It seems to me that besides of thinking that we are forbidden to ask intercession from the supernatural world - I mean, angels and the souls of deceased people, there’s yet another barrier caused by thinking along the line that it’s “Jesus and me”, “no need for middle-man”.
I think the people who object to “middle-men” might be missing the point that God wants us to use middle-men, probably because those middle-men are consistent with the way God set up his household (his Church), which is a family, a communion of angels and saints. And the Church has three parts, Church Militant (those souls living in bodies on Earth), Church Suffering (the souls in Purgatory), and Church Glorious (the souls of angels and saints in Heaven, plus a few people who are there body and soul - Holy Mary, Enoch, Elijah). I think God is trying to teach us a lesson about how we are all a family, how we should ask each other’s help and should lend a helping hand to others, but some Protestants are rejecting the lesson. Although, at the final analysis, those who will ask family members to pray for them, but refuse to ask the angels and saints from Heaven to pray for them, are inconsistent in their own behaviors. I mean, if you don’t need a middle-man, why would you ask your family, friends, and members from your church or faith community, to pray for you?
There’s yet another lesson that those folks are missing who are against the use of “middle-men”. God wanted us to use “middle-men” or “intercessors”, see for example Job 42: 7-9. There’s a lesson there, God would not hear the prayers of Job’s friends who offended the Lord, but he was willing to listen to the righteous Job’s intercessory prayer for his friends. I bet that showed Job’s friends in a very practical way that they ought to look at Job for an example of righteousness, as a model worthy to imitate in their own lives.
Quote from Job 42:
**7
And it came to pass after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and with your two friends; for you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job.
8
Now, therefore, take seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up a holocaust for yourselves; and let my servant Job pray for you; for his prayer I will accept, not to punish you severely. For you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job.”
9
Then Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, went and did as the LORD had commanded them. And the LORD accepted the intercession of Job.
Footnotes
[7] The three friends of Job (Elihu is ignored in the Epilogue) are criticized by the LORD because they had (even though in good faith) leveled false charges against him.
[8] Job becomes the intercessor for his friends, as were other great Old Testament characters, e.g., Abraham and Moses, and as our Lord would be, whom he prefigured. **
The above example shows that Job becomes a “middle-man” between his friends and God, and he does it because God instructs him to do so! :doh2:
When I pray for St. Anthony of Padua to intercede for me, I look up at his sanctity and shining example of his life, just like Job’s friends had to look up at Job. There’s a lesson there. And I acknowledge that I have no merits (at least not anywhere near the merits of St. Anthony), and that God will hear my request due to the merits of this glorious saint, St. Anthony of Padua. It’s the same lesson as with praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. All I have to offer God, all my merits, is no more than filthy rags. But I offer the precious Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, and I hope that my prayers will be heard on the merits of Jesus Christ. Whenever I look up at Jesus Christ himself, or his glorious saints, such as Holy Mary, St. Anthony, St. Francis of Assisi, and so on, I see a practical example to emulate in my own life. The lesson is this: follow Jesus Christ. Follow Holy Mary, and follow St. Anthony, St. Francis, or even, follow the 20th century saints Padre Pio, St. Therese Lisieux, St. Maximilian Kolbe. Follow their example. And I will trust that God will hear my prayers, not because I am good and I deserve it, but because my intercessors (Jesus Christ himself, and the saints whom I ask to intercede for me) are good and deserve God’s attention and help.
There’s one more problem that I imagine the Protestants who reject that the Catholic Church is infallible, would have with my approach. The Catholic Church insists that it has infallibly discerned that canonized saints, such as let’s say Padre Pio, who died somewhere around 1968, are in Heaven. I have no problem accepting that my Catholic Church received all the authority, from Jesus Christ, to discern such things. I do not doubt that St. Anthony of Padua, or St. Padre Pio, are in Heaven, because the Catholic Church says so. But I imagine, a lot of Protestants would reply, “And so what, if the Catholic Church says so?” I totally believe what the Catholic Church says it has discerned infallibly (error-free), while the Protestants don’t. So, why would a Protestant pray for Padre Pio’s or St. Anthony’s intercession, if he isn’t even sure that those folks are in Heaven? What if they are in Hell, why would he (a Protestant) risk asking someone in Hell to intercede for him?
