C
coleraine
Guest
could you ask gahndi to help you? hes in heaven after all.
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T
Tim_Kirchoff
Guest
Can’t you find someone else to ask the intercession of?
(You could go with St. Thomas More, St. Stephen, the list goes on and on)
Why do you ask?
N
notself
Guest
What kind of help would you ask of a non-violent, civil disobedient, Hindu, political reformer like Gandhi?
Z
Zooey
Guest
But, Gandhi wasn’t even nominally Christian…
Praying ***for ***Gandhi, seems to me, to be a better idea…
Praying ***for ***Gandhi, seems to me, to be a better idea…
C
chris_molter
Guest
how do you know he’s in heaven? Has he been beatified?
B
bpbasilphx
Guest
<<could you ask gahndi to help you? hes in heaven after all.>>
Where did you get that idea? He made several conscious and public rejections of Christianity.
Where did you get that idea? He made several conscious and public rejections of Christianity.
T
Tantum_ergo
Guest
He MAY be in heaven. But you know, there are several prominent Christian saints who espouse views which Gandhi held (remember, he did not INITIATE non violence, peaceful protest, etc.) The hermits and ascetics of early Christianity, St. Francis of Assisi, and especially Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta we are sure are in heaven. . .so why not ask them to pray, not only for you, but for Mahatma Gandhi? If he IS in heaven, the prayers will not be wasted, for they will have been one of the reasons he is in heaven. If he is in purgatory, they will certainly aid him. And let’s not think about the other place–but even if he is there, prayers will be applied perfectly by God as he sees fit and one day you will be humbled and thankful to see what those prayers brought about.
J
Jaypeeto4
Guest
As the state of Mahatma Ghandi’s soul at the time of his death
(whether he then accepted or consciously rejected Jesus) is not and cannot be known to us,
therefore the condition of his soul NOW (heaven, hell, purgatory) cannot possibly be reasonably known to us,
it would not be proper to ask his intercession.
However, it would seem perfectly acceptable to
pray FOR the soul of Mahatma Ghandi.
Jaypeeto4
+JMJ+
(whether he then accepted or consciously rejected Jesus) is not and cannot be known to us,
therefore the condition of his soul NOW (heaven, hell, purgatory) cannot possibly be reasonably known to us,
it would not be proper to ask his intercession.
However, it would seem perfectly acceptable to
pray FOR the soul of Mahatma Ghandi.
Jaypeeto4
+JMJ+
N
notself
Guest
It is my understanding the RCC declares that someone is a Saint after so many miracles. This would indicate to me that people were praying to the candidate before they were named a Saint by the Church. I am not speaking of Gandhi, but of some other well respected spiritual person.
Am I correct?
S
Semper_Fi_1
Guest
Partially. A canonized saint goes through the canonization process which a) demands the person must be Catholic b) that said person led a good and venerable life and c) verifiable miracles have been attributed to their intercession.
HOWEVER, there are uncanonized saints. The Canonization process doesn’t exclude the thousands of saints the church had before the canonization process developed. Usually it starts at the local diocesan level with his/her parishoners asking for intercession. The priest then reports this person to his bishop, which goes to the archbishop and up through the hierarchy, and possibly to the Roman Curia where it is investigated further. The person is then made Venerable, and so on…
N
notself
Guest
Thank you.
P
Peregrino
Guest
You mean St. Gandhi don’t you?
Why not? Saints are recognized as such because of their intercession. They were prayed to prior to people their canonization by the church. The church has this hang up about being named a catholic. I feel pretty confident that God is comfortable with “off-label” saints too.
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