Why do we pray to saints, when God said

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droopy

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Why do we pray to saints, when God said, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” If we pray to saints for help more often then God himself, wouldn’t that be treating them as a god? Why can’t i just pray to God and not the Saints. I mean, God does have more ‘power’ then them.

P.s This is my first time posting here, im sorry if this is in the wrong forums:shrug:
 
Hi droopy, well do you ever ask your friends to pray for you? why, why not just go straight to God? 🙂 it doesn’t displease Him when we pray for one another… so neither does it displease Him when we ask the Saints to pray for us. They’re part of the Church just like our Catholic friends on earth. God bless
 
droopy said:
Why do we pray to saints, when God said, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” If we pray to saints for help more often then God himself, wouldn’t that be treating them as a god? Why can’t i just pray to God and not the Saints. I mean, God does have more ‘power’ then them.

P.s This is my first time posting here, im sorry if this is in the wrong forums:shrug:
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The context of your question sort of makes me suspicious. What do you mean by “pray to?” We only pray THROUGH Saints. That is, we ask them to pray for us. We do not pray TO the Saints.
 
Shiranui117 said:
The context of your question sort of makes me suspicious. What do you mean by “pray to?” We only pray THROUGH Saints. That is, we ask them to pray for us. We do not pray TO the Saints.
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But why not pray straight to God? Whenever i pray to St.Anthony to find something - he is patron of lost things- i usually say the a decade of the hail mary and ask him to help me. However, why can’t God help me? What difference does it make?
 
droopy said:
Why do we pray to saints, when God said, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” If we pray to saints for help more often then God himself, wouldn’t that be treating them as a god? Why can’t i just pray to God and not the Saints. I mean, God does have more ‘power’ then them.

P.s This is my first time posting here, im sorry if this is in the wrong forums:shrug:
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There are good explanations on this sight, however we are more asking them to pray for us, not praying to them and definitely not worshipping them.
 
droopy said:
Why do we pray to saints, when God said, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” If we pray to saints for help more often then God himself, wouldn’t that be treating them as a god? Why can’t i just pray to God and not the Saints. I mean, God does have more ‘power’ then them.

P.s This is my first time posting here, im sorry if this is in the wrong forums:shrug:
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When we pray to the Saints, we pray for them to pray for us. We can ask the Saints to pray for us, just like we can ask our family or friends to pray for us. Of course, a Saint is far closer to God than our family or friends are. We pray to God, and, in the course of our prayers, can ask the Saints to pray for us.

God bless you.
 
droopy said:
But why not pray straight to God? Whenever i pray to St.Anthony to find something - he is patron of lost things- i usually say the a decade of the hail mary and ask him to help me. However, why can’t God help me? What difference does it make?
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God can help you, and if your prayer is answered it is answered by God not the Saint.
 
There is a difference between prayer and worship. To pray means “to ask.” I might ask a favor of a friend. I go to a doctor when I am sick or have a carpenter make repairs on my home. While I expect these people to provide specific services, I do not worship any one of them.
The lives of the saints provide an example of how mortals like myself overcame their failings. They are the heroes of our faith who help guide us through similar difficulties that we share.
The most common Marian prayer is the Hail Mary which comes directly out of the first chapter of Luke. The angel addressed Mary, “Hail Mary full of grace…” The final words of the prayer are “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.” Mary’s fiat, her “yes,” allowed Christ to be born through her. He alone is the Savior of the world.
Catholic acknowledgment of Mary’s role in salvation history does not distract from Christ anymore than the moon distracts from the brilliance of the sun which it reflects.
 
droopy said:
But why not pray straight to God? Whenever i pray to St.Anthony to find something - he is patron of lost things- i usually say the a decade of the hail mary and ask him to help me. However, why can’t God help me? What difference does it make?
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Sure, God can, but it says in Scripture:

“the prayer of a righteous man avails much” James 5

the prayers of those in Heaven are more powerful than our prayers.

God loves everyone equally, but prayers are not all equally powerful.

It also glorifies Him when we pray for one another and when the Saints help people on earth.
 
