Catholics-Question about Saints?
March 11th, 2010 by smithThis question just occurred to me while visiting a local abby's gift shop and seeing all the medallions to different saints.
I am asking with all respect, and ask all answerer's to do the same. I have respect for the depth of faith found in many Catholics. I have often seen them defending others beliefs on here (even if they didn't agree with them) and find them refreshingly "Christian". So keep your answers nice, if you don't know, just say so and get your points and move on.
The Church does not make saints -- never has. It is God who raises up people to certain levels of greatness....like St. Paul, like the late Pope John Paul II, like Mother Theresa. We as Catholics simply point to them in a special way to say look at God's grandeur to do so much in his infinite mercy in and through someone! The whole ceremony of Canonization is to proclaim publicly to the world what God has done.
The process of canonization is very, very long so that rash judgements are not made and so that people are not canonized simply out of fervor.
PRAYING TO MARY/SAINTS:
We Catholics believe very firmly that God is "God of the living"; the God of Abraham, Moses and Isaac. Thus we believe that even though the saints and Mary no longer walk the face of the earth they are still present to us -- even in our daily affairs. The letter to the Hebrews mentions the "great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us". We ask their intercession just like you would ask a person in your pew at church to pray for your nephew who needs surgery, or the boyfriend who needs a new job. We also look to them as models when we are in need of help. St. Therese of Lisieux used to fall asleep when she went to chapel to pray and meditate. I sometimes ask her to help me when I find myself doing the same.....
WHAT SAINTS STAND FOR:
This depends on what the saint did during their lifetime. Saint Therese had a deep love of the priesthood and the missions so she is the patron saint of missions -- even though Therese herself lived out her entire vocation in the same house!
Eg. performing miracles, dying a matyr, or like mother teresa who has done so much for the poor and all... The catholic church ordains them as saints so that we can try to live graciously and in the same spirit as they did.
We pray to Mother Mary because we believe she can intercede for us and its like another way to reach God.. through the Mother of Christ. I'm not very sure how to explain this part...
Ok.. I really dunno if i made any sense but yeah, this is my very brief answer.
(2Co 5:8 DRB) But we are confident and have a good will to be absent rather from the body and to be present with the Lord.
The Catholic Church does not teach that it is absolutely necessary for one to ask for the intercession of saints for salvation. The Church does teach that prayer to God is necessary for salvation for all believers. For a Catholic it would be wrong to ignore the liturgical worship offered to God at feast days for the saints and the prayers asking for their intercession.
The Communion of Saints is a dogma of the ancient Church and is recorded in the apostles Creed. It simply states that the faithful because of their relationship with Christ are alive even after the death of their flesh and worship with us. To us the Church is made up of the Church militant who represents all those believers living out their hope in the flesh.
(Phi 2:12 DRB) Wherefore, my dearly beloved, (as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but much more now in my absence) with fear and trembling work out your salvation.
(Phi 2:13 DRB) For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish, according to his good will.
It consists of the Church Suffering who are those who are temporarily in need of further purgation from sin so that they may enjoy the presence of God.
(2Ma 12:46 DRB) It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.
Lastly, the Communion of the Saints consists of those who have won the race:
(Phi 3:14 DRB) I press towards the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ Jesus.
Their immortal souls are in heaven in Godâ ™s presence:
(Rev 5:8 DRB) And when he had opened the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty ancients fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
The universal stream connecting all of Godâ ™s creation is His love, which we take on in our baptism into our journey towards sanctification. This is not an emotional but a desire placed in us by the Spirit of God that endures as a desire for those other than ourselves and this love extends even to our enemies. This is truly a love that comes only from God and is a foreign concept and nonsense to those who have not received Godâ ™s salvific grace. This desire within our souls does not end with the death of our flesh but continues into eternity where the saints through their intercession in prayer encourage us in our race and assist us to endure unto our union with God.
I think that some people of faith, who do not understand the Communion of Saints, somehow believe that asking saints to pray for us is detracting from our love or our trust in God. In truth it is impossible, if we truly love as God commands and has given us the grace to understand, not to pray to those whom we love and in turn we expect them to return that same love to us by praying for us and presenting our prayers to God.
