tsatske
Posts: 2037
Joined: 3/9/2007
From: Louisville, KY
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Why Catholics pray to the saints:
In order to hear the answer to this question, you must first accept that I am not prostelyzing at you. Therefore, you do not need to ask yourself, 'do i believe this and want to convert', only to accept that different people believe different things and do whatever judging or hearing of the answer you do, from that standpoint.
The Bible, which is the holy book for many Christians, is not static, but is viewed, or interpreted, very differently, by different religions, different cultures and different times. I am not asking you to change your interpretation or view, simply giving you someone else's.
Many Catholics are unwilling to answer questions like this because they are usually asked by Fundamentalist Protestants, who will reject their answers since they come from a different religious view. Many of those asking are Solo Scriptura in their beliefs, and yet, at the same time, reject the Apocrophia, so any quoting from the Apacrophia, will be blasted down. Likewise, even using the part of the Bible which the Protestants accept, Marian quotes will get the Catholic told that they are misinterpreting to the point of inviting damnation. Such responses do not encourage open communication, so many simply do not answer.
And, honestly, far too many Catholic children are raised without good grounding in their faith and are simply told, 'the pope said so.' So they may not have an answer for you.
The Pope, and, the Catholic Church, have never commanded worship of (not what is done, btw) or prayer to (that is what is done - petition and supplication) any saint or belief in any apparition. They declare someone a Saint, (making them an 'exceptional saint', meaning, a person who's sainthood has been declared 'worthy of belief'), it is still acceptable for an individual Catholic to disagree that thatperson was a saint, though they would have to have some pretty strong reasoning - after all, the Pope was pretty certain that person was a saint. (A saint is someone who entered heaven directly upon death, without stopping in Purgatory. My daughter, for instance.)
An example would be the Sainted Little Therese of Lisieux - The Little Flower. Considered by many childhood sexual abuse survivors to be their Patron saint, other survivors are hugely insulted by that choice. (the Vatican does not hand out patron Saints, btw. groups chose them for themselves. I mean, there is a Patron Saint of the Mafia. Do you think the pope was sitting around one day and said, 'oo... you know who needs a patron saint? The Mafia')
So... a Catholic CAN pray to a saint - it is in no way required. Now, why would they?
I think even most Protestant would agree that one thing that people can certainly do in Heaven is pray (or worship).
Every Protestant I know understands the concept of a prayer circle. There is no reason I can not pray for myself, and yet, when I feel strongly that I am, as the old song goes, 'Standing in the need of Prayer', I call my friends, I call my church and ask to be put on the prayer chain - apparently, it will have some effect, to pelt heaven with MORE prayers.
That is ALL that prayer to a Saint can accomplish. Saints have NO supernatural power of their own - all they can do is pray for you. The Bible says, 'The prayers of a good man go far' certainly the Saints are GOOD people. So we ask them to pray for us.
That is the most classic form of prayer to the Virgin (after the Rosery, of course) - 'Intercede for us, on our behalf, with your Son, dear Mother...'
I am not Catholic, BTW, though I have Catholic children (adult children, o Mods). I am Quaker, but I do tend to be very Marian. I do not get this Protestant idea that 'The Bible makes no difference between Mary and any other woman.' To this end, they can generally quote ONE verse - 'get away from me, woman' - when Jesus feared His mother's pleas were interfering with his path.
But how about 'When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple there whom He loved, he said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son." Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother".
I attended my sister's Fundamentalist Baptist church on the first Sunday of Advent. The cover of the bulletin sported the verses of the Rosary, from G-d only knows what translation, because they didn't want it to sound like the Rosary. 'Blessed are thou amongst women, and Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus Christ'
of course, as a Quaker, the sermon kind of got to me, too. My Uncle, the Minister, chose to preach on how it bothered him that people use 'Thee' And 'Thou' and such when praying, and in Hymns. Really? Kind of bothers me that anyone would ever say 'I love you', to their nearest and most loved, instead of 'I love thee'. Makes almost no linguistic sense.
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“If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good”
~Dr. Seuss quote
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