Praying TO dead relatives?

[johnnyjones]

Has the Catholic Church ever taught that it is acceptable to pray TO your dead relatives or friends for help? Of course we can pray FOR them and should, but asking a non saint who is dead for help seems wrong.

Some pass down that they have seen and talked to their dead relatives and friends and asked them for help as well.

 

[Cristiano]

Has the Catholic Church ever taught that it is acceptable to pray TO your dead relatives or friends for help? Of course we can pray FOR them and should, but asking a non saint who is dead for help seems wrong.

Some pass down that they have seen and talked to their dead relatives and friends and asked them for help as well.

How do you know that they are not saints?

 

[Chatter163]

No one would ever be beatified if someone had not already been praying to that person.

 

[YoungTradCath]

No one would ever be beatified if someone had not already been praying to that person.

This. It is an absolutely perfectly acceptable, and very good, practice to pray to people even if they are not saints/blesseds/venerables/servants of God. If no one did it, there wouldn’t be canonized saints in the first place.

 

[Lancer]

No one would ever be beatified if someone had not already been praying to that person.

Amen…like the insight of your answer.

Would also offer for consideration…additional embellishment

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10
New International Version (NIV)

9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

If this is true…and we ask loved ones to pray for us (awake)…we can ask them to pray for us (asleep)…we are still together…in Him.

Pax Christi

 

[maryjk]

How do you know that they are not saints?

 

[Ophelia23]

I ask my grandfather to pray for me, and I ask for it often. I also ask him for parenting ideas sometimes, too. He was such a good father, and such a wonderful grandfather, and my hope is that he is with our Father. And if he hasn’t made it there yet, I still pray for his soul daily.

 

[johnnyjones]

How do you know that they are not saints?

If you don’t know, why would you pray to them? If they are not saints then your praying to nothing when you could be spending your time in prayer with actual canonized saints.

My understanding was that we are to pray to those we know are saints as canonized by the church, as well as Mary and Jesus.

 

[johnnyjones]

No one would ever be beatified if someone had not already been praying to that person.

Are you saying that the saints that the church has canonized are equal to the “average” people who have just lived and died as far as praying to them?

 

[mgoforth]

Are you saying that the saints that the church has canonized are equal to the “average” people who have just lived and died as far as praying to them?

I think the point being made was that one of the requirements -]for/-] to be canonized is that a prayer has been answered in miraculous fashion. Hence, someone has to pray to the person in question, asking them to intercede with God…and then if a miracle is received as a result of that prayer, we have some evidence of that person’s presence in Heaven.

So therefore, if no one prayed to anyone who was not officially canonized, then we wouldn’t be able to canonize anyone.

 

[johnnyjones]

I think the point being made was that one of the requirements -]for/-] to be canonized is that a prayer has been answered in miraculous fashion. Hence, someone has to pray to the person in question, asking them to intercede with God…and then if a miracle is received as a result of that prayer, we have some evidence of that person’s presence in Heaven.

So therefore, if no one prayed to anyone who was not officially canonized, then we wouldn’t be able to canonize anyone.

I should have searched further before asking. It appears you can not publicly pray to a person who has not been beatified by the church but privately you can.​

While canon law prohibits the public veneration of those not officially recognized by the Church as saints or blessed, private prayer to and for such faithful departed is not prohibited.

Code of Canon Law (CIC) states, “It is permitted to reverence through public veneration only those servants of God whom the authority of the Church has recorded in the list of the saints or the blessed” (CIC 1187).

The Canon Law Letter and Spirit clarifies “…there is no reason – in fact, quite the contrary – why the faithful might not pray, but privately, not only for but also to those who by widespread popular consent have led lives of singular service to God and to the Church…” (p. 674).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CIC) recognizes this:

“The witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom, especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives, the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today. They contemplate God, praise him and constantly care for those whom they have left on earth. When they entered into the joy of their Master, they were “put in charge of many things.” Their intercession is their most exalted service to God’s plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world” (CCC 2683).

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[TheDoctor]

I should have searched further before asking. It appears you can not publicly pray to a person who has not been beatified by the church but privately you can.

