Please help me understand the Intercession of the Saints

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Hello everyone,

Please help me understand the Intercession of the saints. I thank you in advance for your answers. I promise this is not a question to set anyone up or to start a debate. Thank you for your help.

Please help me understand the intercession of the saints as it pertains to:
  • Scripture
  • The Church fathers (especially the first 400 years of church writers)
  • How to pray to Saints who have passed from this life into the next
  • What do you ask for?
  • Common Abuses of the intercession of the Saints in prayer that I should watch out for, etc.
(I have heard many Saints are assigned to roles and people use prayer to specific saints to help them find their car keys, pray for their sick animal, etc. If I am looking for something important that I need and I am running late to leave the house for School or Work, I will pray to God, as a protestant, to have him help me find my keys or my school book and to help me arrive on time, etc.)
  • How to balance the amount of time spent in prayer to the Trinity compared with the Saints and the current earthly living.
  • What is the hierarchy of Saintly prayer, such as praying to Mary, Peter, James, and Paul over praying to Saint Ignatius of Loyola, etc. Are prayers to some people better than others?
  • What is the earliest evidence we have outside the Bible of a living earthly person praying to a living heaven based person (Saint), Where there is specific dialog, such as “I asked X Person to pray to the Lord for me”, etc.
Thank you for all your help. I hope to understand this concept as I am having trouble wrapping my head around this. I try and spend much time praying to the Lord as my daily life allows (I need to sacrifice many more activities and give that time in prayer to the Lord) but I feel if I have 30 minutes to pray, I will pray to the Trinity the entire time as praying to the Trinity is so much more important than asking anyone else to pray for me.

Also, I do not ask for prayer from Living saints much anyways unless there is a big need. The only time I usually get prayer from others (which is often), is when they are physically present and can lay hands on me and pray for me. My wife and I do this for each other very much, where we are physically present and lay hands on each other in prayer for each other’s needs in agreement to the Lord (Matthew 18:19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth, concerning any thing whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven.” Douay-Rheims Bible) It means a lot to me that Christ specifically said “UPON EARTH” in that verse. It is just so hard for me to wrap my head around the Intercession of Saints concept.
 
Dear Brother,

Our God is the God of the living. In Exodus 3:15, God said that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Where were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob during the time that God spoke to Moses? With respect to Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has died long time ago, correct? Why did God mentioned their names? That means with respect to God, they are all still alive. Correct me if I am wrong. In John 11:25, Jesus said that “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”. If Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Peter, Paul and all the people who believe in God are still alive and are united with God, can they pray for us? Surely they can. They are praying for us human being who still live and wondering in this bloody world. They are praying for you too at this moment you are reading my reply, whether you know it or not.
 
As Catholics we believe that the saints are in heaven and are therefore perfected. They are present with God and have His ear, so to speak, We ask them for their help and intercession before God. They are our heavenly brothers, sisters, and friends. Many had certain talents or charisms on earth and we often ask for help from those who had a particular charism in keeping with our needs.

One example is St. Monica. She was the mother of St. Augustine who led a very debauched life as a young man. It is believed that it was through her constant prayer for her son that he was converted and became a great saint. I have an adult son and when I pray for him I ask St. Monica to pray with me because I believe that she is a special helper in this area. I also ask our Blessed Mother to pray with me because of her special relationship with her Son.

Here is one poor analogy. You are out of a job and looking for work. You keep sending out resumes but you also rely on your network of friends to help you get a job.

Hope this helps.
 
My only (name removed by moderator)ut on this discussion is that you always keep in mind that saints are not deities. If you worship saints as deities, then you are engaging in idolatry. Idolatry is expressly forbidden in the Second Commandment.
 
The intercession of the Saints means that if you pray for their intercession they’ll convince God to intervene in a particular aspect of your life. Right? Hence "inter"cession?
 
