Hey Catholics, I don't understand some things?

Question

My friend and I are emailing each other about religion. She's a Christian and I'm a pagan. She keeps saying stuff that I don't know a lot about. For instance: why do you ask saints and Mary to pray for you? According to her, you shouldn't because they are dead and they can't answer prayers.
I don't really know why she's talking to me about Catholics, I already told her that I'm not the best person to discuss that with . . . but anyway, if you can explain those things to me, please do.

-Why do you ask them to pray for you, even though they are dead?
-Aren't you, by communicating with the saints and Mary, communicating with the deceased? And how is that okay?
-How do you know that they can hear your prayers?
-Why do believe in Purgatory, even though it's not mentioned in the Bible?
Thank you in advance for your replies. : )

Answer 1

+ Saints +

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.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p5.htm#946

+ Purgatory +

The concept of purgation is hinted at in the Bible. Here are a couple of places:

"But if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire." 1 Cor 3:15

"So that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Pet 1:7

Are you perfect now? Most people would say no.

Will you be perfect in heaven? Most people believe yes.

Purgatory (or purgation) is the process of God's love changing our imperfect selves on earth into perfect beings in heaven. Depending on the amount of change needed by different people, this can be an easy or slightly harder process. Everyone in purgatory is on his or her way to heaven. I do not think Mother Teresa of Calcutta had a very hard time of it.

+ Sources of Doctrine +

The Catholic Church does not only use Holy Scripture for the basis of doctrine. The early Catholic church existed before and during the time that the New Testament was written (by Catholics).

Catholics also believe that the Holy Spirit was guiding the early church (and is guiding the church today) to make the correct choices about things like
- The Holy Trinity (which is also only hinted at in the Bible)
- Going to church on Sunday instead of Saturday (which is actually directly against one of the ten commandments)
- Which books to include in the New Testament?
- How do our imperfect selves on earth get to be perfect in heaven?

This second source of doctrine is called Apostolic Tradition.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art12.htm#1030

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 2

Praying to the Saints and to Mary is like asking a good friend of yours that is on the board of your CEO, whom they are like 'teacher's pets' to him, to cut you a break. "Hey, you know the Big Guy, could you put in a good word for me?"

Everyone's souls live on. What you are thinking about is "talking with the dead around a crystal ball" this isn't that.

We can't give hard evidence that they hear our prayers. Suppose you are praying to win the lottery but you never do. Well, maybe that just means they answered no. Suppose you were praying that someone will find you in a blizzard. A few hours later a cop shows up and says, "Wow I'm surprised I found you, if it weren't for____________"

We believe in Purgatory because we do! It is a place to purify our souls when we aren't perfect to go straight to heaven but not bad enough to go to hell. People have prayed for those in purgatory and some have appeared (through the grace of God) to talk and to be seen to someone. We have the words of numerous saints (while they were alive and weren't saints yet)

"For if on the foundation of Christ you have built not only gold and silver and precious stones (1 Corinthians 3); but also wood and hay and stubble, what do you expect when the soul shall be separated from the body? Would you enter into heaven with your wood and hay and stubble and thus defile the kingdom of God; or on account of these hindrances would you remain without and receive no reward for your gold and silver and precious stones? Neither is this just. It remains then that you be committed to the fire which will burn the light materials; for our God to those who can comprehend heavenly things is called a cleansing fire. But this fire consumes not the creature, but what the creature has himself built, wood and hay and stubble. It is manifest that the fire destroys the wood of our transgressions and then returns to us the reward of our great works." (P. G., XIII, col. 445, 448).

Also, there is faith.

Answer 3

Apparently your friend isn't too familiar with the Bible. Many Protestants are not. Jesus specifically said that those who follow Him "will never die". Therefore referring to the saints as "dead" is calling Jesus a liar. The saints have undergone biological death but are spiritually very much alive, which of course is what Jesus meant. Which means they are quite capable of doing spiritual things - like praying. Christians have asked other Christians for prayers of intercession since day one. Any Christian can pray on behalf of anyone else, regardless of where the Christian is living at the present time, on earth or in heaven.

Answer 4

1) When you die, you don't cease existing. You're in Heaven (hopefully). You ask the saints to pray for you so that they, in a sense, will put in a good word to God. They themselves are not gods - they are simply people Catholics admire and respect.
2) Communicating with the deceased? What's wrong with that in the first place? Anyway, they don't talk back to you, so it's one-way, just like praying to God, who is not a living human being either.
3) Catholicism is a FAITH, dear.
4) Do you believe in airplanes? Do you believe they exist, that they really do fly? But... they're not IN the Bible, are they? And Catholics don't take the Bible literally, unlike many Christians. Catholics understand that the Bible is a guide, inspired by God but WRITTEN by men, and therefore does have flaws. Many of the sacraments aren't Biblical, but they are tradition dating back to the oldest times. What's the harm?

