Understanding The Catholic Church

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skyjoy00 said:
and why Catholics pray to saints as well as the emphasis on Mother Mary.
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A lot of non-Catholics misunderstand this part. It’s not that we’re praying to them in the same way that we pray to God. It’s more like, “Hey, while you’re up there, can you put in a good word for me with the big guy?”
 
Welcome to the forums, skyjoy00! I hope that you find them welcoming and informative.
skyjoy00 said:
why Catholics pray to saints
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As to why Catholics pray to saints - imagine that tomorrow I was going in for open heart surgery, and I said to you, “skyjoy, I’m really nervous about my surgery, would you mind including me in your prayers tonight?” Chances are you would be happy to do so. Well, the Catholic idea of praying to saints isn’t much different from that. We aren’t praying to them because we think God lacks the power to help us - that he in some way ‘needs’ the prayers, and we don’t pray to them because we think that God will say ‘no’ and that we need the saints to convince him against his better judgment to answer our prayers. We are simply asking the saints to include us in their prayers.

But why? Surely God doesn’t need their prayers. And that’s very true, he doesn’t. So then why would he ask us to pray for others? I think its because there is a certain goodness that a soul obtains by aiding another, and I see no reason why this good would be absent in Heaven. Perhaps God allows this because it provides a good to the saints in Heaven that they would not have if God didn’t allow their prayers for us to help. By doing this, God is allowing the saints in Heaven to, in a way, take part in his generosity and providence that he provides when he answers our prayers.
 
why Catholics pray to saints
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To the @SPBlitz comments I would add, God loves each and every one of us and we are saved as individuals, but He desires that we come to Him together, as one community (of saints), lifting each other up. We’re in this boat together!
 
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Cor_ad_Cor said:
@(name removed by moderator) @skyjoy00 @7_Sorrows
Reading the interaction here between you three made me think of something else I often tell non-Catholics in person: we don’t speak the same language! 😁 This often leads to unintended misunderstandings (or worse!), so I’m glad you all got that cleared up.

OP, as a convert myself (long story, but the Baptist Church is part of it), learning how Catholics talk about things vs the standard Evangelical Protestant language - same words, different meanings, etc. - was part of my conversion and “inculturation” to the Church. Don’t be afraid to ask what we mean when we say certain things, and I hope you’ll overlook some of the awkward responses you may get from Catholics from time to time due to being “lost in translation”.
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Could you explain what you are referring to? You lost me.
@Cor_ad_Cor
 
Just saying we often use the same words with different meanings. For example, “sanctuary” - Catholics mean the space immediately surrounding the altar (enclosed by the rail when/where those exist); Protestants are usually referring to the entire nave.

It can lead to misunderstandings in bigger concepts beyond simple words.
 
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@skyjoy00,

I’m a convert from Lutheranism myself.

Here’s some basics:

A: Read Romans. When you get to Romans 3:28, carefully note that Saint Paul says “ faith apart from works of the law. “ Protestants misunderstand that to mean apart from works. Saint Paul wasn’t saying that. He was saying the law. As in the Old Testament Law of the Mosaic Law. In the Old Testament, justification was by works of the law. Saint Paul makes the transition, starting in Romans 3:28 and onward through the rest of Romans 3-4; that to justification by faith. Faith is understood very simply: I believe in Jesus; so I do as He tells me. Belief+Works=Faith. That’s salvation in a nutshell. Remember: Jesus says: “Those who do the Will of the Father shall enter heaven. “ Jesus will judge us by what we do. Not by what we believe.

B: The priest acts in Persona Christi. From Latin it translates to: In the the Person of Christ. He acts in Christ’s place for us; shepherding us and ministering the Sacraments to us.