Its simple. Just as you ask a living person to pray for you. So to you ask for the saints alive in heaven with the Father to pray for you.
 
swariffin said:
Dear Brother,

Our God is the God of the living. In Exodus 3:15, God said that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Where were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob during the time that God spoke to Moses? With respect to Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has died long time ago, correct? Why did God mentioned their names? That means with respect to God, they are all still alive. Correct me if I am wrong. In John 11:25, Jesus said that “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”. If Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Peter, Paul and all the people who believe in God are still alive and are united with God, can they pray for us? Surely they can. They are praying for us human being who still live and wondering in this bloody world. They are praying for you too at this moment you are reading my reply, whether you know it or not.
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“If Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Peter, Paul and all the people who believe in God are still alive and are united with God, can they pray for us? Surely they can.”

To me this sounds like an assumption. You say surely they can, but I see no evidence. They could all be in heaven prostrated before the Lord worshiping Him day and night in bliss with the angelic choirs. That is also an assumption I can make.

When God says he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, could he not be identifying himself to Moses as that they were followers of him in life? I am making an assumption that God was and is their God, but that when God told Moses that he was their God, he was doing it for identification purposes to Moses. Again, it is an assumption, but I feel you are making assumptions too. I do not think that the sleeping, or the ones in paradise, or the ones in Heaven, or however people believe the saved have passed on are praying for us. To me it makes no sense that they would be and the evangelical world keeps making a very strong case to me that God has made it clear that the Father hears our prayers through Jesus, who is our only intercessor and who sits on the throne of our heart, and that the Holy Spirit is the comfort of God, the supernatural touch and presence, the third person of the Trinity who lives and moves within us and intercedes for us even when we do not have the words ourselves.

Thank you for your reply brother,

In Christ
 
momor said:
As Catholics we believe that the saints are in heaven and are therefore perfected. They are present with God and have His ear, so to speak, We ask them for their help and intercession before God. They are our heavenly brothers, sisters, and friends. Many had certain talents or charisms on earth and we often ask for help from those who had a particular charism in keeping with our needs.

One example is St. Monica. She was the mother of St. Augustine who led a very debauched life as a young man. It is believed that it was through her constant prayer for her son that he was converted and became a great saint. I have an adult son and when I pray for him I ask St. Monica to pray with me because I believe that she is a special helper in this area. I also ask our Blessed Mother to pray with me because of her special relationship with her Son.

Here is one poor analogy. You are out of a job and looking for work. You keep sending out resumes but you also rely on your network of friends to help you get a job.

Hope this helps.
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Sister, thank you for your response. 🙂

“Here is one poor analogy. You are out of a job and looking for work. You keep sending out resumes but you also rely on your network of friends to help you get a job.”

I understand the analogies given to me, thank you for this. I have trouble sometimes though where logic dictates that I would have the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and the Father for my requests because the trump the position of any saint. It seems that the Holy Spirit has much greater authority and power for intercession and prayer than Mary, so rather than spend 20 minutes with the Holy Spirit and then 10 minutes with Mary, I would prefer 30 minutes with the Holy Spirit in prayer as it would have much more impact, according to hierarchy. Also, Mary has a special place with Jesus and has his ear according to the Catholic faith, but if Instead I would go straight to the Father, in Jesus name, or straight to Jesus with my 30 minutes of prayer, instead of having it split up between Jesus, Mary, and Peter, then according to hierarchy and scripture, my prayers would have more impact.

For instance:

2 Corinthians 1:20 (New International Version)
20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

James 1:5-6 (New International Version)
5If any of you lacks wisdom,** he should ask God**, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

John 14:11-16 (New International Version)
11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth,** anyone who has faith in me** will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Philippians 4:6-7 (New International Version)
6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,** present your requests to God**. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

John 15:7 (New International Version)
7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

Luke 18:1 (New International Version)
1Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 7And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones,** who cry out to him** day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.

John 16:23 (New International Version)
23In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

Mark 11:24 (New International Version)
24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

1 John 5:14-15 (New International Version)
14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Matthew 6:5-6 (New International Version)
Prayer
5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Romans 8:26-27 (New International Version)
26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, **because the Spirit intercedes for the saints **in accordance with God’s will.

