Can we talk to and pray to the dead?

[flower_lady]

If a baby is born and only lives a short time after birth but was baptised shortly before death, is it ok to pray to that baby assuming they are a saint. If you are baptised and die and are only an hour old, you would have to go to heaven according to God’s word wouldn’t you? Therefore you are a saint. Correct? And Saints we can pray to.

 

[Della]

If a baby is born and only lives a short time after birth but was baptised shortly before death, is it ok to pray to that baby assuming they are a saint. If you are baptised and die and are only an hour old, you would have to go to heaven according to God’s word wouldn’t you? Therefore you are a saint. Correct? And Saints we can pray to.

Yes, indeed, they are saints in heaven who can intercede for us. We can most certainly can addresses our prayer requests to them. :yup:

 

[crochet_lady]

Infants who die go to be with the Father in Heaven. My father passed away 20 yrs. ago. He was a believer – so he’s with Christ – another name for a believer / when passed away / in a saint. But as far as I’ve ever known – God’s Word says to pray for the Living / in fact, we’re Not to ‘talk’ to the dead. Like in seances / mediums and such. We CAN look forward to being reunited with our born-again friends / relatives in heaven. We Can pray to God through Jesus Christ who is our mediator. We Can talk to God about anything / Everything. He Wants us to.

 

[flower_lady]

Infants who die go to be with the Father in Heaven. My father passed away 20 yrs. ago. He was a believer – so he’s with Christ – another name for a believer / when passed away / in a saint. But as far as I’ve ever known – God’s Word says to pray for the Living / in fact, we’re Not to ‘talk’ to the dead. Like in seances / mediums and such. We CAN look forward to being reunited with our born-again friends / relatives in heaven. We Can pray to God through Jesus Christ who is our mediator. We Can talk to God about anything / Everything. He Wants us to.

I know we can pray to the Saints and they are dead, I guess my question was phrased wrong. I wanted to know if you could pray to the dead such as I described, or if we could only pray to those who have been canonized as saints. I am catholic and pray to the Mother of God and to the Angels and Saints all of the time. I know that is not a sin.

 

[jpotato]

probably. the saints that the church recognizes are especially holy people lucky enough to be recognized for it. but yesterday the bishop said that there are an uncountable number of saints who the church will never recognize officially. praying to the saints that we know of is just a lot more exciting.

 

[svid2]

Pax Christi!

Yes, such babies are saints, and we can ask them for their intercession.

Sometimes in a litany of the saints, lots of different kinds of people are listed: popes, kings, commoners, and so on, but often children are forgotten. Think of Blessed Jacinta and Blessed Francesco of Fatima.

May all the saints and blesseds pray for us!

God bless!

 

[vz71]

I know we can pray to the Saints and they are dead, I guess my question was phrased wrong.

true saints are not dead.

 

[teachccd]

Infants who die go to be with the Father in Heaven. My father passed away 20 yrs. ago. He was a believer – so he’s with Christ – another name for a believer / when passed away / in a saint. But as far as I’ve ever known – God’s Word says to pray for the Living / in fact, we’re Not to ‘talk’ to the dead. Like in seances / mediums and such. We CAN look forward to being reunited with our born-again friends / relatives in heaven. We Can pray to God through Jesus Christ who is our mediator. We Can talk to God about anything / Everything. He Wants us to.

In Catholicism, unlike most Protestants, we know that we can ask those in heaven to pray for us. We ARE NOT to hold séances or use mediums and the like. This IS NOT what we are doing when we are asking the saints to pray for us. The saints are NOT dead. In fact they are more alive than we are since they are at the throne of God. Jesus says that He is the vine and we are the branches. Nowhere does it say that the branches fall off the vine at death. We are ALL the Body of Christ and we remain that way eternally. Yes, we also know Christ to be our one mediator. Scripture is very clear on that. But just as you would ask someone here on earth to pray for you, we ask those in heaven to pray for us. We have an extended prayer group!! James 5:16 says that the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful. Who is more righteous than one who is at the throne of God? So, to the OP, yes we can talk to those who have gone before us even if that person was an infant. He or she is very much alive in Christ.

 

[jmcrae]

If a baby is born and only lives a short time after birth but was baptised shortly before death, is it ok to pray to that baby assuming they are a saint. If you are baptised and die and are only an hour old, you would have to go to heaven according to God’s word wouldn’t you? Therefore you are a saint. Correct? And Saints we can pray to.

Certainly, yes. Your baptized child is in Heaven with Jesus and Mary and Joseph, and he is praying for you and your family. You can ask him to pray to God for anything for you and your family.

 

[thistle]

If a baby is born and only lives a short time after birth but was baptised shortly before death, is it ok to pray to that baby assuming they are a saint. If you are baptised and die and are only an hour old, you would have to go to heaven according to God’s word wouldn’t you? Therefore you are a saint. Correct? And Saints we can pray to.

YES.

 

[Todd977]

“Pray for your parents, Matronata Matrona. She lived one year, fifty-two days” (Christian Inscriptions, by H.P.V. Nunn, M.A. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1920), no. 36 (c. A.D. 250), cited in The Fathers Know Best, by Jimmy Akin (San Diego: Catholic Answers Inc., 2010), page 356.)