Scripture, intercession

[ane111]

Why do catholics ask for help from the saints like Mary and and St jude and so on? they are all dead so how can they help people.

Jesus is the New Covenant so people don’t have to go through the high priest for forgiveness, so why are catholic still doing it (confession through a priest)?

 

[Dorothy]

The saints are alive in Christ, and we, like them, are members of the Body of Christ the Church.

Just like I can ask you to pray for me, and I can join you in prayer for your intentions, the saints who are already enjoying the vision of God can pray for us.

Jesus gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins after He rose from the dead and appeared to them in the upper room. The priest is there in the place of Christ, it is our Lord that forgives our sins through the priest. This Sacrament is very consoling and grace-filled. It is great to hear the words of absolution being said for us.

 

[Wolniewicz]

Why do catholics ask for help from the saints like Mary and and St jude and so on? they are all dead so how can they help people.

Jesus is the New Covenant so people don’t have to go through the high priest for forgiveness, so why are catholic still doing it (confession through a priest)?

If you read the part on confession in the CCC it clearly states that priests do NOT forgive sins, only GOD forgives sins. By going to the priest you are showing your repentance and willingness/ yearning to be with God. I don’t know the bible verse on top of my head; but when Jesus is back and appears to the Apostles, he says something along the lines of “The sins you forgive are forgiven, and the sins you withhold are withheld”.

Regarding asking for intercession, there are points in the afterlife (Heaven, purgatory) Where it makes sense to ask for their prayers. If they are a Saint or Mary and with God; Who better to ask to pray for you, than from someone who is with God now?

 

[JRKH]

Why do catholics ask for help from the saints like Mary and and St Jude and so on? they are all dead so how can they help people.

*John 11:
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” *

If Jesus said that those who live and believe in him will never die, then how can you say the saints are dead???

Jesus is the New Covenant so people don’t have to go through the high priest for forgiveness, so why are catholic still doing it (confession through a priest)?

John 20:
21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

The Apostles are sent as Jesus is sent with the poser to forgive sins or not to forgive them. In order to forgive, the apostle (and their successors the bishops and priests) need to know what they are, thus - confession.

Peace
James

 

[curlycool89]

Why do catholics ask for help from the saints like Mary and and St jude and so on? they are all dead so how can they help people.

Here’s how I’ve thought about the intercession of the Saints.

First of all, God is God of the living, as Jesus tells the Sadducees when they ask about the resurrection from the dead (Matthew something I think).

Second, God wants us to participate in our own salvation. Christ died for us, but we must choose to accept that grace by our lives and actions.

Thirdly, we are also encouraged to pray for one another and help each other. The Great Commissioning is to spread the Gospel to all nations, that is to help others to also find salvation. I read a line a while back that went “Who are you going to bring with you to Heaven?”

Fourthly, as was said above, the people in Heaven are very much alive in God. In fact, they are more alive because they are in perfect union with God (that is what Heaven is).

So, the question is does this all stop when you’re finally in Heaven? I say no, you are alive, and I argue that you are still part of that Great Commissioning. The Saints in Heaven are still trying to help people on the way to Salvation in the way that they can: by praying for them. God still wants them to participate in Heaven as they did on earth.

Does that make sense?

 

[japhy]

Here’s a conversation I had with another Christian about the intercession of the saints.

 

[Todd_Easton]

Jesus is the New Covenant so people don’t have to go through the high priest for forgiveness, so why are catholic still doing it (confession through a priest)?

Doesn’t James 5:16 command us to “confess your sins to one another”? Is this command not satisfied when we confess our sins to a Catholic priest?

 

[thistle]

Why do catholics ask for help from the saints like Mary and and St jude and so on? they are all dead so how can they help people.

Jesus is the New Covenant so people don’t have to go through the high priest for forgiveness, so why are catholic still doing it (confession through a priest)?

catholic.com/library/Praying_to_the_Saints.asp
catholic.com/thisrock/2000/0011sbs.asp
catholic.com/library/Intercession_of_the_Saints.asp

 

[midori]

I’d go so far as to think that those who have predeceased us and are currently in heaven enjoying the presence of God are far more alive than any of us here on earth.

(Luke 20)
They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. 37 But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’** 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

We can all agree that nothing impure exists in heaven. We can also agree that people on earth, no matter how holy or careful, are prone to sin. If I can ask my friend or my neighbor to pray for me and my intentions, and that’s a good thing, even though both of us still continue to sin and might only think of God for a few minutes/hours each day— how much more powerful do you think the prayers are of someone who is already purified and is spending the rest of eternity perpetually praising God in his own presence?**

 

[promethius]

Why do catholics ask for help from the saints like Mary and and St jude and so on? they are all dead so how can they help people.

Let me ask you a question: why are you a christian if you think the saints are dead? If Jesus is a liar and we have eternal death rather than eternal life, then why worship a liar and a cheat like that?

Conversely, if you believe Jesus was telling the truth and that we have eternal life after death, then let me ask you this question:
**Question: **You have something in common with the saints (you’re both alive!), so what do YOU do to help people?
Answer: You pray for them. Just like the saints pray for us to God. The only difference is that a Saint is alive in heaven, they are righteous (the prayers of the righteous availeth much, or so the bible says), they don’t need sleep, they don’t need to stop and eat, they don’t have mood swings and aren’t hampered by desire for sin, their will is perfected in God’s presence.

In other words, they can pray UNCEASINGLY and with perfect devotion to God. And that’s a pretty awesome gift for God to provide to His church… a band of people who will always pray for us!

Jesus is the New Covenant so people don’t have to go through the high priest for forgiveness, so why are catholic still doing it (confession through a priest)?

Hmmn… I seem to recall that Jesus IS our High Priest, so we ABSOLUTELY DO have to go through Him for forgiveness!

But what has our High Priest, Jesus, told us on this subject? That as the Father sent Him, so He sends the apostles with His authority, that they are to bind and loose sins, and whatever they bind will be bound in Heaven, whatever they loose will be loosed in Heaven, then He tells them to go forth, make disciples of all nations, baptising them in His name and to CONFESS and hear confessions of sins! He then breathed HIS SPIRIT into them with this commission, and they, in turn, acting on the authority of Christ, passed on this commission through the laying of hands to the various priests and bishops of the Church.

So why do we confess to the priest? Because the High Priest told us to and granted that authority to the church!