Hi,
When we Catholics say that they pray to the saints, we do not mean that we are worshipping them. Adoration or worship is the acknowledgement of God’s supreme sovereignty. This is the prayer of adoration. But the prayer of petition consists of asking for help. In this sense, we pray to each other frequently in our daily life. We don’t ordinarily use that word to explain it though. However, in old English people used a form of it when they would say, “I pray thee” to ask a favor.
Catholics have been praying directly to Jesus for over two thousand years! But we are a part of the Mystical Body of Christ and are therefore a part of each other’s lives. St. Paul frequently asked that others pray for him: Rom 15:30, Col 4:3, 1 Thess 5:25, 2 Th 1:11, 2 Th 3:1, Eph 6:18-19.
In Jn 2:3 Jesus could have easily surmised that at the wedding feast the wine was being depleted and could have worked the miracle on His own. But He allowed His mother to intercede for the newly married couple. At her request, He worked His first miracle. Simply because she showed charity for the young couple by going to Jesus on their behalf in no way takes anything away from the fact that it was Jesus who worked the miracle! Still less does this suggest that Jesus’ death on the cross was in any way inadequate.
In praying for each other, we are interceding for each other. It’s a matter of love where the person doing the interceding benefits as well as the one being interceded for. Every one wins!
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.
