Do you ask angels and saints to pray for you?

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If you are a Christian have you ever asked your fellow believers to pray for a very ill friend or family member, aloud, as you meet together , or is this a problem for you?

As a Christian do you believe in heaven and hell? do you believe we no longer exist after death? , or do you believe that our souls live on because of the Power of Christ and that death no longer has power over us?

So, if we believe life continues after death, and we believe it is alright for people to pray together as a group in Church or wherever. Why would it not be right to ask the living AND the dead to pray for our intentions, our needs?:shrug:Pax, Carlan
 
Carlan said:
If you are a Christian have you ever asked your fellow believers to pray for a very ill friend or family member, aloud, as you meet together , or is this a problem for you?

As a Christian do you believe in heaven and hell? do you believe we no longer exist after death? , or do you believe that our souls live on because of the Power of Christ and that death no longer has power over us?

So, if we believe life continues after death, and we believe it is alright for people to pray together as a group in Church or wherever. Why would it not be right to ask the living AND the dead to pray for our intentions, our needs?:shrug:Pax, Carlan
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Great Question!

Having someone pray for you or someone you know is possibly one of the greatest gifts in life, many times i have asked a senior member in my church to pray for me, and the experience is really awesome! 🙂 and i can’t see whats wrong with asking someone who is closer to god to pray for you. Including the Saints!

Life definitely continues after death, our souls are immortal, our bodies only suffer death from the result of sin!

im guessing you were looking for maybe a protestant response? haha
 
I, too, am not sure who you are addressing your questions to, so…

I often ask people to pray for me and for those I know are especially in need of prayers.

Heaven and Hell - both very real. We will live eternally one place or the other. Heaven will probably be via Purgatory.

I absolutely believe in the Communion of Saints. I have favorites, though, that I ask to pray for me!! But, I am open to all the help I can get from the saints!!! And my Guardian Angel!

God bless,
Linda
 
Since we are the Body of Christ, I ask both those here and those who have gone before us marked with the Sign of Faith (as well and the angels who God has put around us) to join me in prayer to God. Those who are now more perfectly joined to God are more available to join me in prayer often.:knight1:
 
Carlan said:
If you are a Christian have you ever asked your fellow believers to pray for a very ill friend or family member, aloud, as you meet together , or is this a problem for you?

As a Christian do you believe in heaven and hell? do you believe we no longer exist after death? , or do you believe that our souls live on because of the Power of Christ and that death no longer has power over us?

So, if we believe life continues after death, and we believe it is alright for people to pray together as a group in Church or wherever. Why would it not be right to ask the living AND the dead to pray for our intentions, our needs?:shrug:Pax, Carlan
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I ask God to accept the prayers of the Church Triumphant for the Church Militant. Also that God would send His angels to protect and defend me and all other Christians.
 
/Thank you all for your response.
I was hoping to get responses from our separated friends, I have a dear fundamentalist neighbor whom I can’t seem to convince.🙂 Carlan
 
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am in the process of conversion to the Catholic church and am having to defend my faith with family members, I can not find the references for the Communion of Saints so that I can explain asking Saints for their intercession on our behalf. Please help.
 
Everett_Noble said:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am in the process of conversion to the Catholic church and am having to defend my faith with family members, I can not find the references for the Communion of Saints so that I can explain asking Saints for their intercession on our behalf. Please help.
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Try this link from the Ask an Apologist portion of CAF.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=291188

May God Bless you on your journey.
 
Here is an article discussing this issue taken from a (non-Catholic) Christian site and it sums up my thoughts on the matter.
gotquestions.org/prayer-saints-Mary.html

I don’t come to this page much anymore, so I apologize in advance if I don’t get around to reading/replying…but am posting in the event anyone wants to better understand the different perspective.

Catholics argue that praying to Mary and the saints is no different than asking someone here on earth to pray for you. Let us examine that claim. (1) The Apostle Paul asks other Christians to pray for him in Ephesians 6:19. Many Scriptures describe believers praying for one another (2 Corinthians 1:11; Ephesians 1:16; Philippians 1:19; 2 Timothy 1:3). The Bible nowhere mentions anyone asking for someone in Heaven to pray for them. The Bible nowhere describes anyone in Heaven praying for anyone on earth. (2) The Bible gives absolutely no indication that Mary or the saints can hear our prayers. Mary and the saints are not omniscient. Even glorified in Heaven, they are still finite beings with limitations. How could they possibly hear the prayers of millions of people? Whenever the Bible mentions praying to or speaking with the dead, it is in the context of sorcery, witchcraft, necromancy, and divination - activities the Bible strongly condemns (Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10-13). The one instance when a “saint” is spoken to, Samuel in 1 Samuel 28:7-19, Samuel was not exactly happy to be disturbed. It is plainly clear that praying to Mary or the saints is completely different from asking someone here on earth to pray for you. One has a strong Biblical basis, the other has no Biblical basis whatsoever.