Continued:
 
momor said:
As Catholics we believe that the saints are in heaven and are therefore perfected. They are present with God and have His ear, so to speak, We ask them for their help and intercession before God. They are our heavenly brothers, sisters, and friends. Many had certain talents or charisms on earth and we often ask for help from those who had a particular charism in keeping with our needs.

One example is St. Monica. She was the mother of St. Augustine who led a very debauched life as a young man. It is believed that it was through her constant prayer for her son that he was converted and became a great saint. I have an adult son and when I pray for him I ask St. Monica to pray with me because I believe that she is a special helper in this area. I also ask our Blessed Mother to pray with me because of her special relationship with her Son.

Here is one poor analogy. You are out of a job and looking for work. You keep sending out resumes but you also rely on your network of friends to help you get a job.

Hope this helps.
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Continued:

Luke 11:5-13 (New International Version)
5Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’
7"Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness[a] he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

11"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for** a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

James 4:2-3 (New International Version)
2You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

It is difficult for me to see anywhere in apostolic teaching and from the teaching of Jesus that we are to pray TO anyone other than the Trinity and that Intercession happens within the Trinity based on us asking, seeking, and knocking and never giving up in prayer. I just do not see a case being made in early historical Christianity that anyone who is not on this earth should be asked for their prayers.

Thank you so much for responding to me. I fell many very Catholic leanings in my life, but there are a few stumbling blocks for me to overcome. If I did become Catholic, I would become a Charismatic Catholic for sure though!!!**
 
algebra said:
Its simple. Just as you ask a living person to pray for you. So to you ask for the saints alive in heaven with the Father to pray for you.
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It is just not simple for me sadly. There is no evidence that I can find that there should be agreeance between any 2 except those ON EARTH or with the Trinity in prayer. It just seems like there are a lot of assumptions made in the intercession of saints within the Catholic faith that I cannot wrap my head around. It seems clear to me, pray to the Father, Jesus has his ear and intercedes, the Holy Spirit Intercedes for us as well, when 2 agree ON EARTH, their prayers are heard, etc.

Thank you for the reply and the help. There are many things I can see in Catholicism such as praying for the dead, etc. But I cannot wrap my head around this, seems like too much filling in the blanks and assumptions made. For all I know wherever it started in history it was driven by a few early church patrons who got some concept wrong and started preaching this. Then this subject became part of the Orthodoxy of the Church and to remain in Orthodoxy and to not fall out into schismatic heretical groups, many just accepted this teaching on the intercession of saints.

I see no harm in the intercession of Saints. I do not think it affects anyones Christian walk if it is wrong, I just believe that God hears your prayers and that the Saint you are praying to is enjoying Paradise or Heaven at an agape love feast and singing praise to God who is in their midst. At this point, I do not believe they can hear a word you say. But I want to see how it makes sense because I would have no problem believing this.
 
Are these abuses? I commonly hear these types of acts:

When someone says “My father is watching over me” or some other family member, as if the entity of their passed away Christian relative is present with them in the room or watching over them and protecting them from heaven.

People who have a picture of their passed away Father or Mother on their night stand and spend time each day praying to them and conversing and how it enriches their life knowing they are able to pray and talk with these people. If they are not canonized how can they pray to them?
 
Do you believe in the Body of Christ - one body with many members? We believe the saints are still part of the body of Christ and even though they are in heaven they are still concerned about the members here on earth. Because their love is perfected, they want the best for us in the same way that Christ our head wants the best for us. So yes, they do pray with and for us.

I just wanted to clarify that when I pray to a saint I am directing my prayer to God. I am asking the saint to join with me in prayer. So the prayer to the saint takes nothing away from God. To use another silly analogy, it’s like super-charging your prayer. I often visualize when I am praying that I have a whole group of saints and angels around me all of whom are lifting their prayers to God along with mine and their perfect prayers are making up for the lack in mine.
 
firstmode said:
Sister, thank you for your response. 🙂

2 Corinthians 1:20 (New International Version)
20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

James 1:5-6 (New International Version)
5If any of you lacks wisdom,** he should ask God**, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

John 14:11-16 (New International Version)
11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth,** anyone who has faith in me** will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Philippians 4:6-7 (New International Version)
6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,** present your requests to God**. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

John 15:7 (New International Version)
7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

Luke 18:1 (New International Version)
1Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 7And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones,** who cry out to him** day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.

