, dealing with Mary is like dealing with Jesus because she is perfectly in union with him.  But what is stopping us from saying this about any Saint?  Are not all the Saints in heaven fully conformed to Jesus?  Shouldn't we be able to say "to Jesus through Saint so and so"?
Answer:  Yes.  But the saints experience the Beatific Vision of God differently in heaven.  God works thru those more effectively the more responsive they are to His will.  That is as true on earth as it is in heaven.  There is one Body of Christ, not two.
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.  (2 Corinthians 5:20)
Two things to reflect carefully on:
St. Paul attributes Christ's mediation THROUGH the body.
St. Paul's appeal is ON BEHALF of Christ.  This makes St. Paul a type of mediator between the world and Christ.
[The Questioner continues:]
Could you please define "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" as the Catholic Church would have it?  I might imagine there are different ways to have a personal relationship with God.  From what I can see, the majority of Evangelicals would define a personal relationship as being "best buds" or "best friends" with Jesus.  I know that Jesus now calls us "friends", but are we to call Him "friend" also?  Where is the "fear of the Lord" in that?
Answer:  Our communion with Jesus should be compared with a wife's relationship to her husband.  Intimacy, obedience, love, profound respect.
John Pacheco
August 22, 2002