God does not answer prayers based on who is praying. God answers prayers based on whether they are asked according to His will (1 John 5:14-15). There is absolutely no basis or need to pray to anyone other than God alone. There is no basis for asking those who are in Heaven to pray for us. Only God can hear our prayers. Only God can answer our prayers. No one in Heaven has any greater access to God’s throne that we do through prayer (Hebrews 4:16).
 
imjustme said:
Here is an article discussing this issue taken from a (non-Catholic) Christian site and it sums up my thoughts on the matter.
gotquestions.org/prayer-saints-Mary.html

I don’t come to this page much anymore, so I apologize in advance if I don’t get around to reading/replying…but am posting in the event anyone wants to better understand the different perspective.

Catholics argue that praying to Mary and the saints is no different than asking someone here on earth to pray for you. Let us examine that claim. (1) The Apostle Paul asks other Christians to pray for him in Ephesians 6:19. Many Scriptures describe believers praying for one another (2 Corinthians 1:11; Ephesians 1:16; Philippians 1:19; 2 Timothy 1:3). The Bible nowhere mentions anyone asking for someone in Heaven to pray for them. The Bible nowhere describes anyone in Heaven praying for anyone on earth. (2) The Bible gives absolutely no indication that Mary or the saints can hear our prayers. Mary and the saints are not omniscient. Even glorified in Heaven, they are still finite beings with limitations. How could they possibly hear the prayers of millions of people? Whenever the Bible mentions praying to or speaking with the dead, it is in the context of sorcery, witchcraft, necromancy, and divination - activities the Bible strongly condemns (Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10-13). The one instance when a “saint” is spoken to, Samuel in 1 Samuel 28:7-19, Samuel was not exactly happy to be disturbed. It is plainly clear that praying to Mary or the saints is completely different from asking someone here on earth to pray for you. One has a strong Biblical basis, the other has no Biblical basis whatsoever.

God does not answer prayers based on who is praying. God answers prayers based on whether they are asked according to His will (1 John 5:14-15). There is absolutely no basis or need to pray to anyone other than God alone. There is no basis for asking those who are in Heaven to pray for us. Only God can hear our prayers. Only God can answer our prayers. No one in Heaven has any greater access to God’s throne that we do through prayer (Hebrews 4:16).
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Years before I read anything about Catholicism, I sort of got the impression that the saints mentioned in Revelation 11 were aware of the events occurring on earth.

16And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God
17saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.
18The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great— and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”

niv.scripturetext.com/revelation/11.htm

Regarding millions of people, heaven exists outside of time. And since they’ve got all eternity on their hands, and are not constrained by the petty mortal notions of boredom and the like… 😉

There could also be a really low-tech thing. Maybe the saints have something akin to prayer request boxes, which prayers go into, and they say: “Lord, hear these prayers and if it is your will, answer them.” (I’m half kidding here :p)
 
I do have some trouble asking angels and saints to pray for me, I accept this doctrine but it’s hard for me to pray without praying vainly something I find useless. I have prayed the Rosary and my own private prayers to Mary, but I’m still having doubts.
 
mariahloves said:
I do have some trouble asking angels and saints to pray for me, I accept this doctrine but it’s hard for me to pray without praying vainly something I find useless. I have prayed the Rosary and my own private prayers to Mary, but I’m still having doubts.
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I’d gotten laid off a few months back, been searching for any job at all to no avail. (partially what led me to look into religion again… heh)

Ya know, that guy on EWTN… the elderly Deacon fellow who’s name escapes me started talking about St. Joseph, basically saying: “If you’re unemployed, pray to St. Joseph. He’ll get you a job.”

St. Joseph has a fast response time, it seems. Not less than a week later I had an interview and a job. Cleared up any doubts I might have had. :yup:
 