What may be confusing you is that the Church talks about two kinds of “saints”. Anyone who believes in Christ, in Heaven, Purgatory or on Earth is a “saint” (often written with a small “s”). Additionally, the Church recognizes men and women of great holiness whom it holds up to us to emulate - the Saints (often written with a capital “S”).

Hence, when we speak of the “Communion of the saints” we are not talking about the canonized Saints, but we are speaking of all believers in Christ no matter where they are. See if this from the Catechism helps:

vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a9p5.htm

 

[DCNBILL]

Are you saying that the saints that the church has canonized are equal to the “average” people who have just lived and died as far as praying to them?

I would think that the majority of the souls in heaven are not canonized saints but they are saints nonetheless.

 

[Kenny_Kamel]

If you don’t know, why would you pray to them? If they are not saints then your praying to nothing when you could be spending your time in prayer with actual canonized saints.

My understanding was that we are to pray to those we know are saints as canonized by the church, as well as Mary and Jesus.

When you say “praying TO” do you mean that when you pray you are asking for their intercession or you are praying as if they were a diety? I’m thinking that you’re meaning to pray for their intercession which is perfectly fine, acceptable, and encouraged.

Are you saying that the saints that the church has canonized are equal to the “average” people who have just lived and died as far as praying to them?

Upon entering into Heaven one is a Saint, canonized Saints are those who the Church on Earth officially recognizes. They are not any more or less important than any other Saint in Heaven, in fact I believe that it would be irrelevant to the Saints in Heaven whether or not they are recognized on Earth. I mean they ARE in Heaven, what else matters?

 

[johnnyjones]

This subject (however simple) continues to educate me. I’m still weeding out some remnants of my 15 year Protestant drifting. Thank you my friends.

 

[Brendan]

When you say “praying TO” do you mean that when you pray you are asking for their intercession or you are praying as if they were a diety? I’m thinking that you’re meaning to pray for their intercession which is perfectly fine, acceptable, and encouraged.

And FYI, it is acceptable to “Pray to”

The verb ‘to pray’ means to ask, to entreat or implore.

You can ask (pray to) just about anyone.

A great example is Hamlet, Act I, Scene II

Queen Gertrude says to her son, Hamlet: " I pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg. "

Just a few nights ago, my 7 year old daughter prayed to me to let her stay up late, rather emphatically I might add

Of course, what we are asking the righteous for is to intercede to God on our behalf, to lift us up in their personal prayer.

 

[johnnyjones]

And FYI, it is acceptable to “Pray to”

The verb ‘to pray’ means to ask, to entreat or implore.

You can ask (pray to) just about anyone.

A great example is Hamlet, Act I, Scene II

Queen Gertrude says to her son, Hamlet: " I pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg. "

Just a few nights ago, my 7 year old daughter prayed to me to let her stay up late, rather emphatically I might add

Of course, what we are asking the righteous for is to intercede to God on our behalf, to lift us up in their personal prayer.

Oh do pray tell.

 

[Elizium23]

When you say “praying TO” do you mean that when you pray you are asking for their intercession or you are praying as if they were a diety? I’m thinking that you’re meaning to pray for their intercession which is perfectly fine, acceptable, and encouraged.

We pray to saints. We do not worship them as a deity, but we pray to them just as we pray to Mary, the angels, St. Francis, etc.

 

[snarflemike]

If you don’t know, why would you pray to them? If they are not saints then your praying to nothing when you could be spending your time in prayer with actual canonized saints.

My understanding was that we are to pray to those we know are saints as canonized by the church, as well as Mary and Jesus.

God is not dumb (no, I’m not the first one to claim that). If you are praying to somebody who you truly believe to be a saint in heaven, and that person is not in heaven, God can certainly “redirect” your sincere prayer, or simply respond to it directly. This is a real non-issue, IMHO.

 

[neophyte]

Oh do pray tell.

You got it.

The difference between prayer and worship is not a difference in degree (like the difference between pink and red), it’s a difference in kind (like the difference between the color of a banana and its smell). They are made of different stuff.