Answer 5

The saints are alive and in heaven. By the grace of God they can hear our prayers and intercede. Purgatory is alluded to in the bible even if that word is not specifically used. The catholic Church was established by Christ and given a teaching authority based on scripture AND tradition. The bible even says this. Nowhere in the bible does it say that the bible is the ONLY teaching authority in fact it refers to holding to the tradition taught. Just some thoughts for you and your friend to follow up.

Answer 6

Actually, the Church has closed Purgatory. lol.
We can pray to the saints because prayer is nothing more mysterious than communication. And Jesus Himself said that our God is a god of the LIVING, NOT of the dead. So what's wrong with asking older, more experienced saints to pray for us and our needs? Don't you ask your earthly friends to pray for you? This is no different.
As to knowing how they can hear us, I suppose it depends on if those prayers are answered...

Answer 7

God is the God of the living, not of the dead.

We believe that all Christians are united to Christ in His mystical body. Christ is the living and true one, and His Holy Spirit gives His life to those who are one with HIm. Those who are in the body of Christ are connected together so that where one Christian is, the entire body of Christ is too (think in a mystical sense not necessarily a physical sense).

So, just as your Christian friend would ask another Christian in her community to pray for her, we too ask those we know to be holy and to have lived a life following the Lord to pray for us too.

She may think that being dead they can no longer hear us, but she would be denying that after death, Christians are alive in the Lord and that through the union of the body of Christ, brought about by the Holy Spirit the saints can hear us and interceed for us.

Besides, the Church does not just proclaim anyone to be a saint. There is actually a process that examines the holiness of their life and the experience of two miracles post mortem that can only be attributed to the intercession of said saint. This is why the Church believes that they can hear our prayers.

Purgatory, true, is not directly mentioned in the Bible, but it is alluded to. Christ mentions a forgiveness of sins after death when, speaking of the unforgiveable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, he says "those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven in this life or in the life to come." Also there are several references to one not being released "untill you have paid the full price" in regard to a certain punishment for sins. In 1 Maccabbees (a deuterocanonical book not found in protestant bibles) there is a reference to belief in purgatory among 2nd Jews (before Christ).

Many people see purgatory as a negative thing, but really the point of purgatory is the final purification of the soul so as to enter fully into heaven. So purgatory is a positive thing because it means one has been saved. It is only the attachment to sin that needs to be purgated and the final purification of the soul needs to take place so that one may enter into heaven and see God face to face.

Answer 8

Jesus is alive. Catholics receive the body, blood, soul, and Divinity of Jesus. If Jesus is alive then so are Catholics so we are not praying to dead people but we are praying to living people who are in Heaven. These people are part of the Body of Christ of which we here on Earth are members too. We pray that they will intercede for us with Jesus. We do not pray that they save us but, only that they intercede. People here on Earth have no problems saying to each other "oh will you pray for me" so don't buy into that bit that they say "There is no intercessor between God and Man except Jesus" (although this is true) but if that was totally true then why do they pray for each other? We are praying for them to intercede for us the same as people here intercede for each other. They are our family. I do not think they understand because they only receive a symbol during Communion and not really Jesus because their ministers have not been Apostolically ordained to change the bread and wine into his body and blood.

Answer 9

that's often easiest whilst the mothers and fathers are the comparable faith. So truly, what you will desire to do at this element could be -- as a pair -- take the person training classification at his Catholic parish, the place you are able to study all approximately Catholic theology and concurrently take regardless of comparable classification is presented on your church. you will have the potential to verify each and all the similarities and the variations. Now, then, with reference to the infants. Catholics are under a sacred legal accountability to advance their infants Catholic. often, Protestants basically would desire to advance their infants Christian and any sort of Christian will do, so Catholicism works. additionally, on the same time as raising the infants Catholic, you are able to actual additionally show all of them approximately your faith. although, i will verify how that should no longer be real in Northern eire. in case you have moved removed from there, you should no longer have any difficulty, nevertheless. You and your fiance will would desire to make all varieties of judgements approximately parenting and you will on no account make the two facets happy. One set of mothers and fathers ought to tell you to apply fabric diapers and the different set ought to insist which you deliver them to a definite preschool or regardless of. once you are the mummy & dad, you will desire to make the perfect judgements on your guy or woman kinfolk, regardless of if it is going against what your mothers and fathers say. Your thought of putting issues up so as that the infants do no longer advance up with any faith in any respect will basically turn them into atheists. in case you're - as you're saying you're - a honest protestant, you will desire to be appalled on the thought-approximately no longer introducing your infants on your Lord and Savior. i'm getting that issues in Northern eire are complicated whilst it is composed of religion, yet is Jesus your Lord or no longer? If he's, you are able to no longer deny him in order that as that this is much less complicated.

Answer 10

Go to,
www.scripturecatholic.com

By the way she should know that only the body dies and goes into the grave,the soul and spirit go back to God, so as souls in Heaven we can indeed ask for thier prayers on our behalf.