Saints?

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I am in RCIA currently, converting from Presbyterianism and will be confirmed in about two weeks. However, there is one issue that is still on my heart, and I am having trouble with it.

Jesus says that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Light, and that no one comes to the father but through him.

Why is it then, that Catholics ask saints for help? Shouldn’t we be asking Jesus, or even just the Lord? Aren’t Catholics placing saints on the same level as God? Is this morally right?

I apologize for just bursting in here with this question and not introducing myself in a post first, but I would really like to know the answer to this question soon, and before I make such a serious commitment.

Thank you,
Elizabeth
 
sodizzy said:
I am in RCIA currently, converting from Presbyterianism and will be confirmed in about two weeks. However, there is one issue that is still on my heart, and I am having trouble with it.

Jesus says that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Light, and that no one comes to the father but through him.

Why is it then, that Catholics ask saints for help? Shouldn’t we be asking Jesus, or even just the Lord? Aren’t Catholics placing saints on the same level as God? Is this morally right?

I apologize for just bursting in here with this question and not introducing myself in a post first, but I would really like to know the answer to this question soon, and before I make such a serious commitment.

Thank you,
Elizabeth
Click to expand...
Think of saints as stained-glass windows were originally meant to be seen. Stained-glass windows were originally intended to be “symbols” (for lack of a better word, it’s late and I’m tired) of God. God is the light, and through his servants portrayed in the windows (the saints) we not only see God, but we see a beautiful display of God that is easier to comprehend. Seeing God as He is would be impossible for our humanity to comprehend, but through His saints, we are able to identify and truly get a glimpse at who God is and how we are called to live like Him.

For example, when praying, if a particular saint’s life applies to what you’re praying about, it may be easier to go to God through understanding the saint’s life, and asking that saint to intercede for you.

Christ absolutely is the one and only Way to God, and the saints can help us find that Way.
 
Think of the saints as fellow Christians. Don’t think of them as deities in competition with the Deity . They are Christians who have gone before you in faith and are separated by only the thin veil between this world and the next. They want to help you, just like your fellow Christians here on earth, they will pray for you in the same way. Find a saint who’s life speaks to you in a special way, who you identify with. Read about them, get to know them, and then ask them to pray for you, in the same way you would ask your neighbor to pray for you. This makes it easier. Some advice from a convert who struggled with the same issue a couple of years back. 👍

pax tecum
 
That verse refers to salvation, doesn’t it? All shall be saved, meet the Father, only by the way laid out by Christ. It doesn’t reference the saints or intercessory prayer.
 
Hi, Elizabeth, welcome! 👋

Elizabeth, if you ask me to pray for you, iis this taking anything away from God?
No, you would be just asking me to join my prayers with yours, remembering that Jesus said “if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted by my Father in heaven. For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.” Matthew 18:19-20

Weon earth are brothers and sisters in the Lord. But so also are the holy ones in heaven! They are our brothers and sisters, who have proved themselves as worthy examples of Christian life, and just as you would happily ask me or any of your fellow Christians to pray for you, in like manner we ask our sisters and brothers in heaven to pray for us…to join their holy prayers with ours.

I imagine that your next question might be, why ask Mary to pray for us? We don’t need to look further than the wedding feast of Cana, where Jesus granted His mother’s wish even thoug, as He sai, it was before His time to do anything like the miracle He performedin public at her subtle request, a request made with such trust that even before He committed Himself to performing it, she had already to the servants to do exactly as He would ask. It wasn’t even a matter of life and death, but a kind request to save the hosts from embaressment.
In this way, Jesus witnessed that He is open to granting the prayers of His Mother that she makes on our behalf!

I hope this helps, Elizabeth!
Warm wishes, Trishie

:harp: I praise and thank God for the graces He has given you!
 
