Giving Offerings To Saints?

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All true. Do you believe asking saints to intercede for us is sinful? I used to believe that until I heard a lot of catholic arguments in favor of it. I’m still uncomfortable with venerating the saints too much in my prayers, so I say “pray for me” and I usually always see my prayers answered immediately. Like in 1 or 2 seconds of asking. For that reason, I don’t think it’s wrong to ask for intercession of canonized saints, but I don’t like praying directly to the saint to do something for me or give me something. I think that’s more God’s place.

Also about divination, would you think it’s right to talk to God through Tarot cards and things like that? I used to do that and got weird/scary answers from them until it was made known to me by a fellow Christian that I wasn’t talking to God, but demons. For that reason, I don’t think any form of divination is okay whether I’m using it to talk to God or not. It opened the door to a lot of demons for me and I was tormented for a long time. I think the urim and thummim were okay for the priest because God commanded it, but I don’t know about the tradition of casting lots which comes up pretty often the Bible.
 
@edward_george1 Father, could you weigh in on having masses said for Saints/
 
@TheLittleLady

I’ve requested a Mass in honor of the Blessed Mother on her birthday before. It wasn’t intended to help her to Heaven, because, obviously, she is already there. I just intended it as a gift to tell her that I love her, much like I buy a gift for my own mom’s birthday.
 
That is a great question regarding urim and thummim , in fact i was utterly shocked when i read the tanakh , that the same OT that protestants read actually has esoteric elements in it.
 
Well I don’t like getting too cozy with esoteric things. I’d rather just accept that God commanded the urim and thummim to be used by the priest, but didn’t mandate any other form of divination.
 
Actually what i was trying to convey was that catholics are often accused of superstition by modern day evangelicals but nothing was said of UnT .
 
Okay, I get what you mean. There are certain rituals in the Old Testament that look like straight up witchcraft (red heifer sacrifice and ritual for determining if a woman is an adultress come to mind), but those things usually aren’t acknowledged. Formerly being a Messianic Jew, I don’t have too many problems with the “superstitious” things I’ve seen Catholics do because the majority of it reminds me of things from Judaism. I actually wouldn’t be converting to Catholicism if it weren’t for being Torah Observant. Certain commandments made it very obvious to me that Messianic Jews can’t claim to be Torah Observant while denying the authority of Peter as head of the Church. That might be a little more complicated to explain, but sadly the majority of Messianic Jews hate the Catholic Church with their whole heart and profess it proudly. They also tend to hate Rabbinic Judaism and any kind of authority which is why there isn’t much unity within the denomination —arguments over calendars, the divine name of God, what is kosher, feast days, whether we should follow rabbinic decrees or solely what’s in Scripture, etc. Those things are easily resolved if we acknowledge those who sat in the seat of Moses (the Sanhedrin Council) and those who now sit in the seat of Peter (the Pope). I won’t go into too much of a rant on this. I just have a burden for my messianic brothers and pray for them. Maybe when I learn enough about Catholicism and become confirmed God will use me to witness to them. I know they’re growing weary of the constant division and lack of real authority. I’ve seen this with a lot of Protestants lately, and think maybe God will unite the church soon. I’m optimistic and have been praying about it for years, as well as myself that He will unite us and lead us into all truth.
 
yahwehsdaughter said:
Hello all, I’m new to Catholicism, so please have mercy on my ignorance: Is it acceptable to give offerings to saints? I saw some videos on YouTube where people were giving offerings to saints in asking for their intercession. One guy said St. Jude likes it when you donate to St. Jude’s hospital, and another guy said St. Expedite likes pound cake, pennies, and roses. Is this true? I don’t think the channels of people I’ve seen doing this are Catholic. They seem to be more into Hoodoo or something like that. Is it acceptable to give offerings to the saints or this forbidden?
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I’m sorry, a lot of this sounds like superstitious quasi-worship of saints as though they are minor gods who need to be bribed and placated. I’ve heard of pouring out a drink on the ground for one’s deceased friends or placing teddy bears, that’s fine, that’s respect, not worship. I can accept the idea of giving to St Jude’s Hospital in his honor or as thanksgiving for favors received. But giving a saint pound cake, pennies, and roses — I don’t have a nice way to put this, but that sounds ignorant and superstitious. If you want to honor that saint, take that money you would spend on pound cake and roses, throw in the pennies, and give that money to the poor. I don’t normally use one’s friendly neighborhood fundamentalist KJV-only Baptist preacher as a guide to faith and morals, but if you were to tell him about this practice, how do you think it would reflect on Catholics and Catholicism?

(Full disclosure: I have one such church, Baptist KJV, near my home, I have met the pastor in secular circumstances, and I admire him and his church very much — traditional Christian morality, no compromise, no “changing with the times”. If someone is going to be a material heretic, at least let them be one with integrity, someone whose faith and morals are solid and do not change to suit the times or the situation, or to make certain identity groups happy.)
 
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Joaninha said:
Whenever it is a day of a Saint we offer the Mass for them, I am sure about that. But, it is not our prayers , is the Body of Christ. We offer Thee in the Holy Eucharist for the Saints. They were lovers of the Eucharist and they are delight when we offer It for them…
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This doesn’t make sense. We do not “offer Mass” for someone who is already in Heaven. They don’t need the benefits of a Mass when they are enjoying the Beatific Vision.
A Saint, by definition, is in Heaven.

We honor the saint at the Mass by saying special Mass prayers, such as the Collect, asking God to grant us certain graces through the intercession of the saint and to give us certain qualities that the saint had. For example, if the saint was known for their charity and love of the poor, the prayer might ask God to please help us to also show charity and love for the poor just like Saint X.

