Catholics???

Question

can you pray directly to god or do you have to ask saints?

dont say i am intolerant. I am becoming Catholic myself!

Answer 1

We can and do pray directly to God.

In the Catholic Church, we believe in what is called the "communion of saints", which basically means we are one big family. Just like you wouldn't go to a family gathering and only talk to your father, ignoring your brothers and sisters, we don't ignore our brothers and sisters in Christ. We commune with God AND the saints.

EDIT:

>>I am becoming Catholic myself!<<

Congratulations! I'm also a convert to Catholicism.

Answer 2

Catholics usually pray directly to God, either to:
+ God the Father
+ Jesus, God the Son
+ God the Holy Spirit

Only occasionally do we ask others to pray for us, like the saints or family or friends.

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

The saints are our friends in Heaven. Actually anyone in Heaven is a saint. If you feel your grandmother is in Heaven, you can consider her as part of the communion of Saints even though she has not been officially declared as a saint.

The original definition of the word pray meant to ask or petition. It only later took on the definition of worship.

Yes, I pray directly to God. but I also have friends in Heaven I call on.

Answer 4

We worship and pray only to God. We ask the Saints to pray for us, just like you would ask a friend or a family member to pray for you.

Answer 5

Yes, we pray directly to God and we do ask the saints to intercede for us.

Answer 6

You can pray directly to God. And you know what ? you can ignore saints altogether.

Answer 7

Of course you can pray directly to God. Part of your relationship to God involves talking to him and listening for his voice. He is the first and most important relationship, and occupies the center of our heart.

Talking to other people besides God shouldn't take God out of that central place. It is simply expanding our hearts to include our brothers and sisters, all God's other children. We talk to our friends who are alive in this mortal world with us, we tell them our troubles, we listen to them, we pray for them and they pray for us. Including our other brothers and sisters, those who are no longer with us in the flesh, is part of remembering that the whole family of God is large and includes many who preceded us in time.

A parent wants his children to speak to him. A parent also wants to see his children speaking to each other.

Answer 8

"Asking" saints to pray for you= praying to saints. I don't know why people can't get that through their heads.

Answer 9

(No Anna - eight thumbs down!)

Intercessory prayer does not constitute divination. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

2138 Superstition is a departure from the worship that we give to the true God. It is manifested in idolatry, as well as in various forms of divination and magic.

2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another's credulity.

Now that that's over with, INTERCESSORY PRAYER.

Contrary to what some claim, God desires and responds to Intercessory Prayer

1 Tim 2:1-2 - because Jesus Christ is the one mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5), many Protestants deny the Catholic belief that the saints on earth and in heaven can mediate on our behalf. But before Paul's teaching about Jesus as the "one mediator," Paul urges supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people. Paul is thus appealing for mediation from others besides Christ, the one mediator. Why?

1 Tim 2:3 - because this subordinate mediation is good and acceptable to God our Savior. Because God is our Father and we are His children, God invites us to participate in Christ's role as mediator.

1 Tim. 2:5 - therefore, although Jesus Christ is the sole mediator between God and man, there are many intercessors (subordinate mediators).

1 Cor. 3:9 - God invites us to participate in Christ's work because we are God's "fellow workers" and one family in the body of Christ. God wants His children to participate. The phrase used to describe "fellow workers" is "sunergoi," which literally means synergists, or cooperators with God in salvific matters. Does God need fellow workers? Of course not, but this shows how much He, as Father, loves His children. God wants us to work with Him.

Mark 16:20 - this is another example of how the Lord "worked with them" ("sunergountos"). God cooperates with us. Out of His eternal love, He invites our participation.

Rom. 8:28 - God "works for good with" (the Greek is "sunergei eis agathon") those who love Him. We work as subordinate mediators.

2 Cor. 6:1 - "working together" (the Greek is "sunergountes") with him, don't accept His grace in vain. God allows us to participate in His work, not because He needs our help, but because He loves us and wants to exalt us in His Son. It is like the father who lets his child join him in carrying the groceries in the house. The father does not need help, but he invites the child to assist to raise up the child in dignity and love.

Heb. 12:1 - the “cloud of witnesses” (nephos marturon) that we are surrounded by is a great amphitheatre of witnesses to the earthly race, and they actively participate and cheer us (the runners) on, in our race to salvation.

1 Peter 2:5 - we are a holy priesthood, instructed to offer spiritual sacrifices to God. We are therefore subordinate priests to the Head Priest, but we are still priests who participate in Christ's work of redemption.

Rev. 1:6, 5:10 - Jesus made us a kingdom of priests for God. Priests intercede through Christ on behalf of God's people.

James 5:16; Proverbs 15:8, 29 - the prayers of the righteous (the saints) have powerful effects. This is why we ask for their prayers. How much more powerful are the saints’ prayers in heaven, in whom righteousness has been perfected.

1 Tim 2:5-6 - therefore, it is because Jesus Christ is the one mediator before God that we can be subordinate mediators. Jesus is the reason. The Catholic position thus gives Jesus the most glory. He does it all but loves us so much He desires our participation.

Answer 10

food for thought... contacting saints, deceased individuals...for ANY reason... is called divination and is strictly forbidden in the bible. Jesus is our only intercessor.

WOW!!!! seven thumbs down? All I did was reference the Bible...

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;