Praying to Saints or Mary?

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o_witness:
Another Question…
Who was the first person to be called a saint?
St. Stephen is recognized as the First Martyr, so I can only assume that also means he was the first Saint.

St Stephen - feast day Dec. 26 - Patron of Stonemasons

St. Stephen, a disciple of Christ, chose after the Ascension as one of the seven deacons, and “full of grace and fortitude was working great wonders and signs among the people.” Many rose up against him, but they were not able to withstand the wisdom that spoke.
Accused of blasphemy against Moses and against God, he was brought before the Sanhedrin and condemened to be cast out of the city and stoned to death. Kneeling down before his murderers he cried out with a loud voice saying “Lord, do not lay this sin against them.” And when he had ssaid this he fell asleep in the Lord, 35 A.D.

Taken from “Lives of the Saints”
 
oh, my lord…

you can’t tell me that you don’t know the difference in worship which is reserved for the trinity and different types of prayer (communication, talking to…dah…)… we are just asking for intercession, a little help… Mary and the saints in heaven are not blind, deaf and mute… the can and do help… that’s not to say you don’t pray to God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost…sheeze…!

Pardon my frustruation, but this is not a new concept, haven’t you ever asked anyone to pray for you… how dare you… Gods gonna get you… it’s really o k … talk to Mary, and her buddies… didn’t you ever pray to your guardian angle… guess not… you ought to try… might get some advice… 👍
 
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Dolly:
Are the saints in heaven omnipresent and omniscient?
Definitely not. One doesn’t have to be omnipresent and/or omniscient to process even a trillion prayers per second. Even all of the prayers of every human in this life and in the next are merely finite.

If we are perfected as partakers in the divine nature so that we can see God face-to-face, then such intercessory capacity is more than possible. If it’s possible for finite creatures to be in union with the infinite God by vision, then it’s more than possible for the same finite creatures to process a finite number of prayers— even a trillion of them all at once.

What makes this possible? Grace.
 
This should help you out.

Cyril of Jerusalem:
"Then [during the Eucharistic prayer] we make mention also of those who have already fallen asleep: first, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, that through their prayers and supplications God would receive our petition . . . " (Catechetical Lectures 23:9 A.D. 350]).

Ephraim the Syrian:
“You victorious martyrs who endured torments gladly for the sake of the God and Savior, you who have boldness of speech toward the Lord himself, you saints, intercede for us who are timid and sinful men, full of sloth, that the grace of Christ may come upon us, and enlighten the hearts of all of us so that we may love him” (Commentary on Mark A.D. 370]).

Remember me, you heirs of God, you brethren of Christ; supplicate the Savior earnestly for me, that I may be freed through Christ from him that fights against me day by day” (The Fear at the End of Life A.D. 370]).

Cyprian of Carthage:
“Let us remember one another in concord and unanimity. Let us on both sides [of death] always pray for one another. Let us relieve burdens and afflictions by mutual love, that if one of us, by the swiftness of divine condescension, shall go hence first, our love may continue in the presence of the Lord, and our prayers for our brethren and sisters not cease in the presence of the Father’s mercy” (Letters 56[60]:5 A.D. 253]).

Clement of Alexandria:
“In this way is he [the true Christian] always pure for prayer. He also prays in the society of angels, as being already of angelic rank, and he is never out of their holy keeping; and **though he pray alone, he has the choir of the saints standing with him ** [in prayer]” (Miscellanies 7:12 A.D. 208]).

Origen:
But not the high priest [Christ] alone prays for those who pray sincerely, but also the angels . . . as also the souls of the saints who have already fallen asleep” (Prayer 11 A.D. 233]).

Methodius:
“Hail to you for ever, Virgin Mother of God, our unceasing joy, for to you do I turn again. You are the beginning of our feast; you are its middle and end; the pearl of great price that belongs to the kingdom; the fat of every victim, the living altar of the Bread of Life [Jesus]. Hail, you treasure of the love of God. Hail, you fount of the Son’s love for man. . . . You gleamed, sweet gift-bestowing Mother, with the light of the sun; you gleamed with the insupportable fires of a most fervent charity, bringing forth in the end that which was conceived of you . . . making manifest the mystery hidden and unspeakable, the invisible Son of the Father—the Prince of Peace, who in a marvelous manner showed himself as less than all littleness” (Oration on Simeon and Anna 14 A.D. 305]).

Therefore, we pray [ask] you, the most excellent among women, who glories in the confidence of your maternal honors, that you would unceasingly keep us in remembrance. O holy Mother of God, remember us, I say, who make our boast in you, and who in august hymns celebrate the memory, which will ever live, and never fade away” (ibid.).

“And you also, O honored and venerable Simeon, you earliest host of our holy religion, and teacher of the resurrection of the faithful, do be our patron and advocate with that Savior God, whom you were deemed worthy to receive into your arms. We, together with you, sing our praises to Christ, who has the power of life and death, saying, ‘You are the true Light, proceeding from the true Light; the true God, begotten of the true God’” (ibid.).

The Liturgy of St. Basil:
By the command of your only-begotten Son we communicate with the memory of your saints . . . by whose prayers and supplications have mercy upon us all, and deliver us for the sake of your holy name” (Liturgy of St. Basil A.D. 373]).

Gregory of Nazianz:
May you [Cyprian] look down from above propitiously upon us, and guide our word and life; and shepherd this sacred flock . . . gladden the Holy Trinity, before which you stand” (Orations 17[24] A.D. 380]).

"**Yes, I am well assured that [my father’s] intercession is of more avail now than was his instruction in former days, since he is closer to God, now that he has shaken off his bodily fetters, and freed his mind from the clay that obscured it, and holds conversation naked with the nakedness of the prime and purest mind . . . ** " (ibid., 18:4).
 
Gregory of Nyssa:
[Ephraim], you who are standing at the divine altar [in heaven] . . . bear us all in remembrance, petitioning for us the remission of sins, and the fruition of an everlasting kingdom” (Sermon on Ephraim the Syrian A.D. 380]).

Jerome:
“You say in your book that while we live we are able to pray for each other, but afterwards when we have died, the prayer of no person for another can be heard. . . . But if the apostles and martyrs while still in the body can pray for others, at a time when they ought still be solicitous about themselves, how much more will they do so after their crowns, victories, and triumphs?” (Against Vigilantius 6 A.D. 406]).
 
The Barrister:
Pray to saints? Nah, I go right to the source - I pray directly to the statues! 😃

Thank you for the laugh this early in the morning!!
 
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