John 16:23 (New International Version)
23In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

Mark 11:24 (New International Version)
24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

1 John 5:14-15 (New International Version)
14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Matthew 6:5-6 (New International Version)
Prayer
5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
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firstmode, permit me to take a crack at this and try to explain it so that EV’s may grasp the Catholic thought here.

First, all prayer goes to one place and that is to God. In regards to the rote prayer for Mary and for ALL prayer that has a saint involved, there are three magical words that is in every one of the prayers, “Pray for Us”. When others ask to keep their love ones who are sick, struggling, dying or whatever, in our prayers to God, this is no different in how we view the role of the Saints. The more prayers to God for any intention carries more weight in our opinion. Since we believe the Saints are already in heaven, we believe their prayers to God, carry even more weight with Him since they are already where we would like to get to.

All prayer goes to One individual. Please keep in mind the intention of what is meant by “Pray for Us”. Hope that helped.
 
firstmode said:
Please help me understand the intercession of the saints as it pertains to:
  • Scripture
  • The Church fathers (especially the first 400 years of church writers)
Click to expand...
Firstmode, this page on Scripture Catholic addresses these two points with numerous references to Scripture and the Church Fathers.
firstmode said:
  • How to pray to Saints who have passed from this life into the next
  • What do you ask for?
Click to expand...
I simply say, St. (insert name here), please pray for (whatever I’m asking for). I ask for a variety of things - everything from healings and conversions to something as simple as finding a lost object.
"firstmode:
Common Abuses of the intercession of the Saints in prayer that I should watch out for, etc.
Click to expand...
One that comes to mind immediately is those sell-your-house kits that have you bury a statue of St. Joseph upside down. This is superstitious and it is a scandal that these are being sold by some Catholic retailers. This practice is superstitious because it puts the power in answering the prayer in the motions rather than in God’s responding to St. Joseph’s prayer on our behalf. A better practice would be to have an image of St. Joseph displayed in the house as a reminder to ask his intercession for the sale of the house.
firstmode said:
  • How to balance the amount of time spent in prayer to the Trinity compared with the Saints and the current earthly living.
Click to expand...
I’m not sure what you mean by current earthly living - for those in that category I just ask them in person, or by phone, email, Facebook, etc. to pray for me. 🙂

I’ve never really thought of balancing the time spent in prayer to the saints. I don’t spend a whole lot of time praying to saints; often those prayers are said in passing. I spend 30 minutes each day in prayer with God.
firstmode said:
  • What is the hierarchy of Saintly prayer, such as praying to Mary, Peter, James, and Paul over praying to Saint Ignatius of Loyola, etc. Are prayers to some people better than others?
Click to expand...
We don’t really know the hierarchy of Saints in Heaven, other than the greatest of all saints is Our Lady, and second to her is St. Joseph.
 
firstmode said:
Hello everyone,

Please help me understand the Intercession of the saints. I thank you in advance for your answers. I promise this is not a question to set anyone up or to start a debate. Thank you for your help.

Please help me understand the intercession of the saints as it pertains to:
  • Scripture
  • The Church fathers (especially the first 400 years of church writers)
  • How to pray to Saints who have passed from this life into the next
  • What do you ask for?
  • Common Abuses of the intercession of the Saints in prayer that I should watch out for, etc.
(I have heard many Saints are assigned to roles and people use prayer to specific saints to help them find their car keys, pray for their sick animal, etc. If I am looking for something important that I need and I am running late to leave the house for School or Work, I will pray to God, as a protestant, to have him help me find my keys or my school book and to help me arrive on time, etc.)
  • How to balance the amount of time spent in prayer to the Trinity compared with the Saints and the current earthly living.
  • What is the hierarchy of Saintly prayer, such as praying to Mary, Peter, James, and Paul over praying to Saint Ignatius of Loyola, etc. Are prayers to some people better than others?
  • What is the earliest evidence we have outside the Bible of a living earthly person praying to a living heaven based person (Saint), Where there is specific dialog, such as “I asked X Person to pray to the Lord for me”, etc.
Thank you for all your help. I hope to understand this concept as I am having trouble wrapping my head around this. I try and spend much time praying to the Lord as my daily life allows (I need to sacrifice many more activities and give that time in prayer to the Lord) but I feel if I have 30 minutes to pray, I will pray to the Trinity the entire time as praying to the Trinity is so much more important than asking anyone else to pray for me.

