Tell me why I should " pray to the Saints"

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I don’t feel right about "praying to the Saints. Tell me why I should. What does it mean to venerate them also?
 
StephenL said:
I don’t feel right about "praying to the Saints. Tell me why I should. What does it mean to venerate them also?
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Prayer is just communication. Do you ask your friends to help you? To pray with you? If so, you should ask the saints as well because, well, they are your friends, and they also happen to know God as well as a person can–because, in heaven, they are united to Him PERFECTLY.

Let’s think about somebody like St Paul. He never met Jesus ‘on earth’, but He knew Jesus well because Jesus revealed Himself to Paul, and inspired Paul. Imagine that you were offered the chance to meet St Paul. Wouldn’t you like to? Not 'instead of" Jesus, but in ADDITION?

Do you think that if you happened to talk to St Paul, that it was taking time away from Jesus? That you should only care about God?

But didn’t Jesus give us TWO commandments? Not simply to love God, but also to love our neighbor? Didn’t He say, not that “I will be God alone” but that “I and the Father are one” and that His followers would ALSO be One IN HIM? So the saints who have gone before us are already ONE with Christ, and communication with them is also communication with Christ.

If you think that you’re only going to pray ‘directly to God’, well, you might think that you aren’t, or don’t have to, pray to the saints. . .but you really are. You just aren’t aware of it. Because the saints aren’t some place off in heaven playing canasta while Jesus is in some little compound all by Himself–they are united as ONE. What Jesus knows, they know (and we will also, though now we ‘see in a glass darkly’). What He hears, they hear. What He feels, they feel. Perfectly. What a beautiful thing it will be for us to be united perfectly in the body and blood, soul and divinity, of Christ. . mind, body, soul. . .never ever to be separated from Him or from those who are ALIVE IN HIM. . .ever, ever again.

Venerate means to respect. Some people here on earth are very ‘saintly’. Think of people like Mother Teresa and Billy Graham. They are sincere, loving, caring, helpful. . .and since these are qualities which we should strive to have ourselves, we respect people who DO have them.
 
It’s not necessarily praying TO the saints. It’s more of asking the saints to pray FOR you and to intercede for you with God. They are in a special position to help us considering they are with God in Heaven.
 
Dancer1409 said:
It’s not necessarily praying TO the saints. It’s more of asking the saints to pray FOR you and to intercede for you with God. They are in a special position to help us considering they are with God in Heaven.
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Indeed, for example, after praying the rosary, I say Saint Pio of Pitrelcina, “help me get to heaven.”

Or “Saint Joseph pray for us”
 
A lot of times, I find myself in a situation where I’m in trouble but I don’t know what to pray for. I figure that the saints have already seen God face to face and are more perfectly aligned with God’s will, so they know what I should be praying for. So, I ask them to pray for me.
 
StephenL said:
I don’t feel right about "praying to the Saints. Tell me why I should. What does it mean to venerate them also?
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Well, have you ever asked anyone to pray for you? We believe that it is okay to ask others for their prayers. In the same way I can ask you, or you can ask me for prayers, we believe we can ask those who have died.

Well, in Matthew 22:31-32, it says God is the God of the LIVING. So, when we “die”, we continue to live. Those who have lived exemplary lives, like the Blessed Virgin Mary and saints, we believe they are in heaven.

Now, I notice that even Christ spoke to both Elijah and Moses during the transfiguration, (and this was not sinful).

Then, in Luke 16:19-31, the rich man who died turned to Abraham for intercession (again, this was intercessory prayer, and it was not sinful).

In Luke 20:36, it says the saints in heaven are like the angels.

2 Peter 1:4 says that people in heaven are partakers in the divine nature.

In Rev. 6:10, it says the martyrs in heaven know what is happening here on earth.

In Rev. 5:8, it says that people who have died and are now in heaven present our prayers to the Lord in the form of incense.

Now, I know some also have difficulty honoring and venerating the Blessed Virgin Mary, specifically. Yet, God, himself, honored her. He sent the Angel Gabriel from heaven, and God’s words, through the Angel Gabriel, to Mary, his most perfect creation, were to honor her.

