Msg Base:  AREA 3  - ASK FATHER (AMDG)
  Msg No: 47.  Fri  8-28-92 21:42  (NO KILL)
    From: Father Mateo
      To: Stephen Toth
 Subject: prayer to the Saints

ST|I am a student in Seminary and was curious about a question raised in
  |class about the Roman Catholic Church.  We were wondering why does the
  |Church teach that it is appropriate to pray to saints for intercession?
  |Does this contradict the idea of praying only to God?  Also why do we pray
  |to the saints when we can go directly to Jesus Christ as our High Priest?
  |I would be very interested in your reply.    Grace and Peace
  |                                             Stephen Toth
 
 
 
Dear Stephen,
 
All prayer is speech, following from faith: "I believed, therefore I
spoke; we, too, believe and therefore speak" (2nd Cor. 4:13).  Your
question is: "Why do we pray to the saints when we can go directly to
Jesus Christ our High Priest?"  Going to Jesus, going to the Saints
is not a matter of either/or.  It is both/and.  The saints are in
Christ; Christ is in the saints.  We speak to Him and to them in Him.
 
People become saints when they are born again into Christ through
baptism.  "Saint" in the Greek New Testament is HAGIOS.  Using the
corresponding verb HAGIAZO, Jesus said to His Father about His
disciples:"Father, I make myself a saint for them, that they may be
made saints in truth" (John 17:19).  So throughout the New Testament,
the baptized, the members of the Church, are commonly called "the saints".
 
In this life, the saints carry the treasure of God's grace and
election in earthen vessels (2nd Cor 4:7).  They must, although
standing, take care lest they fall (Ist Cor 10:12).  They must work
out their salvation in fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12).  They must
persevere in welldoing (Rom 2:7, Gal 6:7-10, 2nd Thess,3:12-13).
 
When this life is over, the saints hear their Savior's "Well done!
Inherit the Kingdom prepared for you!" They are free then of
temptation, immune from sin, secure in their salvation (Rev 7:17,
21:3,4).  They see now what they believed on earth; they possess now
what they hoped for.  But their love remains, and it is perfected
beyond any love they knew or did on earth.
 
Now, Stephen, you are one of God's saints on earth, please God.  You
ended your message to me, as St. Paul began so many of his, with the
words, "Grace and Peace."  There you were praying for me; you were
interceding for me.Because you are in Christ and a member of Christ
through baptism--AND ONLY FOR THIS REASON--your intercession is
welcome to the Father, acceptable to Him.  I can and I do ask you to
continue to intercede in Christ for me.  Will you do it? I know you
will, because it would be a sin against Christ and the Father and the
Spirit of Love to refuse to pray for God's Grace and Peace for me and
for everyone else in the world.
 
When we die and go to Heaven, our prayer for the saints on earth
grows in perfection and intensity as our closeness to God and our
love for Him increases.
 
The saints and angels in Heaven are aware of us (Hebrews 12:1; Matt.
18:10; Luke 15:7,10).
 
The elders in Revelation (5:8) are figures of saints in heaven, who
offer up the prayers of the saints on earth (the HAGIOI) as part of
their own worship of the Father and His Lamb.
 
The members of Christ are also members of one another.  We need one
another; we serve and help one another.  "The eye cannot say to the
hand, `I do not need you'" (1st Cor. 12:21).  We break this divine
Word of Scripture if we say to the members of Christ in Heaven, "We
do not need you."  We ought to say, "Pray for us."
 
Christian prayer is speech in Christ.  We speak to the Saints in
Christ.  In Christ they speak to God on our behalf.  Do we also speak
to God directly?  Only in Christ, as you well know.  In Christ you
are free--you can speak to anybody you like.  Who can forbid you?  If
God is with us, who can be against us?  "You were called for
freedom, brothers" (Gal. 5:13).
 
I would not advise any Christian to abandon his Christian heritage of
2000 years, his union in Christ with his brothers and sisters in
Heaven.We have the word of God that Christ breaks down the wall of
separation between Jews and Gentiles, to make all men one in Himself.
It is an error to suppose that He has erected another wall of
separation between us and our fellow Christians in Heaven.
 
                                Please pray for me, Stephen,
 
                                Father Mateo