Praying for or praying to non-saints? Please advise!

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Laura_Elizabeth

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Hi! I was wondering this recently. We are supposed to pray for those who have died, since nearly everyone will have to go through Purgatory and we are helping them with that by praying for them. However, we pray to the saints to intercede for us. So, what about regular people? Grandparents, friends, etc. who have died–Catholics, other Christians, whatever, but not official saints–are we supposed to pray for them, or ask them to pray for us, or both? :confused:

This has just been confusing me lately, because I keep thinking about a non-Catholic Christian who died that I would have asked to pray for me in life, but now I don’t know if I should pray for them or pray to (or of–I thought I read somewhere that we’re supposed to say “to” for God and “of” for saints, but I digress… I mean, ask them to intercede for me, whether or not I use the right preposition! 🤷)
Thanks for your help!
 
There is no evidence that any non-catholic Christian is (although it MAY be possible, as the CCC says) in heaven, because there is no salvation outside the Church.

The safe thing to do is pray for their soul. They need it. This will glorify God, and bring you grace. and if by some some stroke of God’s justice they are not in Purgatory (for one reason or another) God will apply the grace of your prayers appropriately, so they are never wasted.
 
Since souls who are in Purgatory can pray for us, but can’t pray for themselves anymore, we should pray for them, and we can, by all means, ask them to pray for us.
 
If we were to ‘pray to’ only to those who were canonized, no one would ever be canonized; because the ecclesial process begins with investigation of somebody’s post-mortal intercessions in the lives of the living. If no one prayed to them, no such instances would be recorded.

So clearly, one can ask for intercession from a non-saint.

ICXC NIKA
 
GEddie said:
If we were to ‘pray to’ only to those who were canonized, no one would ever be canonized; because the ecclesial process begins with investigation of somebody’s post-mortal intercessions in the lives of the living. If no one prayed to them, no such instances would be recorded.

So clearly, one can ask for intercession from a non-saint.

ICXC NIKA
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Oh, true! I knew that, but I hadn’t thought of it! Thanks!
 
Except there is no such thing as canonized Protestant or non-Catholic… 🤷
 
My advice, don’t pray to Non-Catholic people. If you need an intercession, you can ask a Canonized or Beatified Saint along with praying for an intercession by someone who’s Catholic but wasn’t Beatified or Canonized yet.
 
I feel so sorry for you If God himself came to you the first thing you would ask him is are you catholic are you a saint if he said no you would throw him out.You are missing everything.I pray God himself would come to you and tell you what is important to him.Not the church him.Jesus and the bible are whats important not what man says.Not what the church tells you to do and how to do it.If it isent in the bible it is not true.Do you think for one minute God is a catholic?May God help you.
 
Of course: Jesus established the Catholic CHurch alone. All other Churches were established by men. Read history.

THere is no salvation outside the church. That means, all who willfully reject her are damned. IF they die unrepentant.
 
Leo_The_Great said:
Of course: Jesus established the Catholic CHurch alone. All other Churches were established by men. Read history.

THere is no salvation outside the church. That means, all who willfully reject her are damned. IF they die unrepentant.
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Well, that’s certainly Trent Talk. 😃

I don’t believe Protestants will automatically go to hell. Not by a long shot.
 
It depends on their culpability. Do you know a single American Protestant who has NOT heard of the Catholic Church?

If a person has the MEANS to know, has HEARD, and is CAPABLE of knowing, he is NOT, I repeat, absolutely NOT invincibly ignorant. That means for about 99.99999% of American Protestants, any IGNORANCE they experience is willful.

And guess what dear friends? Willful ignorance of the truth is a mortal sin.

So no, the odds are not stacked in their favor. I am a convert, and I try to tell my family ALL THE TIME about being a Catholic. They continuously reject. Will they go to heaven?

No, not if they die unrepentant.
 
Leo_The_Great said:
It depends on their culpability. Do you know a single American Protestant who has NOT heard of the Catholic Church?

If a person has the MEANS to know, has HEARD, and is CAPABLE of knowing, he is NOT, I repeat, absolutely NOT invincibly ignorant. That means for about 99.99999% of American Protestants, any IGNORANCE they experience is willful.

