CTG…
PRAYING DAILY TO ALL THE SUPERSAINTS …not just to Mary, but, recalling how CHRIST taught us to pray …the Lords Prayer being the HIGHEST AND MOST EFFICACIOUS for us …and to be prayed DAILY to the Father VIA JESUS, who is EVER AND ALWAYS AVAILABLE TO HEAR OUR PRAYERS, as the ONE MEDIATOR between God & Man.
Hi BRB,
Code:
Hbr 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
Christ is the Unique Mediator, because He Is Priest, Prophet and King.
the Apostles are ambassodors sent for with authority (mediators)
Christ’s visible Church is mediator,
Angels are mediators:
Rev 1:1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place; and
he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John
Rev 8:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer; and
he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne;
Rev 8:4 and t
he smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God.
From the book ‘Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church’ (Ecclisial Classics, pub.)
The Church knows and teaches with St Paul that there is only One Mediator,
(1Tim 2:5-6)…
The Maternal role of Mary toward people in no way obscures or diminshes the unique meditation of Christ, but Shows its power, It is mediation in Christ…
In effect, Mary’s edifation is intimately linked with her motherhood, it possesses a specifically maternal character…
Matt 23:8. Jesus says, but you are not to be called rabbi, for you have ONE Teacher …(emphasis mine).
Yet James 3:1, and Ephesians 4:11, tell us we have many teachers in the Church.
From ‘Nuts and Bolts’ by Tim Staples, former "Assembly of God, Youth pastor.
The key to understand that the MANY teachers and mediators in the Body of Christ do not take away from Christ AS THE ONE TEACHER and MEDIATOR, they fulfill His command to teach and mediate on this Earth in Him. They are and we are Members of His Body.
With St Paul in Galatians 2:20, we say, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives (or teaches, mediates) in me.”…
The question is, ’ Does this intimate union in Christ and with one another cease when we die?’ Of course not. IN fact it becomes more radical!
The saints in heaven are even closer to us than when they were here on earth, because it is Christ who makes us one. they are free from al sin, which hinders our prayers (cf Matt 17:20, 1John 3:22, Psalm 66:18) and **they’re experiencing a union with God (and therefore with us) beyond anything we can fathom. **"{they are} like Him for (they) see Him as He Is (1John 3:2) “As partakers of Divine Nature” (1 Peter 1:4) in the fullest sense, they have gifts and powers beyond what "the eye has seen (or) ear heard " (1Cor 2:9). If we could ask them to pray for us when they were on Earth, OF COURSE we can - and should - ASK THEM to pray for us NOW.
One example, 2 Maccabeess 15:12-16, tells of a vision Judas Maccabeus has in which he sees both Onias (a forme priest who had died) and Jeremiah the prophet (who had died fivehundred years earlier) interceding or meditating for Israel.
10
Having stirred up their courage, he gave his orders and pointed out at the same time the perfidy of the Gentiles and their violation of oaths.
11
When he had armed each of them, not so much with the security of shield and spear as with the encouragement of noble words,
he cheered them all by relating a dream, a kind of waking vision, worthy of belief.
12
What he saw was this: Onias, the former high priest,* a noble and good man, modest in bearing, gentle in manner, distinguished in speech, and trained from childhood in all that belongs to excellence,
was praying with outstretched arms for the whole Jewish community.
13
Then in the same way another man appeared, distinguished by his white hair and dignity, and with an air of wondrous and majestic authority.
14
Onias then said of him, “This is a man* who loves his fellow Jews and fervently prays for the people and the holy city—the prophet of God, Jeremiah.”
15
Stretching out his right hand, Jeremiah presented a gold sword to Judas. As he gave it to him he said,
16
“Accept this holy sword as a gift from God; with it you shall shatter your adversaries.”
[15:14] A man: regarded by the postexilic Jews as one of the greatest figures in their history; cf. 2:1; Mt 16:14. Who…prays for the people: Jeremiah’s prayer in heaven has been taken in the Roman Catholic tradition as a biblical witness to the intercession of the saints.
As faithful Christians, we have a duty to pray for those souls who departed the earth. * According to Scripture, “the souls of the just are in the hand of God” (Wisdom 3:1).*
The Catholic Church teaches that the souls of the departed are not separated from us. We believe the departed benefit from our loving prayers.
Indeed, prayer is one of the greatest gifts we can give.* Beginning on All Souls’ Day and lasting throughout November, the priests of the Shrine will offer special prayers for the departed at Mass each day. *