Saints?

[nem]

If in the bible it states that would should only pray to god in the name of Jesus, then why do we pray to saints? Are saints suppose to be in heaven and that’s why they intercede for us and if so how do we know that they are in heaven?

 

[JCPhoenix]

There are 2 definitions of Saints, and both are referred to in the Bible:

• there are the common “saints”, referring to the believers. We are the saints of Christ, and we do intercede for each other as directed. Do you ask your friends and family to pray for you and do they request your prayers? That is intercession. And do you not ask for favors of God on their behalf, but in Jesus name?

Of course you do.

• The Saints we recognize are those who followed Christ down to his bloody footprints, in some cases. They are refered to in Rev. 3, among other places. Those are those “saints” of the earth who have left for eternity at God’s call, and although their physical bodies may have died, their immortal souls live on forever joined in the living Body of Christ. According ot Revelation, the incense referenced in the chapter refers to their prayers of intercession. They are those who so closely walked with Christ on earth that they hold a high place in Heaven and have God’s ear…and they will offer their prayers on our behalf.

No one really knows who is in heaven, when when you read about St. Augustine, St. Padre Pio, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Justin Martyr, St. Philomena…etc…you will see their sufferings and their spiritual and physical union with Christ. Can you find anything unchristian about them? They are likely in Heaven, adn we have to trust that they are…for if they are not then there is no hope for the rest of us who may aspire but never reach the examples they lived out every single day.

Read the lives of the saints and you may better understand the answers to all of your questions. They lived as examples of Christ on earth, the way we are all called to live out our faith.

I praise the Lord that we have such friends in high places! And I assure you…what they ask for on our behalf they ask for in the name of the Jesus, by the very Blood of the Lamb who was slain to bring us the eternity of Salvation.

 

[Barbara_Ann]

When I pray, I pray with the saints. I think about a particular saint and invite them to lead my prayers. I imagine that saint putting a hand on my shoulder and guiding me through my prayers and my life as I ask my close friends for advise. I think of saints as my network to God

 

[threej_lc]

JCPhoenix:

No one really knows who is in heaven, when when you read about St. Augustine, St. Padre Pio, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Justin Martyr, St. Philomena…etc…you will see their sufferings and their spiritual and physical union with Christ. Can you find anything unchristian about them? They are likely in Heaven, adn we have to trust that they are…for if they are not then there is no hope for the rest of us who may aspire but never reach the examples they lived out every single day.

Gonna have to disagree with you there. The church’s ceremony of canonization is an official, infallible pronouncement that a soul has earned the merit of heaven.

We can know they are in heaven, because we trust in the church who tells us so.

Josh

 

[itsjustdave1988]

nem:

If in the bible it states that would should only pray to god in the name of Jesus, then why do we pray to saints? Are saints suppose to be in heaven and that’s why they intercede for us and if so how do we know that they are in heaven?

See here:

Prayers to Mary and the saints?

 

[JCPhoenix]

threej_lc:

Gonna have to disagree with you there. The church’s ceremony of canonization is an official, infallible pronouncement that a soul has earned the merit of heaven.

We can know they are in heaven, because we trust in the church who tells us so.

Josh

You’re right in that the Church does give an infallible statement on this as part of the canonization process.

But we as the laity need to understand that this pronounciation is via the Holy Spirit, as we as fallible humans cannot EVER declare a judgment such as this (although it’s far better to judge someone into heaven than into hell!)

I think sometimes I’m a little too careful on my own part in that I don’t want to judge something reserved to God, and that is why I so lean on the Church to assist me (us) in understanding.

I did not mean to misspeak or to contradict Church teaching.

 

[Deacon_Tony560]

Very early in the history of the church, There were many martyrs. There are accounts in early documents of other Christians coming up to those who were about to become martyrs and asking them to put in a good word with Jesus for those left behind on this earth. We continue to seek the intercessions of the Holy Saints even today.

Deacon Tony

 

[PaulAckermann]

JCPhoenix:

No one really knows who is in heaven, when when you read about St. Augustine, St. Padre Pio, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Justin Martyr, St. Philomena…etc…you will see their sufferings and their spiritual and physical union with Christ. Can you find anything unchristian about them? They are likely in Heaven, adn we have to trust that they are…for if they are not then there is no hope for the rest of us who may aspire but never reach the examples they lived out every single day.

I agree with everything else you wrote but this one.

A priest friend once told me that one of the areas that the pope is infallible is in the canonization of saints. Canonization does not make a person a saint, it only recognizes him to be a saint. So we can know for certain that a canonized saint is in heaven, because the pope infallibly declares this to be so.

 

[PaulAckermann]

nem:

If in the bible it states that would should only pray to god in the name of Jesus, then why do we pray to saints? Are saints suppose to be in heaven and that’s why they intercede for us and if so how do we know that they are in heaven?

The Bible says we should only worship God, not that we only pray to God.

The Greek word for “pray” is simply to “to ask”. A person asking another for a favor, the Greek work for “to pray” is used. To pray meaning to sak for something was still retained in Old Shakespearean English (“I pray thee, please pass the salt.”). If we are forbidden to ask for anything but only from God, we could not even ask other for simple favor. You would be forbidden to ask your boss for a raise. You would be forbidden to ask you children to help out with some chores, etc.

That is all we a doing when we say we are praying to saints. We are using “pray” as was orginally used, to mean to ask for a favor,. We are asking the saints to pray for us, just as we may ask each other to pray for us. The Bible says the prayer of a righteous man avails much, so I would see much benefit to sak those who are already perfected to pray for me.

You may object that those in heaven do not hear us. But there is not a single verse in the Bible that says that. In contract there are several verses in the Bible that does support the fact that the dead in Christ are aware of what is happening to us. Jesus said that heaven as a whole rejoices when one sinner repents. Paul wrote in 1Cor 13 that once we are in heaven, we will know fully, even as we are fully known. Revelations told talk of the saints in heaven presentng to God as incense the prayer of those still on earth.

 

[PaulAckermann]

JCPhoenix:

No one really knows who is in heaven, when when you read about St. Augustine, St. Padre Pio, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Justin Martyr, St. Philomena…etc…you will see their sufferings and their spiritual and physical union with Christ. Can you find anything unchristian about them? They are likely in Heaven, adn we have to trust that they are…for if they are not then there is no hope for the rest of us who may aspire but never reach the examples they lived out every single day.

I agree with everything else you wrote but this one.

A priest friend once told me that one of the areas that the pope is infallible is in the canonization of saints. Canonization does not make a person a saint, it only recognizes him to be a saint. So we can know for certain that a canonized saint is in heaven, because the pope infallibly declares this to be so.