In Christ
Fr. Joseph
And yes its very biblical for those who say their can be only one Mediator between God and Man you are correct.
But what does it say about interseceroy prayer.
Because he is the only God-man and the Mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus is the only mediator between man and God (1 Tim. 2:5), but this in no way means we cannot or should not ask our fellow Christians to pray with us and for us (1 Tim. 2:1â “4). In particular, we should ask the intercession of those Christians in heaven, who have already had their sanctification completed, for "[t]he prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects" (Jas. 5:16).
Not only do those in heaven pray with us, they also pray for us. In the book of Revelation, we read: "[An] angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God" (Rev. 8:3-4).
Thus, in Psalm 103 we pray, "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!" (Ps. 103:20â “21). And in the opening verses of Psalms 148 we pray, "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!"
Jesus himself warned us not to offend small children, because their guardian angels have guaranteed intercessory access to the Father: "See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 18:10).
"But not the high priest [Christ] alone prays for those who pray sincerely, but also the angels . . . as also the souls of the saints who have already fallen asleep
Rom 6:3-4
Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.
Col 2:12
You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, the saints, and also for me, that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak" (Ephesians 6:18-20).
Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, the saints, and also for me, that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak" (Ephesians 6:18-20).
"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
But doesn't the Bible says Jesus is the only Mediator between God and man?A: Yes, it does; in 1 Timothy 2:5 ("For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus"), but we just quoted the four verses immediately preceding this one, and you will remember that in them Paul said: "I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men."
So the fact that Jesus is the one Mediator between God and man does not prevent other people from acting as intercessors. And we know intercessory prayer certainly does not displease God, for in the same passage we just cited, Paul tells us: "This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior
I am sometimes stunned at how people can hop up and down about what Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:5 and yet miss the subject of intercessory prayer, which is not only the topic of the preceding four verses, but the segue into the discussion of Jesus' unique Mediatorship.
For example, consider the following verses and the concern they show those in heaven having for what happens on earth:
"Then one of the elders [who represent the hierarchy of the people of God in heaven] addressed me, saying, 'Who are these, clothed in white robes, and whence have they come?' I said to him, 'Sir, you know.' And he said to me, 'These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:13-14).
"
And they [the elders] sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth'" (Revelation 5:9-10).
"Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ this tells us these are the voices of humans, and he shall reign for ever and ever'" (Revelation
11:15). "And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying, 'We give thanks to thee, Lord God Almighty, who art and who wast, that thou hast taken thy great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but thy wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, for rewarding thy servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear thy name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth'" (Revelation 11:16-18).
"And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, 'Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren this indicates it is a human voice has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Rejoice then, O heaven and you that dwell therein! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!'" (Revelation 12:10-12).
After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying, 'Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants.' Once
How do you know the saints in heaven are praying for us
"And Onias spoke, saying, 'This is a man who loves the brethren and prays much for the people and the holy city, Jeremiah, the prophet of God'" (2 Maccabees 15:14).
The very verses we just quoted. It goes without saying, for example, that our guardian angels are aware of what we are doing. It is their job to guard us, after all, so we can be sure they know what we are doing and when we are asking them to pray for us.
And in the same way, when we read of the saints in heaven offering our prayers to God in the form of incense (Revelation 5:8, 8:3-4), we know they are aware of our prayers.
Remember: Most of the saints don't have physical bodies right now. They furthermore don't have physical prayer request cards or physical incense or anything like that. This means that when they are pictured as presenting God with our prayers, they are not physically presenting him with our prayers, so they must be mentally presenting them to him. But if they are mentally presenting our prayers to God then they must be aware of our prayers.
says: there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, when you become born again, you become a saint as much as anyone in heaven, God is no respector of persons period. Report Abuse
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They pray directly to people like Mary so that Mary would pray to god for them or their behalf. I understand that sense except Christ is the only mediator which Christ talks about like a million times.
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