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erikd
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Why pray to Mary or the Saints
The most common objection raised to Catholics from non-Catholics and often former Catholics is that Catholics pray to Mary. My answer: Amen. Why? I will illustrate, from the NKJV Bible why.
1: Do you ever pray for anyone other than yourself? If the answer is yes, you have to ask yourself why? Do the prayers somehow add to God’s Ear? Do more prayers make the prayer louder? St. Paul was a proponent of prayers as illustrated in his letter to the Romans:
*30 Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me,
31 that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,
32 that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed together with you.*Romans 15:30-32
This illustrates that St. Paul himself believed that the prayers of others are efficacious, though most people already believe this to be true. If this is the case, then would you have a problem with the “Mother of the Lord” praying for you? Let’s move to point #2.
2: Do you believe that Christians are part of the Body of Christ? What about the Christians that already died? If they are in heaven, could they be described as being part of the Body of Christ? The very definition of hell is a separation from God, so the definition of heaven is just the opposite: being united with God, therefore more than ever being parts of the Body of Christ.
12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free-and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.
1 Corinthians 12:12-14
It is important to pay attention to the entire Body of Christ as stressed a little further in the verses:
20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.
21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
1 Corinthians 12:20-21
So we now established several points and let’s catch up to make sure we have them all in tact:
1: It is efficacious to pray for others.
2: We are all members of the Body of Christ and therefore our prayers for one another are efficacious. This brings me to point number three:
3: What about the members of the Body of Christ that have already passed? Are their prayers efficacious? We already established that they are members of the Body of Christ, the same Body that we the living are parts of, and therefore are their prayers efficacious?
8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Revelation 5: 8
Let’s break down this passage. The four living creatures are a lion representing strength, authority, and power, a calf or an ox representing faithfulness, the man representing what is wisest, and the eagle representing sovereignty and swiftness. The twenty four elders represent the leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles. One may argue exactly who were the twelve though this is most likely imagery based on the fact that in reality at least fourteen Apostles actually walked the earth. The harp is a musical instrument as we see that the prayers are sung (Rev. 5:9-14) as Christ receives the scroll (Rev. 5:5, Ez. 2:9-10) as only He is worthy of opening the scroll of the afflictions of man. Finally, we see that the elders are holding “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” This is the mystical Body of Christ, in this case consisting of persons who have passed from this life, and yet carry our prayers to God.
We already established that these people’s prayers are efficacious, that they are members of the Body of Christ, that they have passed from this life into the next, and that they are presenting God with the prayers of the saints. One would have to remember that in heaven nothing is needed and therefore prayers are not necessary for people who are already saved and with God in His eternal Kingdom. One would also have to remember that prayers are not effective or necessary for the people in hell, as those people will not have the opportunity to change their mind and reunite with God. That leaves one group of people, whose prayers are represented within the incense, the people here on earth. It is therefore evident from Holy Scripture that the Saints play a large role in presenting our prayers for us to the Father. Therefore, when the argument is made that one should not pray to the saints, the argument is non-Scriptural.
4: Why Mary? Well, it is simple. She is *full of grace *(Luke 1:28), her *soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord *(Luke 1:46), she shall be *called blessed for all ages *(Luke 1: 48), and because God has *done great things *for her (Luke 1:49). With all of these accolades coming from God the Father directly to this woman, how can her prayers for us be less efficacious then the prayers of St. Peter, St. Thomas, or any of the twenty four elders?
Continued on the next post
The most common objection raised to Catholics from non-Catholics and often former Catholics is that Catholics pray to Mary. My answer: Amen. Why? I will illustrate, from the NKJV Bible why.
1: Do you ever pray for anyone other than yourself? If the answer is yes, you have to ask yourself why? Do the prayers somehow add to God’s Ear? Do more prayers make the prayer louder? St. Paul was a proponent of prayers as illustrated in his letter to the Romans:
*30 Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me,
31 that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,
32 that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed together with you.*Romans 15:30-32
This illustrates that St. Paul himself believed that the prayers of others are efficacious, though most people already believe this to be true. If this is the case, then would you have a problem with the “Mother of the Lord” praying for you? Let’s move to point #2.
2: Do you believe that Christians are part of the Body of Christ? What about the Christians that already died? If they are in heaven, could they be described as being part of the Body of Christ? The very definition of hell is a separation from God, so the definition of heaven is just the opposite: being united with God, therefore more than ever being parts of the Body of Christ.
12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free-and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.
1 Corinthians 12:12-14
It is important to pay attention to the entire Body of Christ as stressed a little further in the verses:
20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.
21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
1 Corinthians 12:20-21
So we now established several points and let’s catch up to make sure we have them all in tact:
1: It is efficacious to pray for others.
2: We are all members of the Body of Christ and therefore our prayers for one another are efficacious. This brings me to point number three:
3: What about the members of the Body of Christ that have already passed? Are their prayers efficacious? We already established that they are members of the Body of Christ, the same Body that we the living are parts of, and therefore are their prayers efficacious?
8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Revelation 5: 8
Let’s break down this passage. The four living creatures are a lion representing strength, authority, and power, a calf or an ox representing faithfulness, the man representing what is wisest, and the eagle representing sovereignty and swiftness. The twenty four elders represent the leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve Apostles. One may argue exactly who were the twelve though this is most likely imagery based on the fact that in reality at least fourteen Apostles actually walked the earth. The harp is a musical instrument as we see that the prayers are sung (Rev. 5:9-14) as Christ receives the scroll (Rev. 5:5, Ez. 2:9-10) as only He is worthy of opening the scroll of the afflictions of man. Finally, we see that the elders are holding “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” This is the mystical Body of Christ, in this case consisting of persons who have passed from this life, and yet carry our prayers to God.
We already established that these people’s prayers are efficacious, that they are members of the Body of Christ, that they have passed from this life into the next, and that they are presenting God with the prayers of the saints. One would have to remember that in heaven nothing is needed and therefore prayers are not necessary for people who are already saved and with God in His eternal Kingdom. One would also have to remember that prayers are not effective or necessary for the people in hell, as those people will not have the opportunity to change their mind and reunite with God. That leaves one group of people, whose prayers are represented within the incense, the people here on earth. It is therefore evident from Holy Scripture that the Saints play a large role in presenting our prayers for us to the Father. Therefore, when the argument is made that one should not pray to the saints, the argument is non-Scriptural.
4: Why Mary? Well, it is simple. She is *full of grace *(Luke 1:28), her *soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord *(Luke 1:46), she shall be *called blessed for all ages *(Luke 1: 48), and because God has *done great things *for her (Luke 1:49). With all of these accolades coming from God the Father directly to this woman, how can her prayers for us be less efficacious then the prayers of St. Peter, St. Thomas, or any of the twenty four elders?
Continued on the next post
Good explanation