A question for Catholics? Serious answers please?

Question

Can you explain to me the concept of praying to Saints? Do you pray to or through Saints? Question arises from one question I read here yesterday, when some girl asked to which Saint she has to pray because she lost something. I don't mean to offend anyone, but why do you have to pray to a Saint (who was nothing but a mere mortal, even though he/she was of high piety)? Why not just ask God?

Again, I'm sorry if I offended someone, I just don't understand the concept. Thanks in advance :)

I understand that you don't worship Saint, that's the most famous misconception about Catholic Church. I think I get it now. He was a good man, he's in 'good terms' with God, so you ask him to pray for you. It's like a chain of prayers - symbolises unity.

LOL David, I edited my post at the same time you responded. Bingo :P

Answer 1

Hi Azra, I am a Catholic and permit me to try and answer your question in my inadequate way.
Firstly let me state once more that we Catholics love and worship God and Him only,as for Mary and the Saints yes we love them also but we do not and cannot worship them,we do give honor to them of course and I shall try to explain why.
Firstly the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of Jesus as you already know and even this fact alone deserves our honor and respect for Her,before I go on I have to say with all honesty that I love and respect all my brothers and sister`s in Christ,I don`t care what denomination you are and I will not get bogged down by religious snobbery, but I have to say that there was never any sort of problem with honoring Mary or the Saints before the Reformation and not only this when in our history has God shown His anger or displeasure with this practice? so much was written and taught on both sides to try and discredit the other that it has become ingrained in our mentalities.
Anyway, I could I suppose qoute scripture at you but really should I be using this to defend myself and other Catholics?surely there is but one body and we all belong to it.
It is not the Protestant way to pray to Mary and the Saints and I respect that but but it is our way and no amount of bickering between us will end this devotion, we truly believe that as our Mother Mary loves to put a word in with Her Divine Son for us just as She did for the poor young couple at the wedding feast of Cana,and also that Christ loves to please His Mother and honor Her requests, it is nothing sinister on our part nor magic incantations etc, can I respectively suggest that you read the Cathechism of the Catholic church in which all this is explained far better than I ever could,you certaintly do not have to agree with it but at least you will have a better understanding.
I believe that you can read this online,try typing simply,,Catechism of the catholic church and see what comes up.
In any case may the Lord of compassion and mercy bless you and your`s now and forever,Alleluia.

Answer 2

Catholics pray to the Saints AND directly to God, though the prayers are very different. We pray to Mary and the Saints to ask them to pray for us. This is hte same as asking a friend or family member to pray for you. Misery loves company and we lean on each other for support and comfort. Catholics include those in Heaven among those we lean on.

This does not mean that we do not pray directly to God as well. We do.

Answer 3

Before Jesus Christ died for our sins and opened the gates of heaven there were no saints in heaven. Therefore there are no Old Testament writings that would mention them.

Very few of the new Christians died before most of the New Testament was written. Therefore there is little in the Bible about asking saints to pray for us.

However the last book of the Bible does talk about the saints in heaven praying.

Revelation 5:8: Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones.

Revelation 8:3-4: He was given a great quantity of incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the holy ones, on the gold altar that was before the throne. The smoke of the incense along with the prayers of the holy ones went up before God from the hand of the angel.

The Holy Spirit guided the early Church in many things not explained in the Bible including how does the Body of Christ (believers) living on Earth relate to the Body of Christ (saints) living in heaven. We are still one Body.

Catholics share the belief in the Communion of Saints with many other Christians, including the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopal, and Methodist Churches.

The Communion of Saints is the belief where all saints are intimately related in the Body of Christ, a family. When you die and go to heaven, you do not leave this family.

Everyone in heaven or on their way to heaven are saints, you, me, my deceased grandmother, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II.

As part of this family, you may ask your family and friends living here on earth to pray for you. Or, you may also ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Andrew, or your deceased grandmother living in heaven to pray for you.

Prayer to saints in heaven is simple communication, not worship.

And prayer to the saints is optional not required.

With love in Christ.

Answer 4

I used to be Catholic (27 years so the answer is still good).....they intercede on the behalf of one who is praying. They usually represent something of importance to the person praying like Patron saint of Actors or Patron Saint of Painters.
It is said the their intercession due to their status makes the prayer more powerful when it is taken to Jesus/God. Hope that is helpful. I realize that the idea is confusing but it's a rather simple concept.

Answer 5

The word 'pray' has different meanings if you look up a dictionary. When we pray to God we worship Him. When we pray to saints or Our Blessed Mother we are humbly asking for a favor. The saints were very pure while on earth and God was highly pleased with their sinless hearts and self sacrifice.They prayed for sinners while they were alive and God answered their prayers. Do they stop praying for us now that they have passed on to heaven? No. They continue to pray for the faithful and their prayers are more powerful now because they stand before the throne of God.