I have one more question. You see, i go to a catholic school in Canada. The religion classes are usually taught by Gym teachers looking to make an extra buck. They can’t really answer my questions. My questions might sound unintelligant but i would really like to know the answer. My question is: Why do we often pray using repetative prayers such as the Hail Mary? How will this benefit our relationship with God rather then a type of prayer of just ‘talking’ to him. For example: “Dear God, thank you for this great day! I encountered these problems, and i was hoping you could help me solve them. Amen.”
 
droopy said:
I have one more question. You see, i go to a catholic school in Canada. The religion classes are usually taught by Gym teachers looking to make an extra buck. They can’t really answer my questions. My questions might sound unintelligant but i would really like to know the answer. My question is: Why do we often pray using repetative prayers such as the Hail Mary? How will this benefit our relationship with God rather then a type of prayer of just ‘talking’ to him. For example: “Dear God, thank you for this great day! I encountered these problems, and i was hoping you could help me solve them. Amen.”
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Was your first question answered?
 
droopy said:
I have one more question. You see, i go to a catholic school in Canada. The religion classes are usually taught by Gym teachers looking to make an extra buck. They can’t really answer my questions. My questions might sound unintelligant but i would really like to know the answer. My question is: Why do we often pray using repetative prayers such as the Hail Mary? How will this benefit our relationship with God rather then a type of prayer of just ‘talking’ to him. For example: “Dear God, thank you for this great day! I encountered these problems, and i was hoping you could help me solve them. Amen.”
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You can absolutely pray “Dear God, thank you for this great day…” God delights in our praise. Catholic prayer is not limited to “prayers to the saints.” By the Sign of the Cross, we state to Whom we belong and in Whose name we pray. With the Our Father, we pray as Christ taught us, and with the Apostle’s Creed we state what we believe as members of the Body of Christ. These are the prayers that begin the rosary, which is what I think you mean when you mention the Hail Mary as repetitive.
As already mentioned, when we invoke the saints we join our prayer to theirs so that “two or more are gathered” even when we are alone. Our prayer becomes a communal prayer.
Prayer is the “raising of our hearts and minds” to God and involves more than talking. The rosary is meditative prayer that leads us into the listening posture that will indeed allow us to say, “Speak Lord for your servant is listening.” What son would not be delighted at his mother being given a bouquet? At the foot of the cross, Jesus gave His mother to the Church that she might also be our mother. Never overlook the intimacy of the Son to His mother. It is at Mary’s request that Jesus Christ performed His first miracle at Cana.
 
droopy said:
I have one more question. You see, i go to a catholic school in Canada. The religion classes are usually taught by Gym teachers looking to make an extra buck. They can’t really answer my questions. My questions might sound unintelligant but i would really like to know the answer. My question is: Why do we often pray using repetative prayers such as the Hail Mary? How will this benefit our relationship with God rather then a type of prayer of just ‘talking’ to him. For example: “Dear God, thank you for this great day! I encountered these problems, and i was hoping you could help me solve them. Amen.”
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Welcome to the forums! First, no question is too ‘anything’ to be asked here!. Now, you have probably heard of, or prayed the Apostle’s creed ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/creed2.htm , we state that we believe in the “communion of saints” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communion_of_Saints This is a belief that all the baptized are members of Christ’s Church. This includes those living on earth, those suffering in purgatory, and those in heaven. Saint Paul teaches us that nothing can separate us from the love of God. The Saints are in heaven and are in God’s presence. From the book of Revelation, we see that the Saints carry prayers directly to the throne of God. Whose prayers? Ours!

So, we ask the Saints, who are in God’s presence, to pray for us. We can always go to God; we can always ask friends or family to pry for us, but asking the Saints to pray for us is better than asking Christians on earth to pray for us. Why? Because the Saints are now perfect in heaven and stand in God’s presence, just as the Angels do. Thus, their prayers are more effective than ours. Think of this: You ask your favorite Saint to pray for you. Then, you pray to our Lord. You have more than doubled your prayer, due to the prayers of the Saint.

It is a new belief to pray, or confess sins, directly only to God. Neither of these ideas existed in Christianity for the first 1,500 years. This type of thinking greatly limits the depth of your faith and belief.

