Struggle in doubt

[mandy2]

Hi everyone, sometimes, even many times, I have odd feelings about the Church. I truly believe in it because of the Eucharist and Apostolic Tradition and so on, but sometimes I feel like we go to the saints more than God. I know saints help, but sometimes we go to the saints or talk about the Pope more than God. Can someone help me? I want this doubting feeling to go away but at the same time I don’t want to settle with it being okay to talk to saints or even Mary more than God, even though they are great, they are not God.
I know they love us and want us in Heaven, but doesn’t God as well, like time infinity, because He is God?

 

[CB_Catholic]

Hi everyone, sometimes, even many times, I have odd feelings about the Church. I truly believe in it because of the Eucharist and Apostolic Tradition and so on, but sometimes I feel like we go to the saints more than God. I know saints help, but sometimes we go to the saints or talk about the Pope more than God. Can someone help me? I want this doubting feeling to go away but at the same time I don’t want to settle with it being okay to talk to saints or even Mary more than God, even though they are great, they are not God.
I know they love us and want us in Heaven, but doesn’t God as well, like time infinity, because He is God?

Mandy, that is entirely up to you, how much time you spend praying directly to God. I am one who does not spend much time praying to the Saints (although I do on occasion, esp. St. Monica and St Therese and saying the Rosary). But let no one tell you that you have to pray to the Saints to be a good Catholic. The Saints are our heroes, they are Christians who have lived spiritual lives above the ordinary, but they are ordinary people who can show us how to live extraordinary lives, we benefit by appreciating that. But that does not mean we have to pray to them for intercession, we certainly can go directly to God. You pray as the Holy Spirit directs you, not as other people direct you.

As for the Pope, well, right now we have a very pastoral and charismatic Pope whom people seem to relate to well on a human level, and in the past half-century we have been blessed with a number of Popes like that. Plus, communication is such now that every move a Pope makes or every word he speaks can be seen and heard almost instantly throughout the world. That was not so in the past, so people are more aware of what is going on. I know that my friends and I will often discuss something the Pope has said, because we feel he is helping us to grow closer to God, that God is using him to speak to us. That is one way God speaks to us, through the Church, as well as Sacred Scripture and other people.

I hope this helps.

 

[mandy2]

Thank you, this makes me feel a lot better

 

[steymard]

Your Catholic prayer life will be properly oriented towards God and yet also fully embracing the communion of Saints if you devoutly attend Mass, participate in the Holy Sacrifice interiorly, and seek to live out the Mass in your daily life. Everything else will fall into place. This prayer may help. I try to say it every morning when I wake up:

“O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and suffering of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sins, the reunion of all Christians; I offer them for the intentions of our Bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month. Amen.”

You can say this prayer even if you are unable to attend Mass that day. This way, EVERYTHING is offered up to Jesus in a conscious manner.

In addition the Holy Sacrifice makes possible the communion of Saints, it invigorates it, it is the heavenly liturgy that the Saints participate in in Heaven. When you acclaim Holy, Holy, Holy at the Mass you acclaim it with all the angels and saints, and you are drawn up into Heaven at the Eucharistic Prayer. The saints themselves are oriented towards Mass. If you orient yourself towards Mass you will be always comfortable praying to and praying with the saints.

 

[tawny]

Hi everyone, sometimes, even many times, I have odd feelings about the Church. I truly believe in it because of the Eucharist and Apostolic Tradition and so on, but sometimes I feel like we go to the saints more than God. I know saints help, but sometimes we go to the saints or talk about the Pope more than God. Can someone help me? I want this doubting feeling to go away but at the same time I don’t want to settle with it being okay to talk to saints or even Mary more than God, even though they are great, they are not God.
I know they love us and want us in Heaven, but doesn’t God as well, like time infinity, because He is God?

We pray to the Saints as intercessors of our prayers. That is why as Catholics, we believe in the Communion of Saints as professed in the Creed.