This is NOT the same as “Offering the Mass for the Saint”. The saint has no need of a Mass and it would be silly to “offer a Mass” for him or her.

The Mass is “offered” for whoever the Mass intention is on that day, such as the repose of the soul of a parishioner’s grandmother, or for the people of the parish. The priest or lector usually announces the Mass intention either at the beginning of the Mass or during General Intercessions, “This Mass is being offered for Joseph Jones.” A person might also privately offer their own Mass or their own Holy Communion for an intention involving people living on Earth or souls in Purgatory, such as me choosing to offer a Mass for the Pope, or for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.
 
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HomeschoolDad said:
how do you think it would reflect on Catholics and Catholicism?
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Probably not very well. It looks like idol worship or witchcraft which is why I asked. I don’t want to be judgmental against things I don’t understand. Since I wasn’t raised Catholic and don’t know any Catholics near me. This is all new territory for me. I didn’t believe in things like icons and the virginity of Mary for a long time, but after study I became convinced of it. It’s humbled me a lot to not talk badly about things I don’t understand, so I figured I should ask Catholics who know about these things if saints really do want pound cake and special gifts for their intercession; maybe someone would have arguments backing these things. But thanks for your reply. We definitely don’t want to be stumbling blocks to other believers.
 
yahwehsdaughter said:
One guy said St. Jude likes it when you donate to St. Jude’s hospital, and another guy said St. Expedite likes pound cake, pennies, and roses. Is this true?
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A donation to a charity is not an “offering to a saint”. It’s a charitable act on your part. You might do it in thanksgiving or in honor of a saint, for example if I have a devotion to Padre Pio I may wish to make a donation to Padre Pio’s shrine or Padre Pio’s hospital fund. I do this because I believe Padre Pio has helped or is helping me and I wish to give glory to God and thanks to Padre Pio for his intercession. I don’t do it with the intention of getting Padre Pio’s attention so he will answer my prayer. Intention is everything.

The offering a saint poundcake, pennies and roses business is hoodoo nonsense and as Father Edward George already said you should avoid it like the plague.

I would also suggest that if you are “New to Catholicism” you limit your Youtube watching to credible Catholic sources such as Bishop Barron, Scott Hahn, Fr. Groeschel etc. Otherwise you are likely to get a lot of misinformed ideas as anyone can slap any ol’ video up on Youtube and claim it’s Catholic or about the Catholic Church.
 
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yahwehsdaughter said:
How do you feel about leaving objects at grave sites for the dead? Like giving flowers and things like that?
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This is a memorial practice. It’s not an offering to the dead, it is people showing that the person was loved and has not been forgotten. No one expects the deceased individual to rise out of the grave and drink the liquor being poured out, or to come back to life and grab that teddy bear. In bad neighborhoods, these street corner memorials might be the only way folks have to grieve because the deceased person might not have any sort of public funeral or grave (they get cremated and kept in an urn or box at their relative’s house, or scattered somewhere) and people need to express their sadness and mourning in some way. Also, the community may want to come together to mourn in a way that is open even to people who did not know the deceased, because they feel bad when one of their own gets killed even if it wasn’t their personal friend or cousin or whatever, and they want to show support for the community and the bereaved family and friends.

Again, it’s important to understand the intention of why something is being done.
 
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I wonder if our celebrating feast days ever comes across as offerings when not intended as such. I might buy a certain kind of flowers or bake a certain cake if it has become part of our family’s traditions or has some association with a saint on their feast day.
 
DisorientingSneeze said:
I wonder if our celebrating feast days ever comes across as offerings when not intended as such. I might buy a certain kind of flowers or bake a certain cake if it has become part of our family’s traditions or has some association with a saint on their feast day.
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That sounds like the Serbian slava practice, and that is fine. It’s a beautiful tradition and is in no sense idolatrous or superstitious.
 
Wasnt the slava a christianized pagan practise(practice)?

I once read that if Christ christianised the pagans , he could also christianised their practises . Which i think is so logical . Provided the pagan practise does not unchristian pass the boundary .
 
anon91549587 said:
Wasnt the slava a christianized pagan practise(practice)?

I once read that if Christ christianised the pagans , he could also christianised their practises . Which i think is so logical . Provided the pagan practise does not unchristian pass the boundary .
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It may have been. It has been part of the history of Christianity to take practices that the pagans already had, and to incorporate them into Christian worship and piety.

Some evangelicals and fundamentalists have an issue with this. You might challenge them the next time they put up a Christmas tree — “hey, don’t you know that’s what the pagans used to do?”.
 
DisorientingSneeze said:
I wonder if our celebrating feast days ever comes across as offerings when not intended as such. I might buy a certain kind of flowers or bake a certain cake if it has become part of our family’s traditions or has some association with a saint on their feast day.
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I presume you and your family eat the cake in honor of the Saint’s day, the same as you eat a birthday cake on your child’s birthday. Birthday cake is not an offering to your child, and the cake or meal is not an offering to the saint. It’s party food, celebrating a person’s special day.

We Catholics are not responsible for how our practices “come across” to others. If someone really cares to know the truth, they can ask the question like the OP did, and we will tell them the correct answer (hopefully). Often people are biased and not interested in the truth, they just want to push their own agenda of “my Protestant faith good, your Catholic faith bad”.
 
No more so than baking a cake for your grandmother and giving her flowers means you are worshiping her 🙂
 
And cell groups , and spiritual fathers and wedding rings and the bible and the trinity and to genuflect with a wedding ring to a human being .
 
It’s just a little tongue-in-cheek for St. Expedite because he isn’t even a real Saint.
 
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