WITH them, not TO them

[Paris_Blues]

I don’t get it…

I know we pray to saints to pray for us, right?

I was looking at catholic.org/saints/faq.php where it says Do Catholics pray TO saints? and it says that Catholics pray WITH saints, no TO them. If I asked a saint to pray for me, that sounds to me like I am praying TO them to pray for me! Or am I praying through them to Christ?

Anyone help me understand?

 

[JimG]

In my view, to pray TO someone is simply to communicate with them, to direct your prayers TO them. So yes, we pray TO the saints!

If I ask you to pray for me, I am praying to you to ask you to pray for me. I might ask you to pray with me, but that’s not the same. And I’m not praying through you; I’m just praying to you–i.e.speaking directly to you with my request for your prayers. It’s the same thing whether you are here on earth or you are in heaven. I am directing my request TO you.

I think we get hung up on this because many non-Catholics view “praying to” as something more than simple communication. They view it as worship, which it is most definitely not. There is nothing at all wrong with praying to the saints.