So, I see God, himself, honored her. Further, at that moment, it said that ALL generations (including our own) would call her “Blessed”. Catholics still do this, but many other faiths refuse to, not even to fulfill scripture.

With the saints, we honor them and imitate them because, despite their humanity, and sometimes former sinfulness, they are examples to us.

We Catholics also believe we are not separated from them, but in communion with the saints, one. We believe that, together, we all, including those who have died, form the Body of Christ, the Church.

We believe it is advantageous to have someone who is already in heaven intercede on our behalf, because we are often not in a state of grace. It may be more pleasing to God to hear from someone in a state of grace, the Blessed Mother, a saint, or an angel than us in our current state.

Now, we do also pray directly to God. We have the option. We can ask the martyrs and those in heaven to also intercede on our behalf.

Intercessory prayer is also similar to the dynamics of a family. Sometimes, a child will be on the “outs” with the father, will get “no” as a response. If the child speaks to his mother, asks for her to put in a good word for him, it sometimes has been known to work.
 
Dancer1409 said:
It’s not necessarily praying TO the saints. It’s more of asking the saints to pray FOR you and to intercede for you with God. They are in a special position to help us considering they are with God in Heaven.
Click to expand...
It is praying TO the Saints. The verb ‘to pray’ means to ask (Latin precare - to ask, to implore)

Look at Shakespeare Hamlet Act I Scene II, Queen Gertrude is talking to her son, Hamlet

Queen:" I pray thee,stay with us, go not to Whittenburg"

She was asking him to stay with them and not to go to Whittenburg

Or from Much Ado, Act 5 Scene I, Leonardo is addressing Antonio
“I pray thee, cease thy counsel,Which falls into mine ears as profitless”

In each, case, they were praying (asking) another human to do something.

Now look at what we say to Mary “Pray for us now, and at the hour of our death”

So yes, we are praying TO Mary, and we are asking her to pray for US.

Personally, I think that is a very reasonable request, to ask someone else to pray for you. 👍
 
All of the discussion here seems reasonable, but where can we find the doctrine scripturally? I totally understand the Lord’s edict for us to pray for each other and that prayers of the faithful living (as in James 5) often can call down the blessings of heaven. I’m interested to understand how this practice came about. I am not Catholic but hold much respect for the Church and its members.

Thanks,
~Nick
 
I find this strange that people think it is ok to pary for each other and the minute we mention Saints alarms, red lights and all caution signs start!. If I can ask someone who I’m not sure if he/she is good as a person, why not ask a Saint that I know is in heaven?
 
Thanks for your clear explanation, Clearwater. This makes total sense and provides good insight into the practice.

~Nick
 
We pray too Saint,s,so they can ask Mary too take our Intention to Jesus her son,threw their Intercesssion we ask the Saint, that we need thier help. Saint,s have been know to help people,when they pray too them
 
Just as promised in the Memorare, I don’t know of a single time when I asked our Holy Mother for help that she did NOT help me. I KNOW asking Mary for help and believe asking the Saints for help WORKS.
 
I would just like to add that our faith calls us to community. Christian revelation has always been to a people. For example (in contrast), while in Buddhism individuals attain enlightenment, God gives the commandments to the people of Israel. David is the king of a nation. Jesus calls a group of people.

Therefore, there is something fundamental about our belief in what is good that involves other people. While you must of course have a personal relationship with God, God also invites you to find him in other people, and to love other people out of love for him. In heaven, it won’t just be you and God, it will be all who love God.

As well, as Saint Paul says, Christ has no hands or feet but ours now. The saints lived that call out, to be Christ like. They allowed God to manifest himself in different ways. To venerate them really means to acknowledge God’s goodness in them. After all, he created them, and it is his grace (with their consent) which brought them to holiness. To venerate the saints is really to give glory to God…

Its quite natural to ask for people who are already with God for help to grow closer to him. You may find a saint who is special to you because they are similar, or even different in a striking way. This saint may help motivate you by being an example. But its nice that they can be your friend too. Saints are you friends in high places. A very high place.
 
You don’t have to pray to saints. According to the Council of Trent, you just have to accept that it’s legitimate to do so. I can’t find my Catholic Dictionary right now. But that’s the gist of what it says.
 
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