If Jesus is God, and it is only He who can answer my prayers, why should I bother asking Mary or one of the Saints to intercede for me? Shouldn't I just pray straight to the 'Big Boss'?
Two points worth considering:
Church members pray for each other
There are many passages in the Bible which instruct us to pray for one another (if you're interested in reading them, check out this list). Moreover, Jesus commonly helped one person because of another person’s faith (Matt 8:13, 15:28, 17:15–18; Mark 9:17–29; Luke 8:49–55). In my own life, this means I often ask others to pray for my intentions, and I, in turn, offer to pray for theirs. This is not because "more prayers = answered prayers". We pray for one another because of what we read in Scripture and with faith that we will be heard by God. The Church community, however, is not limited to that on earth... the 'Church Triumphant' is the communion of Saints who are in Heaven with God. We, as the Church on earth, are still united to these members in a special way. Which is why, just as instructed in the Bible, they continue to pray (intercede) for us.
2. Mary's prayers receive special attention
This is not to diminish the power of our own prayers and those of our community. But Mary literally carried Jesus in her womb. She is preeeeetty special. It also isn't a long stretch to think that there is a unique relationship between Mary and Jesus that continued beyond Jesus' time on earth.... she was his mum after all. We need only reflect on the wedding at Cana to see that Mary could in fact influence her son... Jesus is quoted as saying "It is not yet my time" but still did what Mary asked of him (hello ministry life!). So we can ask Mary to take our prayers to Jesus and, just as the wedding miracle, they may receive special attention.
So yes, of course, we can... and should... pray straight to Jesus. But we also have a whole team upstairs who can help storm Heaven with our intentions, and a very special lady who is extending her hand to lead us to her Son.
