WHO ARE THE SAINTS
Saints are people who lived heroically virtuous life, offered their life for others, or were martyred for the faith, who are worthy of imitation and who are thought to be in heaven. The Saints of the Church are diverse group of people with varied and interesting stories. Their ranks include Martyrs, Kings and Queens, Missionaries, Widows, Theologians, Parents, Nuns and Priests, Popes and Bishops, “Everyday people” who dedicated theirs lives to the loving pursuit of God, service to the poor, the sick and disenfranchized. This Saints are looked upon, by many and they find comfort in the knowledge that this Saints are examples of life well lived in the faith. They also share in the struggles, sins, doubts or hardships and ask specific Saints to pray for them.
THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS
As Catholics, we believe that our life doesn’t end at death but simply changes. Those who have lived good lives and died in the faith of Christ, will, as the Bible tells us, share in His Resurrection. Christians on Earth may be physically separated from Christians in heaven, but we are all connected supernaturally in the Mystical Body of Christ. Christ has conquered death; what is more powerful? Death or the blood of Christ? To say that death has cut off the Christians in heaven from the Christians on Earth is assuming that death is more powerful than the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.
While we live together on earth as Christians, we are in communion, or unity, with one another. But that communion doesn’t end when one of us dies. We believe that the Saints, the Christians in heaven, remain in communion with those of us on earth. We call this the Communion of Saints, and it’s an article of faith in every Christian creed from the Apostles’ Creed on.
WHY DO CATHOLICS PRAY TO SAINTS?
But what does the Communion of Saints have to do with praying to saints? Everything, when we run into trouble in our lives, we frequently ask friends or family members to pray for us. That doesn’t mean, of course, that we can’t pray for ourselves. We ask them for their prayers even though we’re praying, too, because we believe in the power of prayer. We know that God hears their prayers as well as ours, and we want as many voices as possible asking Him to help us in our time of need.
But the Saints and Angels in Heaven stand before God and offer Him their prayers, too. And since we believe in the Communion of Saints, we can ask the saints to pray for us, just as we ask our friends and family to do so. And when we make such a request for their intercession, we make it in the form of a prayer.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRAYER AND WORSHIP?
This is where people begin to have a little trouble understanding what Catholics are doing when we pray to Saints. Many non-Catholic Christians believe that it is wrong to pray to the Saints, claiming that all prayers should be directed to God alone. Some Catholics, responding to this criticism and not understanding what prayer really means, declare that we Catholics do not pray to the Saints; we only pray with them. Yet the traditional language of the Church has always been that Catholic pray to the Saints, and with good reason—prayer is simply a form of communication. Prayer is simply a request for help. Older usage in English reflects this: We’ve all heard lines from, say, Shakespeare, in which one person says to another “Pray thee . . . ” (or “Prithee,” a contraction of “Pray thee”) and then makes a request.
So why the confusion, among both non-Catholics and some Catholics, about what prayer to the Saints really means? It arises because both groups confuse Prayer with Worship.
True worship (as opposed to veneration or honor) does indeed belong to God alone, and we should Never worship man or any other creature, but only God. But while worship may take the form of prayer, as in the Holy Mass and the other liturgies of the Church, not all prayer is worship. When we pray to the Saints, we’re simply asking the Saints to help us, by praying to God on our behalf—just like we ask our friends and family to do so—or thanking the Saints for having already done so.
The book of Revelation supports that Saints and Angels in Heaven are conscious of and pray for Christians on Earth. Revelation 8:3-4 reads “And another 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.” The above text clearly states that Angels in heaven are offering up the prayers of the Saints. Who are the Saints praying for? This scene from the book of Revelation takes place in Heaven; the Angels and Saints aren’t praying for the people in Heaven, they don’t need prayers they have been saved and are with God in Heaven. They aren’t praying for people in Hell because they are eternally damned, their prayers are useless. They must be praying for the Church on Earth and Purgatory; this would imply that angels and saints in heaven hear the prayers of the Church on Earth and intercede on their behalf. The Catholic Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, has always known and taught this from its beginning in 33AD by Jesus Christ.
Written by VictorPaul Okolo