Oh boy! It’s late and I’m tired but I just have to tell you my experience.
Last Sept husband & I were getting ready to go to our first RCIA meeting. We had soul-searched & been anxious for years. We had felt we were being called. (actually I am a baptized Catholic but I had been in another church for years & I came back in 1994 for a few years then dropped out again & then last May I came back in through confession). Husband was joining. And I was going to do my confirmation.
So we were getting ready & we both were very serious about this committment & I said that I felt frightened and could we pray. Husband said yes. And we prayed about feeling frightened. We wanted to be sure we were actually doing God’s will.
When we got the the area of the church that we were to meet in there was/and is a painting of St. Teresa of Avila. I walked up and read the brass plaque on the picture and it says; quoting St. Teresa; “Do not be frightened to embark on this journey”.
I almost fainted!
Tonight I re-read it. We will be doing our final joining at the Easter Vigil in two weeks also.
Another member of our class said she also had an experience of St. Teresa of Avila. She says she had been coming to mass & one day she felt St. Teresa come into the pew and tell her to join the church. And she is joining and also her husband.
St Teresa of Avila is the name of our parish.
I am going to take her for my confirmation saints name.
I agree that it’s only Jesus our Lord & Saviour that we can go through to get to heaven1
The lives of the saints are examples. And they can help us in our walk.
I hope this makes sense and maybe helps.
Soon to be in full communion. 🙂 God bless you!
 
If you asked me to pray for you, you’d be reasonably sure that I’d do it, right?

And if I make it to heaven, would I cease praying? Of course not!

Thus as it is with the saints. Their powers of intercession are only because of and only through their devotion to Christ.

Hope that helps.
 
Saints (and Mary, too) can be easily explained intellectually and theologically, as other posters have done, but they do take a bit of “getting used to” for those of us who convert to the faith. And that’s okay. Just keep loving God, keep talking to Jesus, keep the Holy Spirit moving in your life and you will find that those heavenly brothers and sisters (and our Blessed Mother) will love you so much, and be making **your **concerns and prayers **their **concerns and prayers, that you will eventually find yourself knowing them in a real and personal way. Just like a loving friendship, it may not come quickly, but it will last forever (and ever). 👍
 
Good answers.

We are united in spirit and soul with those who have gone before us. Those in heaven are no longer in their mortal bodies, as we are here on earth. But we are still in one spirit with them as the body of Christ.

The soul lives on after death, only the location of it changes.
 
sodizzy said:
I am in RCIA currently, converting from Presbyterianism and will be confirmed in about two weeks. However, there is one issue that is still on my heart, and I am having trouble with it.

Jesus says that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Light, and that no one comes to the father but through him.

Why is it then, that Catholics ask saints for help? Shouldn’t we be asking Jesus, or even just the Lord? Aren’t Catholics placing saints on the same level as God? Is this morally right?

I apologize for just bursting in here with this question and not introducing myself in a post first, but I would really like to know the answer to this question soon, and before I make such a serious commitment.

Thank you,
Elizabeth
Click to expand...
Hi Elizabeth,

This is the best way I can explain this: Ok, let’s say you’re talking to a friend, and you ask them “Could you pray for me?” It’s pretty much the same principle with saints. Saints were just people like you and I who lived extraordinary lives for Jesus Christ. We ask them to interceed, meaning ask Christ, for whatever blessings or graces we need, because we believe they are up there in heaven with them. We do not worship them, we just honor and respect them because of their holy lives.

-Jeanne
 
sodizzy said:
I am in RCIA currently, converting from Presbyterianism and will be confirmed in about two weeks. However, there is one issue that is still on my heart, and I am having trouble with it.

Jesus says that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Light, and that no one comes to the father but through him.

Why is it then, that Catholics ask saints for help? Shouldn’t we be asking Jesus, or even just the Lord? Aren’t Catholics placing saints on the same level as God? Is this morally right?

I apologize for just bursting in here with this question and not introducing myself in a post first, but I would really like to know the answer to this question soon, and before I make such a serious commitment.

Thank you,
Elizabeth
Click to expand...
catholic.com/thisrock/1990/9007chap.asp
catholic.com/library/Praying_to_the_Saints.asp
catholic.com/library/Intercession_of_the_Saints.asp
scripturecatholic.com/saints.html
 
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