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sweetchuck
Guest
Does anyone have any advice as to how to pray to a potential saint (such as Fulton Sheen or someone else) to ask them to heal someone who’s terminally ill?
Thanks!
Thanks!
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chicago
Guest
Just ask them sincerely like you would request prayer from any other friend. If you would like to pray to them more devotionally, then perhaps learn something about their life and try to emulate it or ask that they help to lead you in a faithful path.
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jrabs
Guest
I agree - I just pray and ask them for intercessory help like they already saints.
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mercygate
Guest
Eternal Father, You alone grant us every blessing in Heaven and on earth, through the redemptive mission of Your Divine Son, Jesus Christ, and by the working of the Holy Spirit.
If it be according to Your will, glorify Your Servant, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, by granting the favor I now request through his prayerful intercession (mention your request).
I make this prayer confidently through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
[The Archbishop Sheen Foundation
PO Box 728 Peoria, IL 61652–0728]
If it be according to Your will, glorify Your Servant, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, by granting the favor I now request through his prayerful intercession (mention your request).
I make this prayer confidently through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
[The Archbishop Sheen Foundation
PO Box 728 Peoria, IL 61652–0728]
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time4achange
Guest
I was pondering this same question myself, since I do not know the Bible as well as I should, I googled a search “where in the Bible does it say we should pray to saints”? The results were an overwhelming NOWHERE, the Bible specifically directs us to pray only to God, or the Holy Trinity. If we pray to anyone else, it is considered idolotry, and is a sin. I was raised Catholic, so I know that the Catholics have a different idea, such as praying to Mary…but, the Catholic religion is run by MEN, not God. The Bible is written by God, not men…therefore, I put my trust in the Word of God, not the words of men. What brought this up for me was I had said a prayer to St Jude, which was answered. The ad said I must promise to publish if prayer was answered. It was, but something didn’t feel right about it. That’s when I googled the question about if praying to saints was in the Bible. Turns out not only does the Bible specifically say we are to pray to no one but the Holy Trinity, it also says specifically that we should not pray to the dead. Saints are the dead. It was then that I realized St Jude did not answer my prayer, GOD DID. God knew I was ignorant, and did not know that I was not supposed to be praying to saints. God heard my prayer, God knew my desperation, and out of His boundless love and compassion, God forgave my ignorance and answered my prayer.
More than once! Pray to the only Ones who have the power and authority over Satan and over illness to heal someone…God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I pray that each and every person’s miracles and prayers are granted in the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior. Amen (Amen, translated means “it shall be so”) By the way, I am not telling anyone what THEY should believe, and I am not criticizing. I am simply saying that the Bible is the “instruction manual and answer guide” that God gave us in this life. No matter what anyone else tells us, we should always go to the Bible for the definitive answer, and we should only trust the Bible, because it is the word of God. What we hear from others is simply the word of man, and can not be trusted.
That was MY mistake, I trusted another human being telling me that if I prayed to St Jude, my prayers would be answered. Lucky for me, even though I was sinning, God had mercy on me, and answered my prayer. Now, I pray only to the One the Bible tells me to pray to ~ God. And I have another prayer request for a terminally ill relative that I ask God to hear. God, please provide Russ his miracle, his healing, I ask this in the name of your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, AMEN.
More than once! Pray to the only Ones who have the power and authority over Satan and over illness to heal someone…God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I pray that each and every person’s miracles and prayers are granted in the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior. Amen (Amen, translated means “it shall be so”) By the way, I am not telling anyone what THEY should believe, and I am not criticizing. I am simply saying that the Bible is the “instruction manual and answer guide” that God gave us in this life. No matter what anyone else tells us, we should always go to the Bible for the definitive answer, and we should only trust the Bible, because it is the word of God. What we hear from others is simply the word of man, and can not be trusted.
That was MY mistake, I trusted another human being telling me that if I prayed to St Jude, my prayers would be answered. Lucky for me, even though I was sinning, God had mercy on me, and answered my prayer. Now, I pray only to the One the Bible tells me to pray to ~ God. And I have another prayer request for a terminally ill relative that I ask God to hear. God, please provide Russ his miracle, his healing, I ask this in the name of your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, AMEN.
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Monica4316
Guest
I’m sorry I dont want to be mean but I’m wondering why you would come to a Catholic forum and promote Protestant teachings. It’s really disrespectful, sorry.
I used to be Protestant and i thought as you do, but actually in the Bible it says that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses and Elijah and Moses even appeared during the Transfiguration… when we pray to Saints, we just ask them to pray for us, as we would ask a friend. How is it idolatry? Is it idolatry to ask your friend to pray for you? Cause that’s exactly what we’re doing. prayer does not equal worship, prayer is just a request, and ALL prayers eventually go to God. That’s why when you say that your prayer was answered by God and not St Jude shows your misunderstanding of Catholicism, since - we don’t believe that Saints are the ones who answer our prayers, we believe that they simply intercede for us, and God answers.
You say your put your trust in the Word of God but according to whose interpretation? Your own? your pastor’s? are you not a human, and is your pastor not a human? the Bible doesn’t interpret itself… if it did, we wouldn’t have thousands of denominations that all disagree with one another
but the Church has ALWAYS from the very beginning taught that it’s oki to ask Saints to pray for us. The early Church did this, from Apostolic times. Are people today closer to God than the Apostles?
God bless.
