Does the Catholic Church permit "consulting" the dead?

[SheepofChrist]

Please read this verse:

“9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. 13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God.”–Deuteronomy 18:9-13 NIV

If I pray to a deceased loved one, asking her to pray for me, is that consulting the dead? If I commited a sin, I didn’t mean to. My intensions were pure when I supposedly “consulted my decesead loved one”.

I’m sorry if I haven’t provided you with enought info. I was acutally about to post this in the “Ask an apolegetic” section, but I just lost everything I typed (that took me half and hour to type). It happened when I clicked on the “spell-check” sign, and then I clicked “allow” on the box that came up (in internet explorer) and then the page refreshed and all my info disapperead. I clicked “back” but that didn’t happen, since this is not Yahoo! Answers…



I thank you so much for answering–in advance.

 

[Non_sum_dignus]

Different things. You are praying alongside another member of the Church, not seeking hidden knowledge or power. Intercessory prayers are not only permissible, but encouraged. Any prayer to Mary falls under the same category.

 

[YoungTradCath]

Praying to a dead person is perfectly fine. They have intercessory power only, of course, if they are in heaven, but we have no way of knowing that short of a canonization.

What is not good, indeed forbidden under pain of grave sin, is anything occultish.

 

[Angelsflight]

I pray to my patron saint (see signature below) constantly… he has interceded for me once so far…

Nothing wrong with praying to dead people. The sin is in things like ouji boards, holding seances…trying to invoke the dead…that kind of thing

 

[Cat_Herder]

It’s a trick question. Your subject line asks about whether or not we are allowed to consult the dead. Of course the answer is no. But then the body of your post is about prayer to the saints. Apparently you lump the saints in with the dead simply because both happen to be unconscious.

[BIBLEDRB]Mark 12:24-27[/BIBLEDRB]

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob aren’t dead and neither are your “deceased” relatives.

More here.

 

[Iron_Donkey]

You might find philvaz.com/apologetics/a118.htm useful.

 

[thistle]

Please read this verse:

“9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. 13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God.”–Deuteronomy 18:9-13 NIV

If I pray to a deceased loved one, asking her to pray for me, is that consulting the dead? If I commited a sin, I didn’t mean to. My intensions were pure when I supposedly “consulted my decesead loved one”.

I’m sorry if I haven’t provided you with enought info. I was acutally about to post this in the “Ask an apolegetic” section, but I just lost everything I typed (that took me half and hour to type). It happened when I clicked on the “spell-check” sign, and then I clicked “allow” on the box that came up (in internet explorer) and then the page refreshed and all my info disapperead. I clicked “back” but that didn’t happen, since this is not Yahoo! Answers…



I thank you so much for answering–in advance.

Praying to someone in Heaven is not consulting with the dead.
Of course praying to a deceased loved one may or may not be meaningless because although all of us like to think our deceased loved ones have been saved we cannot know if they have been saved or not.
Easier to pray directly to God or to the known saints for their intercession with God.

 

[mytruepower2]

Please read this verse:

“9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. 13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God.”–Deuteronomy 18:9-13 NIV

If I pray to a deceased loved one, asking her to pray for me, is that consulting the dead? If I commited a sin, I didn’t mean to. My intensions were pure when I supposedly “consulted my decesead loved one”.

I’m sorry if I haven’t provided you with enought info. I was acutally about to post this in the “Ask an apolegetic” section, but I just lost everything I typed (that took me half and hour to type). It happened when I clicked on the “spell-check” sign, and then I clicked “allow” on the box that came up (in internet explorer) and then the page refreshed and all my info disapperead. I clicked “back” but that didn’t happen, since this is not Yahoo! Answers…



I thank you so much for answering–in advance.

The bible forbids -communication- with the dead, in the sense of trying to use the dead to divine knowledge which is impossible for man to possess. This is a sign of an unhealthy obsession with control over one’s Earthly life, and an overall lack of trust in God’s providence.

Being in -communion- with the saints, however, is very different. We’re not asking for greater knowledge or control, or even a reply, so no sin is committed. In fact, it can be highly beneficial in the long run.

 

[yellowbird]

I don’t ask deceased loved ones because I don’t know if they are in heaven. I do occasionally ask a Saint to pray for me.

Mostly I go straight to Jesus though.