I thought catholics ask saints to pray for them?

  • Thread starter Thread starter rbarcia
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
rev_kevin said:
The difference is you pray to a St., I don’t
Click to expand...
Just to simplify thing - yes, we do pray to the saints, all the previous explanation notwithstanding. The Church does not prohibit us from praying this way.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.
St. Joesph, pray for us.
All the angels and saints in heaven, pray for us.

However, it is just one form of prayers. One can write volume on prayers and Catholics do not have to say this prayer if they do not want to though there is no reason for not wanting to.

The Rite of the Holy Mass, the highest form of Catholic worship, the focus is more on the word of God and Communion with Christ. Mentioning the saints to pray together with us is but a short part of it only, mentioned in this one sentence **“together with all the saints in heaven we …” **in about an hour of praying and worship.
 
Reuben_J said:
Just to simplify thing - yes, we do pray to the saints, all the previous explanation notwithstanding. The Church does not prohibit us from praying this way.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us.
St. Joesph, pray for us.
All the angels and saints in heaven, pray for us.

However, it is just one form of prayers. One can write volume on prayers and Catholics do not have to say this prayer if they do not want to though there is no reason for not wanting to.

The Rite of the Holy Mass, the highest form of Catholic worship, the focus is more on the word of God and Communion with Christ. Mentioning the saints to pray together with us is but a short part of it only, mentioned in this one sentence **“together with all the saints in heaven we …” **in about an hour of praying and worship.
Click to expand...
Thanks I now see that it is not manditory by the Church.
 
rev_kevin said:
Thanks I now see that it is not manditory by the Church.
Click to expand...
Correct. The Church has never demanded this of any of us. But when you see what the prayers of the Saints can do for people you would understand.

IT is amazing knowing that the Saints are in your corner praying for you and asking God to grant them their wish of helping us can do for a person. If more people prayed and knew that they could receive help from the prayers of these Saints there would be less anxiety drugs in the world that is for sure.

Today its one anxiety drug after another. When all they had to do was pray and for some knowing that they had the prayers of Saints already at home with Christ praying with them helps alot.

Because what are Saints after all? Just people like us who overcame what we are trying to overcome.

It is sad how much people miss out on in this world, which is much confort and peace that can be given when praying with our dear Saints in heaven. Knowing they are also here with us in Spirit helping us.

The extremes that people will go to to acquire inner peace, the money they will spend, when all it takes is a pair of rosary’s and a small candle and a quiet room. The effects of that ten minutes a day can amazing.

The difference those ten minutes with our Dear Blessed Mother and Saints that can change our health is so great that many could not imagine.

When you take the time to spend it with them you are rewarded with not only being closer to our Lord but you feel like a big Holy Family that you belong to.

Its more of sitting inside and not looking in, it is sitting inside and feeling the warm, the love, the peace and security that only can come from God, but how he uses his own special Angels and Saints to help us in our hardships in this world, until he can re-unite us all together in the next.
 
rbarcia said:
I agree with this, CNN is not a source of any official doctrine. But it sure reaches a lot of common folks and if this is not a correct articulation of this, wouldn’t Rome do something to correct it?

**First of all, my apologies for taking awhile to respond to you. I’ve been on vacation without Internet access for a few days.

Anyway, to answer your question, the Vatican doesn’t have the time to correct every news article in the world that portrays Catholicism inaccurately. Correcting the sheer number of errors in the US media alone would be a very daunting task, and, when it comes down to it, the Vatican is ultimately more of a religious than a political institution, so it’s focus is going to be less on the public relations front, and more on the serving God and mankind aspect.

Really, I don’t know what you’re trying to achieve in this part. I already said to you that because of the inaccuracies in how Catholicism is portrayed in the media, it can be confusing for people to understand Catholic beliefs, but I firmly believe that it’s the fault of the media for not checking the facts before reporting rather than the Catholic Church for not correcting mistakes that are already in print. Also, if you’re trying to say that the Catholic Church doesn’t correct these mistakes because it somehow wants these mistakes to be regarded as official policy, I doubt that’s the case. After all, many Catholics get a lot of grief for supposedly worshiping saints, so I highly doubt that the Vatican would intentionally spread that falsehood. **

I did not bring up worship.