here is my experience. one day i decided to stop taking a medication i had been on for years because i got tired of taking it. there was no indication on the medical info that it would effect your heart if you stopped taking it. none. the doctor said i could go off it. well, i did. and 3 days later, my heart went tachycardia. i prayed to saint philomena and asked her to intercede on my behalf to pray for me regarding the tachycardia. well, i got an answer immediately after that prayer. my tachycardia went away immediately. no it was not psychosomatic. it happened and they could not figure out why the med gave me a tachycardia considering it has never happened to me before. well, it did when i went off it. i prayed believe me. it was a scary situation. very. then i asked her in the same prayer if she wanted to be my Patron Saint. i had even added her name to a bunch of Saints i was interested in and put them all in a hat and tossed it and pulled out 3 names. i still couldn’t decide who was going to be my Patron Saint. well, i went to bed that night and had an interesting dream to say the least.i was in a church in italy and as i was sitting down all of a sudden a young girl appeared to me. she was wearing clothes that looked Greek in style. and had short brown hair. i looked at her and asked her if she wanted to be my Patron Saint. she said, of course! i knew then immediately that that was Saint Philomena. i woke up and related the dream to my husband 🙂 i picked her as my Patron Saint. 😃 one day, about a year or so later, we were dismantling our old couch. well, what do you think dropped out of the side of the couch? a little piece of paper with Saint Philomena’s name on it:D i was blown away to say the least!
 
imjustme said:
Here is an article discussing this issue taken from a (non-Catholic) Christian site and it sums up my thoughts on the matter.
gotquestions.org/prayer-saints-Mary.html

I don’t come to this page much anymore, so I apologize in advance if I don’t get around to reading/replying…but am posting in the event anyone wants to better understand the different perspective.

Catholics argue that praying to Mary and the saints is no different than asking someone here on earth to pray for you. Let us examine that claim. (1) The Apostle Paul asks other Christians to pray for him in Ephesians 6:19. Many Scriptures describe believers praying for one another (2 Corinthians 1:11; Ephesians 1:16; Philippians 1:19; 2 Timothy 1:3). The Bible nowhere mentions anyone asking for someone in Heaven to pray for them. The Bible nowhere describes anyone in Heaven praying for anyone on earth. (2) The Bible gives absolutely no indication that Mary or the saints can hear our prayers. Mary and the saints are not omniscient. Even glorified in Heaven, they are still finite beings with limitations. How could they possibly hear the prayers of millions of people? Whenever the Bible mentions praying to or speaking with the dead, it is in the context of sorcery, witchcraft, necromancy, and divination - activities the Bible strongly condemns (Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10-13). The one instance when a “saint” is spoken to, Samuel in 1 Samuel 28:7-19, Samuel was not exactly happy to be disturbed. It is plainly clear that praying to Mary or the saints is completely different from asking someone here on earth to pray for you. One has a strong Biblical basis, the other has no Biblical basis whatsoever.

God does not answer prayers based on who is praying. God answers prayers based on whether they are asked according to His will (1 John 5:14-15). There is absolutely no basis or need to pray to anyone other than God alone. There is no basis for asking those who are in Heaven to pray for us. Only God can hear our prayers. Only God can answer our prayers. No one in Heaven has any greater access to God’s throne that we do through prayer (Hebrews 4:16).
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All due respect ,imjustme, It takes faith, not sight, but thank you for your opinion anyway. Doubts??? Pray about it!:(:)LPax, Carlan
 
I always pray directly to our Lord Jesus Christ. I might ask Mary to pray for me once or twice a year, occasionally after confession. Nine times out of ten it’s straight to Jesus Himself.
 
I always pray to our Lord, because that’s how I was taught to pray and it’s what I’m used to. But there are angels doing His will in our midst, and the Saints are certainly offering up their prayers as well. The Saints are not dead; they are more perfectly alive. There is nothing wrong in asking for their prayers, as they are closer to the Throne than we. For Anglicans, it is a matter of personal piety. It seems pretty weird to say that we can ask for brothers and sisters to intercede for us when they are here, sinful, and imperfect; but that the perfected Church Triumphant - spotlessly worshiping in the presence of Christ - cannot pray for those who have not yet ascended with them.
 
I have always asked for the saints and the Blessed Virgin to pray for me and have gotten great results. Even when I was away from the church i still talked to a particular saint on and off even though I wasn’t even sure God existed or not. As far as my guardian angel, the same thing. I’ve always kind of felt his presence even when i was very far from God.

I believe firmly that the Blessed Virgin , my favorite saints and my guardian angel brought me back to the church. He’s probably exhausted poor thing and finally getting some returns for all the effort he put in 👍

I think it was easier for me to talk to the saints when i was having doubts about Jesus and God the Father because i saw them as real people who lived at one point and didn’t require as much faith. So yeah the saints are very powerful and important for me.
 
:hmmm:
imjustme said:
What on earth does that mean??
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Well IJT,what I meant by that was, I don’t have to wait to get to heaven to know those dear saintly soul in heaven are interceding day and night for us poor souls down here on earth.

My faith tells me they, with the angels, are joined with us here on earth in prayer.
We, the Church militant, are in communion with the Church in heaven.

I believe that and I thank God for them.:thumbsup:Peace, Carlan
 
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