Prayer to Saints a requirement for salvation?

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ni8_shadow

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Can one get into Heaven without ever asking a Saint to Pray for them? I don’t think anywhere in the Bible or CCC it states that you do…Of course it helps a lot and is a great resource, but is it a must to merit salvation?
 
No it is not required or No you can’t get to Heaven with out it?

Nice emoticon by the way!

OK seems we edited our posts at the same time…lol
Thanks
My friend thinks that the CC DEMANDS you pray to saints or you can’t go through the pearly gates
 
My opinion is that praying to saints is not a requirement for salvation/entering heaven.

Although, asking for intercession from the saints as well as our brethren here on earth is a powerful means of uplifting our prayers to the Lord today as it was in the early days of Christian history.
 
It is hard to avoid prayers that invoke the saints. At mass we often pray:

…and I ask the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, all the angels and saints, and you my brothers and sisters, to pray for me…

At the Easter Vigil, it requires even more avoiding. 😃
 
We invoke the Communion of Saints at every Mass so I would propose that no Catholic can claim they never asked a Saint to pray for them.
 
Although it is not necessary, it is definitely helpful! I don’t know about you guys but I could use all the help I can to keep me from sinning. By others praying for me, by following examples of the holy ones, and having that sense of community I am encouraged to become the best person I can be and be pleasing in to the eyes of our Lord.
 
Originally posted by 1ke: We invoke the Communion of Saints at every Mass so I would propose that no Catholic can claim they never asked a Saint to pray for them.
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Good point!

To answer the original question, are Catholics required to pray to a saint (s) for intercession for salvation?

No

Can we get out of it?

You can if you’re a Catholic who’s never attended a Mass. That is, you can bypass invoking the saints if you’re someone who is a member of the Church per “desire.”
 
Believing in it is one thing, but it being a mandatory thing is different. I mean like with Confession you are required to go at least once a year… is there something like that for Inter. Prayer?
 
No, you do not have to pray to the saints to get into heaven.
CCC 169: Salvation comes from God alone
(assuming your friend equates salvation with a sure ticket into heaven)
CCC 517: Christ’s whole life is a mystery of redemption. Redemption comes to us above all through the blood of his cross, but this mystery is a work throughout Christ’s entire life
(what follows is a listing of events from Our Lord’s life, but nothing mentioned about praying to saints)
CCC 1023: Those who die in God’s grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live for ever with Christ
(nothing about having to pray to God’s other friends to be one of His friends)

It’s like my husband loves pointing out to me: You can be a devoted Catholic and never once pray the Rosary (I think he’s just lazy 😉 ).

That said, I can’t imagine why anyone would have this amazing resource of saintly intercession, and not use it.
It’s like having a big fat jewlery box full of priceless gems, and not putting some of them on, occasionally.

Cheers,
Cari
 
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