I used to be Protestant and i thought as you do, but actually in the Bible it says that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses and Elijah and Moses even appeared during the Transfiguration… when we pray to Saints, we just ask them to pray for us, as we would ask a friend. How is it idolatry? Is it idolatry to ask your friend to pray for you? Cause that’s exactly what we’re doing. prayer does not equal worship, prayer is just a request, and ALL prayers eventually go to God. That’s why when you say that your prayer was answered by God and not St Jude shows your misunderstanding of Catholicism, since - we don’t believe that Saints are the ones who answer our prayers, we believe that they simply intercede for us, and God answers.
actually it says that we shouldn’t ask the dead for information about the future and it says that in the Old Testament. We live in the new covenant now and Christ has conquered death, the Saints are not dead but alive. And we don’t ask them for information about the future, we just ask them to pray for us.
You say your put your trust in the Word of God but according to whose interpretation? Your own? your pastor’s? are you not a human, and is your pastor not a human? the Bible doesn’t interpret itself… if it did, we wouldn’t have thousands of denominations that all disagree with one another
but the Church has ALWAYS from the very beginning taught that it’s oki to ask Saints to pray for us. The early Church did this, from Apostolic times. Are people today closer to God than the Apostles?God bless.
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time4achange
Guest
Monica 4316…I want to first start by saying it was not my intention to insult anyone, or their own beliefs, and if I have done so, PLEASE accept my most sincere apology.
My views are not Protestant, or of any other organized religion, I assure you. What I wrote is purely MY own interpretation of what the Bible says, and since I am human and mortal, of course I will be the first to admit that I could be, or am wrong.
It is purely MY interpretation that since the BIble says we are to only pray to God, it would be wrong to pray to anyone else. I welcome opposing views, such as yours. If my beliefs or views are wrong, and there is Scriptural proof of the error, I would change them immediately. Thank you for your interpretation, and again, I hope you know I was not trying to be insulting in any way to you, or to your beliefs. I base mine on the Bible, and when I find a passage that says I should pray to anyone other than God, I will. I respect your views, and rights to pray to whomever you choose. Have a great day~
My views are not Protestant, or of any other organized religion, I assure you. What I wrote is purely MY own interpretation of what the Bible says, and since I am human and mortal, of course I will be the first to admit that I could be, or am wrong.
It is purely MY interpretation that since the BIble says we are to only pray to God, it would be wrong to pray to anyone else. I welcome opposing views, such as yours. If my beliefs or views are wrong, and there is Scriptural proof of the error, I would change them immediately. Thank you for your interpretation, and again, I hope you know I was not trying to be insulting in any way to you, or to your beliefs. I base mine on the Bible, and when I find a passage that says I should pray to anyone other than God, I will. I respect your views, and rights to pray to whomever you choose. Have a great day~
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Monica4316
Guest
Hi, thanks for your reply. I’m sure you weren’t trying to insult anyone… it’s just that… well there are different ways to interpret the Bible, and it seemed that you were saying that your position is Biblical and the Catholic position is not and was invented by “man”. But I think that there are different ways of interpreting Scripture. There are right and wrong ways, of course. The question is…what is the right way… I think the Catholic Church interprets the Bible just as Christians always have, before the Reformation. The Bible tells us to only worship God. Catholics don’t worship anyone else. Prayer is not the same as worship… asking Saints for prayer is just like asking our friends on earth for prayer. I’m sorry for the harsh way I responded to your post, and I’m not trying to make an excuse but the reason is that I hear all the time how Catholicism is nothing but “man’s traditions” etc and I think that shows a misunderstanding of the Church’s teachings and it’s also kind of hurtful - even though it’s not always meant to be so. Just being honest…
Peace
Peace
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time4achange
Guest
Monica,
I was born, baptized and raised Catholic. I know God, I know Christ because of the Catholic religion, and since that is the most important relationship any human being can have (a relationship with God), I will be eternally grateful to the Catholic church and faith for that!
If you didn’t believe in God, if you didn’t believe in Christ, I would feel compelled to convince you of His existence.
But clearly you are a Believer, I am a Believer, and we both agree on what matters most…We love the Lord!
God Bless you, and thank you for sharing your beliefs and ideas.
I was born, baptized and raised Catholic. I know God, I know Christ because of the Catholic religion, and since that is the most important relationship any human being can have (a relationship with God), I will be eternally grateful to the Catholic church and faith for that!
If you didn’t believe in God, if you didn’t believe in Christ, I would feel compelled to convince you of His existence.
But clearly you are a Believer, I am a Believer, and we both agree on what matters most…We love the Lord!
God Bless you, and thank you for sharing your beliefs and ideas.
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Monica4316
Guest
oki, no disagreement there
God bless you too!
monica
God bless you too!
monica
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LilyM
Guest
time4achange, if Our Lord said ‘he who lives and believes in me will never die’ then why are you calling the saints ‘dead people’? They are every bit as alive as you or I, just no longer on earth. And if alive, then both able to hear prayer requests and pray for people who ask, just like you or I.
See ALL the saints, earthly and heavenly, are part of Christ’s one body and therefore linked in prayer and mutual intercession through Him, our common head. Christ doesn’t have two separate bodies.
Our Lord said, in the same breath, that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and at the same time God of the living and not the dead. Ergo Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are living and not dead.
See ALL the saints, earthly and heavenly, are part of Christ’s one body and therefore linked in prayer and mutual intercession through Him, our common head. Christ doesn’t have two separate bodies.
Our Lord said, in the same breath, that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and at the same time God of the living and not the dead. Ergo Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are living and not dead.
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tobinatorstark
Guest
Pray like you would to a saint. That is what people did before of the canonization of Leopold in the 1980’s by Pope John Paul II. I heard this last night on EWTN.
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