Also, I do not ask for prayer from Living saints much anyways unless there is a big need. The only time I usually get prayer from others (which is often), is when they are physically present and can lay hands on me and pray for me. My wife and I do this for each other very much, where we are physically present and lay hands on each other in prayer for each other’s needs in agreement to the Lord (Matthew 18:19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth, concerning any thing whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven.” Douay-Rheims Bible) It means a lot to me that Christ specifically said “UPON EARTH” in that verse. It is just so hard for me to wrap my head around the Intercession of Saints concept.
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Firstmode, I find it very confusing why we need to go through so many people when Jesus Himself already told us to go straight to Him when He said “No man goes to the Father except through Me”.

I mean here you have a person who volunteered Himself as a mediator between you and God and tells you to go to Him. Then you go around the entire town to search for people dead or alive to speak to Him on your behalf???

Can you remember how Samuel scolded Saul through the medium? Go read. With the exception of Elijah or Moses (who appeared at the transfiguration), the majority of the dead are asleep. The Bible is very clear on this. There is no teaching in the Bible regarding praying to God through anyone else except Christ.

Praying FOR and Praying THROUGH is different. You need to get this right too. But remember, God already opened the door for us to pray directly through Jesus Christ to Him. You can pray for someone else, but you cannot pray on his behalf. The man himself must first pray to God. The only intercessor christians have is CHRIST.

.
 
momor said:
Do you believe in the Body of Christ - one body with many members? We believe the saints are still part of the body of Christ and even though they are in heaven they are still concerned about the members here on earth. Because their love is perfected, they want the best for us in the same way that Christ our head wants the best for us. So yes, they do pray with and for us.

I just wanted to clarify that when I pray to a saint I am directing my prayer to God. I am asking the saint to join with me in prayer. So the prayer to the saint takes nothing away from God. To use another silly analogy, it’s like super-charging your prayer. I often visualize when I am praying that I have a whole group of saints and angels around me all of whom are lifting their prayers to God along with mine and their perfect prayers are making up for the lack in mine.
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Thank you for responding to me.

I understand all that you and everyone is saying to me about the subject, but it is not answering any of my questions that are hindering my understanding of the subject. I posted above many facts and scriptural points that are getting in the way of my mind accepting this concept with faith. It is just not present in the Biblical model of prayer and from what I have found, not in the very early church either.

Thank you guys for replying, if you could help me answer some of the questions and objections I have posted in my posts above, then I think I can one day come to accept this concept.

Yours in Christ,

Me
 
blueadept said:
firstmode, permit me to take a crack at this and try to explain it so that EV’s may grasp the Catholic thought here.

First, all prayer goes to one place and that is to God. In regards to the rote prayer for Mary and for ALL prayer that has a saint involved, there are three magical words that is in every one of the prayers, “Pray for Us”. When others ask to keep their love ones who are sick, struggling, dying or whatever, in our prayers to God, this is no different in how we view the role of the Saints. The more prayers to God for any intention carries more weight in our opinion. Since we believe the Saints are already in heaven, we believe their prayers to God, carry even more weight with Him since they are already where we would like to get to.

All prayer goes to One individual. Please keep in mind the intention of what is meant by “Pray for Us”. Hope that helped.
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Thank you for your response, it was helpful.

I am confused that I cannot find this model of prayer in the Biblical model of prayer though. I would like to find it’s origins if possible. I know the origins of the Rosary, of Eucharistic Adoration, I know the origins of many Catholic Ideas that have no or little support in scripture and they can and do make sense to me. This one is not working though. Help me find the origins of this practice please.
 
beckycmarie said:
Firstmode, this page on Scripture Catholic addresses these two points with numerous references to Scripture and the Church Fathers.