C: Praying to the Saints is simple. They’re in heaven and see God face to face. When we pray to the Saints, we’re asking them to pray for us to God. Like I would when I ask you to pray for me. In archaic English, the word Pray; means ask. If I ask you for a glass of water in archaic English, I’d say: “ I pray thee for a glass of water. “

D: Mary. The Blessed Virgin Mary is:

1: Mother of God
2: Perpetual Virgin
3: Immaculately Conceived. She was conceived without Original Sin and didn’t have temptations to sin like we do. In other words, Our Lady is and always was sinless.
4: Assumed Body and Soul into heaven. That means she is in heaven, body and soul. All other Saints in heaven are there as souls only.

Think of her as your second Mom in heaven who loves you and prays for you and always points you to her Son, saying: “ Do as He tells you. “

E: At the Mass, Father confects the Host. Transubstantiating it into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.

F: In Confession, Father acts in Persona Christi, hearing our Confession as Christ does and in Christ’s Authority, Father absolves us of our sins and restores us to a state of grace. With the Sacrament of Confession, we know for a concrete, tangible fact that God has forgiven us for our sins. We hear it in Father’s words to us.
 
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So who are all the saints that Catholics pray for other than Mother Mary? (Forgive my ignorance)
 
Here’s some more basics, @skyjoy00:

G: The Holy Father is the Successor of Saint Peter and the head of the Church as the Vicar of Christ. His duties was laid out to him by Christ Himself:

“ Upon this rock, (Peter comes from Petras or rock in Greek; Jesus was talking directly to Saint Peter and even giving him a new name) I shall build My Church… Feed My lambs… Tend My sheep. “

The Pope is Pastor and Teacher of Christians whose powers are for the service of the Church and as the foundation and source of the unity of both the bishops and company of the faithful.
 
You’re fine, @skyjoy00.

Well, there are countless saints. I’d suggest you look them up, especially on a good Catholic website.

My favorites are:

Our Lady
Saint Ignatius de Loyola
Saint Benedict of Nursia
Saint Michael the Archangel
 
What makes the church recognize specific saints if we all are saints?
 
Well, we are all called to be Saints - but we (i e people who are alive) aren’t saints yet. A Saint is simply someone who is in Heaven.
 
@skyjoy00,

We’re all called to be saints. The official criteria to be a canonized Saint is:

A: To have lived a life of heroic charity and virtue. Like Saint Theresa of Calcutta or Pope Saint John Paul II.

B: Two miracles, proven by careful scientific analysis to have violated the known laws of nature and there is no other explanation; that are the result of someone praying to that Saint for their intercession.
 
Also of note - just because someone isnt canonized a saint doesn’t mean that they aren’t one. There are certainly more saints in heaven than those that are recognized by the church.
 
The thing about Purgatory is, @skyjoy00 is:

Purgatory is a place of purification. Purgatory comes from the word, purge; as to clean and purify.

When we die, we go to either of three places:

A: Heaven. If we die in a state of grace and lived a Saint’s life. Boom; we go straight to heaven.
B: Purgatory. If we die in a state of grace but still were attached to sins; we undergo the purifying fire of Purgatory to purge those attachments to sin. Once the purging is done, we ascend into heaven clean and pure.
C: We die in a state of mortal sin and unrepentant; we go to hell. God doesn’t condemn people to hell. People freely choose to go to hell and God gives us that free choice.
 
Okay so we are saints because we follow the path of God and do His will but we are also unworthy(yet) to be called saints until our day of judgement and purification. I hope that hits close to home?
 
I think you got it right, @skyjoy00. We don’t know where we’ll end up until we die and we are judged.
 
Amen, @(name removed by moderator)!

I’ve heard it said: If I made it to Purgatory; I know I’ll make it to heaven. It’s the antechamber to heaven anyway.
 
This time of year, if you visit a Catholic church, they may have calendars for the new year, that will have the special feasts and saints days listed. Most parishes give these freely or a small donation. As more saints were recognized (canonically) the calendar of saints was revised to include more of the recent ones, necessarily dropping lesser known ones.

Edit @skyjoy00, Everyone has their favourite saint(s) depending on their culture, spiritual and intellectual temperament and life experience. We turn to the saints to follow their example of conforming their will to God’s will, in their particular circumstances.
 
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