As to repetitive prayer, Jesus taught all mankind only one prayer: the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). What? Are we only supposed to pray it once and be done? Nope. But, if you pray the Lord’s prayer daily, is that not repetition? Yes, but Jesus did not condemn repetitive prayer, He condemned vain repetitions. This is what many did in public just to be admired by the public. It was pure vanity, and had nothing to do with faith.

Each prayer, repetitive or not, is communication with God. That is always good, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. As to the Rosary, the ‘Hail, Mary’ prayers are like background music as you contemplate the mysteries of the Gospel. They remain prayers, but also serve to keep you on track while you contemplate.

I think that you would benefit greatly from one of the yellow and black “Dummies” books: Catholicism for Dummies The Pope can probably learn something from it! It’s available locally or right on this site: shop.catholic.com/search.php?mode=search&page=1

Keep on asking questions, because the more you know about your faith, the more impressive it will be.
 
droopy said:
I have one more question. You see, i go to a catholic school in Canada. The religion classes are usually taught by Gym teachers looking to make an extra buck. They can’t really answer my questions. My questions might sound unintelligant but i would really like to know the answer. My question is: Why do we often pray using repetative prayers such as the Hail Mary? How will this benefit our relationship with God rather then a type of prayer of just ‘talking’ to him. For example: “Dear God, thank you for this great day! I encountered these problems, and i was hoping you could help me solve them. Amen.”
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The Rosary is a two-fold prayer: mental prayer and vocal prayer. Mental prayer is the meditation on the chief Mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Vocal prayer consists in saying decades of the Hail Mary, each decade headed by an Our Father. Both of these are done together. One announces the Mystery, then procedes with the vocal prayer, all the while contemplating Christ in the Mystery. It is a Christ-centered gospel prayer. Some people find this type of prayer difficult while others find it very rewarding to their relationship with Christ.

We usually say a 5 Mystery Rosary to begin our prayers, then go on with talking to God. It is not ‘instead of’ but ‘in addition to’. It is a turning of our hearts and minds to Christ, praising Him, giving Him glory before getting to our petitions.

Scriptural Rosary
 
Perhaps the right question should be can the Saints pray for us? In the old testaments before i believe we had the Saints God once sent Angel to take care of obstructions to Daniel’s prayers. I always tell my pentecostal friends that since our God is God of the living not the dead as Jesus said and the Transfiguration revealed and following the revelation by John in the book of revelations, i pray to the Saints to help me as my “lips” may not be as worthy as theirs. "like carrying my prayer requests like a placard card while adoring God’
 
droopy said:
I have one more question. You see, i go to a catholic school in Canada. The religion classes are usually taught by Gym teachers looking to make an extra buck. They can’t really answer my questions. My questions might sound unintelligant but i would really like to know the answer. My question is: Why do we often pray using repetative prayers such as the Hail Mary? How will this benefit our relationship with God rather then a type of prayer of just ‘talking’ to him. For example: “Dear God, thank you for this great day! I encountered these problems, and i was hoping you could help me solve them. Amen.”
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Hi Droopy,

Let’s try to stimulate some thinking here. Consider:
  1. Have you asked any friends to pray for you? Have any friends asked you to pray for them?
  2. Do you repeat words of affection to those whom you love? Have you ever said “I love you” more than once to the same person?
 
Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus! (Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for us Sinners!)

mark
 
One of the key distinctions that needs to be made in regards to intercession of the saints, is the recognition by the person praying that saints are not gods, and are most definitely not to be worshiped.

Everything - all powers, and all blessings – come from God, and God alone, not saints, not statues. The risk with the concept of intercession is that you will steep into idolatry, and start to worship the saints as gods in direct violation of the first commandment.
 
droopy said:
I have one more question. You see, i go to a catholic school in Canada. The religion classes are usually taught by Gym teachers looking to make an extra buck. They can’t really answer my questions. My questions might sound unintelligant but i would really like to know the answer. My question is: Why do we often pray using repetative prayers such as the Hail Mary? How will this benefit our relationship with God rather then a type of prayer of just ‘talking’ to him. For example: “Dear God, thank you for this great day! I encountered these problems, and i was hoping you could help me solve them. Amen.”
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Repetitive prayers are actually suggested by Christ. Ever heard of His parable of the woman and the judge?
 
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