I simply say, St. (insert name here), please pray for (whatever I’m asking for). I ask for a variety of things - everything from healings and conversions to something as simple as finding a lost object.

One that comes to mind immediately is those sell-your-house kits that have you bury a statue of St. Joseph upside down. This is superstitious and it is a scandal that these are being sold by some Catholic retailers. This practice is superstitious because it puts the power in answering the prayer in the motions rather than in God’s responding to St. Joseph’s prayer on our behalf. A better practice would be to have an image of St. Joseph displayed in the house as a reminder to ask his intercession for the sale of the house.

I’m not sure what you mean by current earthly living - for those in that category I just ask them in person, or by phone, email, Facebook, etc. to pray for me. 🙂

I’ve never really thought of balancing the time spent in prayer to the saints. I don’t spend a whole lot of time praying to saints; often those prayers are said in passing. I spend 30 minutes each day in prayer with God.

We don’t really know the hierarchy of Saints in Heaven, other than the greatest of all saints is Our Lady, and second to her is St. Joseph.
Click to expand...
Thank you for all your answers 🙂

When I talk about balancing prayer to the Lord and Saints, here is a good example:

Make the Sign of the Cross and say the “Apostles’ Creed.”
Say the “Our Father.”
Say three “Hail Marys.”
Say the “Glory be to the Father.”
Announce the First Mystery; then say the “Our Father.”
Say ten “Hail Marys,” while meditating on the Mystery.
Say the “Glory be to the Father.”
Announce the Second Mystery
Say the “Our Father.”
Say ten “Hail Marys,” while meditating on the Mystery.
Say the “Glory be to the Father.”
Third Mystery
Say the “Our Father.”
Say ten “Hail Marys,” while meditating on the Mystery.
Say the “Glory be to the Father.”
Fourth Mystery
Say the “Our Father.”
Say ten “Hail Marys,” while meditating on the Mystery.
Say the “Glory be to the Father.”
Fifth Mystery
Say the “Our Father.”
Say ten “Hail Marys,” while meditating on the Mystery.
Say the “Glory be to the Father.”

After the Rosary:
HAIL, HOLY QUEEN, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray. O GOD, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, that meditating upon these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Seems to me Mary is getting most of the attention in these prayers you are supposed to pray 5 to 6 days a week. Just an observation.
 
firstmode said:
Thank you for all your answers 🙂

When I talk about balancing prayer to the Lord and Saints, here is a good example:

Make the Sign of the Cross and say the “Apostles’ Creed.”
Say the “Our Father.”
Say three “Hail Marys.”
Say the “Glory be to the Father.”
Announce the First Mystery; then say the “Our Father.”
Say ten “Hail Marys,” while meditating on the Mystery.
Say the “Glory be to the Father.”
Announce the Second Mystery
Say the “Our Father.”
Say ten “Hail Marys,” while meditating on the Mystery.
Say the “Glory be to the Father.”
Third Mystery
Say the “Our Father.”
Say ten “Hail Marys,” while meditating on the Mystery.
Say the “Glory be to the Father.”
Fourth Mystery
Say the “Our Father.”
Say ten “Hail Marys,” while meditating on the Mystery.
Say the “Glory be to the Father.”
Fifth Mystery
Say the “Our Father.”
Say ten “Hail Marys,” while meditating on the Mystery.
Say the “Glory be to the Father.”

After the Rosary:
HAIL, HOLY QUEEN, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray. O GOD, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, that meditating upon these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Seems to me Mary is getting most of the attention in these prayers you are supposed to pray 5 to 6 days a week. Just an observation.
Click to expand...
As Catholics say that since Jesus is God and Mary was His mother, therefore Mary is the mother of God. Why then, do they NOT also say that since since they say God is their Father, Mary must be their Grandmother???

Why do we only hear what they want to say but never what is logical conclusion using their logic?
.
 
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