This does not mean Catholics dont pray to God directly . We do that too. But we also go to the saints for special favours. The greatest intercessor of all is God's Mother Herself who holds a very special position in God's eyes and whose prayers on our behalf are answered quickly.

The widespread invocations to Saint Anthony for finding lost things and restoring missing people relate to an incident in which the saint was invoked to find a missing book and the prayer was efficacious; ever since then Saint Anthony has been the Patron of Lost Things. Here is a prayer to St.Anthony. Examine it to find anything that you may feel is worship of this good saint.

Unfailing Prayer to
Saint Anthony

Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints.
O Holy St. Anthony, gentlest of Saints, your love for God
and Charity for His creatures made you worthy, when on
earth, to possess miraculous powers. Miracles waited on
your word, which you were ever ready to speak for those in
trouble or anxiety. Encouraged by this thought, I implore
of you to obtain for me (request). The answer to my prayer
may require a miracle. Even so, you are the saint of
Miracles.

O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was ever full
of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the
Sweet Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms, and
the gratitude of my heart will ever be yours. Amen.

Hope you understand the concept a little better now. Thanks.

Answer 6

the communion of saints concept, we ask a saint to intervene for us, or we pray directly to God/Jesus, saints are shining examples of catholics who lived a faithful life or were martyrs, so many accuse us of worshiping saints, it simply is not true, if you want more info see catholic encyclopedia, or cpats.org peace be with you.

Answer 7

What it actually says is pray for the Saints!

Answer 8

Any time a Catholic utters a petition to a saint, it is taken for granted that it is a request for that saint to pray to God for them. For example, the "Hail Mary" contains the request, "pray for us sinners." If you ask a person to pray for you, it proves that you do not think that he is God. What needs to be stressed here is that none of our prayers terminate in the saints, as if they had the power in and of themselves to answer prayers.

if Catholics should not ask those in heaven for their prayers since we can go straight to Jesus, then no Christian on earth should ask a fellow believer for his prayers. When one believer asks another for his prayers, it is not because God is too distant or callous to listen to him. On the contrary, God is so generous he has given the body of Christ such unity that each member can pray for the others. This is a great gift, for "the prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects" (Jas. 5:16), and the angels and saints in heaven are inarguably righteous.

Though the Bible tells us that we must go to God in our necessities, it also encourages us to ask for each other’s prayers. After all, salvation is a family affair. Can the eye say to the hand, "I need you not?" Neither should we say that we don’t need the prayers of the rest of the body of Christ (on earth or in heaven).

Immediately after requesting that we pray for each other in 1 Timothy 2:1–4, Paul affirms that Christ is the one mediator. Again, let us define our terms. A mediator is one who comes between two parties with the purpose of uniting them. Christ played a role of mediation that only the God-man could, but Christians are still called to serve as mediators between Christ and the world. In no way does this diminish the unique work of Christ. On the contrary, it manifests it.

For example, Christ is our only high priest, but we are all called to be a nation of priests (1 Pet. 2:9). Christ is the only Son of God, yet we are made sons of God through adoption (Gal. 3:4). The Christian life consists in being conformed to Christ, and as Paul says, being "God’s fellow-workers" (1 Cor. 3:9) in his plan of salvation.

Those in heaven surround us as a "great cloud of witnesses" (Heb. 12:1), and the book of Revelation teaches that the prayers they offer for us "saints" is an integral part of the eternal worship given to God.

In the story of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19–31), the rich man shows concern for his family on earth, even though he is in hell. If a person in hell has such concern, and those in heaven are perfected in love and can finally pray with an undivided heart for the Church of God, how could they not be concerned about our salvation?

Those in heaven are part of the mystical body of Christ, and have not been separated from us by death. Christ is the vine, and we are the branches. So, if we are connected to him, we are inseparably bound together with them as well. Thus, the angels and saints stand before the throne of God, offer our prayers to him, and cheer us on as we run the good race.

We do not worship anyone but God - God alone - and every Catholic CAN pray only to God. There is no restriction on us that says we have to ask the saints to intercede.

Peace to you.

Answer 9

It is really very simple. We are asking someone to pray for us. All faiths i know of have no problem asking another person in their faith to pray for them. We ask the saints because they are members of our faith that are already in Heaven. That does not mean we never, can't, or don't pray to God ourselves. Peace be with you

Answer 10

There is no offence in asking but if you know if someone is in 'good books' with another person of authority ,wouldn't you ask that person to intercede for you? Did you know that the late John Paul 2 has worked a miracle for a nun suffering from Parkinson's?