Question on Praying to the Saints

[fjb3970]

How would you explain to someone that praying to the Saints is not the same thing as conjuring up the dead and séances?

 

[odhiambo]

I am confident this will answer your question. It did just that for me.

catholic.com/library/Praying_to_the_Saints.asp

 

[Dave_B]

If they are a Christian they should already believe in the Communion of Saints as being real, and the saints as alive and in heaven. At the protestant church I attend we recite the nicene creed in the morning service and Apostles creed in the evening service.

 

[Cat_Herder]

Here you go

 

[MarcoPolo]

The simple answer is because asking someone else to pray for you is not an attempt to conjure up anyone.

Conjuring and seances are attempts to produce manifestations of the deceased, typically for the purpose of acquiring information. Asking another member of the Body of Christ for intercession does not resemble that.

 

[anonymous_in_fl]

I had it explained to me like this while I was converting from Baptist to Catholic:

“We don’t pray* to *saints; we ask them to pray for us to Jesus”.

There’s a big difference!

This helped me a lot when I was trying to understand the concept of asking saints to pray for us.

It’s like asking a good frined or family member here on earth to join with you in prayer for your needs, only we are asking the saints in heaven to pray for us instead.

 

[fjb3970]

Thanks for your answers. I know this argument will come up while explaining my faith, so I wanted to be prepared.