I’m sorry if I brought up something that you didn’t want me to mention. I interpreted your question as being rather open-ended, and I thought that you, like many people, might have been confused about whether or not Catholics worship saints, and so I wanted to make it clear that we do not. The main intent of my post was to clarify, because I didn’t know how much the article might have confused you.

So is Jesus not able to hear the believers on earth?

**Absolutely not. Jesus is able to hear the prayers of every believer on Earth. Asking saints for intercession does not negate that fact any more than asking friends or family members to pray for you does. Asking saints for intercession is an optional thing Catholics do in addition to praying to God. **

Do the saints in heaven have a power Jesus does not?

Certainly not. Any power the saints have stems from God.

Or does Jesus not care to look down on the believers on earth and you have to be of a certain elite status?

Jesus certainly cares to look down on believers on Earth, and that’s why Catholics have absolutely no problem with praying to Him directly. As for being of an elite status, I would say that any elite status the saints enjoy would come from the fact that they lived holy lives that developed their relationship with God while they were on Earth and the fact that (in the eyes of the Catholic Church) they are known to be in heaven, whereas we are on Earth. However, in the Catholic mindset, there is no belief that you have to be of a certain elite status in order to approach God in prayer. Everyone is free to do so and is encouraged to do so.

I know the Israelites could not approach God without Moses. But I thought Jesus allows us to approach the thrown boldly?

He does, and that’s why Catholics do so. To Catholics, it’s not a case of praying to the saints for intercession or of praying to God. It is a case of praying to God and (if the believer wishes to do so) praying to the saints for intercession.

So, we give credit for successfully “relaying the message”. Or is it more about being able to negotiate with Jesus and sway His thoughts.

** It is about what I said it was about.I do not try to mislead people any more than the saints try to manipulate Jesus, who, of course, is unable to be manipulated even by the devil. **

Just seems like Jesus required faith when He healed many.

**Asking the saints for intercession in addition to praying to Jesus in no way undermines the faith of the person praying to God and to the saints. If it did, I am sure, by the logic of your own argument, the healing this article describes would never have happened. **

Those in heaven “see” Jesus so it is not faith.

Isn’t their being able to “see” Jesus a reward for their faith in Him on Earth:confused:

SO Jesus grants the wishes of those who have faith enough to ask someone who can see Him, but not faith enough to approach Him?

**Jesus grants the wishes of those who have faith enough to ask someone who can see Him as well as the faith to approach Him directly. Catholics pray to God and to the saints or just to God alone. They do not pray to the saints alone, and they certainly do not lack the faith necessary to pray to Him directly, as praying to saints, when it is done, is done in addition to praying to God, rather than instead of praying to Him. **

This just confuses me more.

Well, I apologize for any confusion I caused. As I said earlier, my goal was to clarify, not to confuse, so I guess I failed at my objective:blush: Anyway, hopefully, this post cleared up what I was trying to say a bit better.

Thanks for the reply.
Click to expand...
You’re welcome. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
 
The souls of the Saints in heaven are VERY much alive with God! There are prayer chains on earth and in heaven as well. The Communion of Saints; although Christians may be physically separated from each other, they nonetheless remain united to each other in one Church, and support each other in prayer. The Church is the mystical body of Christ, as the Church Militant here on earth fighting the good fight we are spiritually connected to the Church Triumphant, those in heaven and the Church Suffering, those in purgatory. When I asked my friend, mother, husband to pray, I ask all the angels and saints to pray as well. The power of prayer isn’t confined to earth and the physical, it may manifest in earthly and physical ( new job, a pay raise) ways, however I believe when it manifests in a spiritual way (bringing someone back to church, repentance of sin) it’s sooo much better!

Peace,
T
 
rev_kevin said:
You’re praying too someone to pray to God.
I pray to God directly through Jesus, the only mediator between us and God, for that person. I don’t pray to anyone else. The difference is you pray to a St., I don’t
Click to expand...
Actually, St. Paul says that Christians should interceed: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and pleasing to God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:1–4).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top