And guess what dear friends? Willful ignorance of the truth is a mortal sin.

So no, the odds are not stacked in their favor. I am a convert, and I try to tell my family ALL THE TIME about being a Catholic. They continuously reject. Will they go to heaven?

No, not if they die unrepentant.
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**
I was invincibly ignorant. I’ll tell you why:**
  • I grew up Protestant. I was taught that Catholics were idolaters.
  • All the Catholics I knew at work, were cultural Catholics and did not believe in most of the teachings.
  • No Catholic ever evangelized to me (you know Catholics don’t really do that)
  • I had never heard of CAF or the Catholic Answers radio program
  • I didn’t know anything about the Church fathers. Yes, not even with the internet. You kind of have to know it exists to search for it. I thought any Church fathers that existed, existed before the Church “became Catholic”.
So is that not invincibly ignorant?

Yet, for most of my life, save for a few years of rebellion, I served Christ with all my heart, to the best of my ability.

And there have been countless Protestant missionaries who died as martyrs for the Cross.

That is not to say I don’t believe Catholics should evangelize to Protestants. I think we should because Protestants are in error and they should know that.

And no doubt some will not be saved because of the errors.

But God knows the heart.
 
But you heard about Catholics and could have researched the truth, Your ignorance was not invincible, because the MEANS for discovering the truth was within your grasp.

Invincible ignorance is only invincible if there is NO MEANS to determine the truth, no EXPOSURE to the truth, and if the person is INCAPABLE of determining the truth due to a lapse in reason.

None of these things applied to you, You may have been taught wrongly initially, but you had the opportunities, ability, and time to discover the truth, as you later did.

We must judge ourselves with all the rigor we will expect from Christ at the time of our death.
 
Leo_The_Great said:
But you heard about Catholics and could have researched the truth, Your ignorance was not invincible, because the MEANS for discovering the truth was within your grasp.

Invincible ignorance is only invincible if there is NO MEANS to determine the truth, no EXPOSURE to the truth, and if the person is INCAPABLE of determining the truth due to a lapse in reason.

None of these things applied to you, You may have been taught wrongly initially, but you had the opportunities, ability, and time to discover the truth, as you later did.

We must judge ourselves with all the rigor we will expect from Christ at the time of our death.
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Okay. I guess we disagree.

God actually brought me to CAF. I was looking for something else and ended up here.

I can honestly say I had no idea about Catholicism. I also know that as a Protestant God watched over me and spoke to me and intervened in my life in various ways. Oh yes, I served the Living God. And he knows that.

He chose to bring me to the fullness of truth. The same way he chose send Peter to Cornelius the Centurion because he was a God fearer.

Only God judges.
 
odile53 said:
Since souls who are in Purgatory can pray for us, but can’t pray for themselves anymore, we should pray for them, and we can, by all means, ask them to pray for us.
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How do we know this is true? I mean if it’s possible for them to pray for us, why would they not be able to pray as well for themselves, just like we do here. If God can hear their prayers for us from Purgatory, why would He not be able to hear their prayers for themselves?
 
Why do catholics think they are the only ones going to heaven?God isent interested in what religion you are he wants to be in your heart.The problem with catholics is you have God and your church in your head God wants to be in your heart.Wake up
 
_ I feel so sorry for you all you worry about is if your catholic you need to have Jesus in your heart a relationship with Jesus that is what is important.You are brainwashed by your (Catholic ) religion you think only catholics are going to heaven that you can pray for the people that are in purgotory and they can pray for you wake up they are dead when they are alive that is when they need your prayers not after they die.Ask God to help you understand what HE would have you to do.If you ask him he will show you in some way what is right in his eyes.God bless you and help you.
 
Pamela, If you truly had a relationship with Christ, you would be Catholic, because you would be humble enough to acknowledge not simply who Christ IS, But ALL he SAID,DID,AND TAUGHT.

But since you are the adherent of a man-made religion, I would be worried about my salvation. Christ was not an anarchist, He ESTABLISHED only one, holy, Catholic and apostolic church.

Read history and convert, otherwise you risk damnation. AS do all who flee from the truth and adhere to the religion of heretics.
 
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