Intercession of the Saints

By "The Aspiring Apologetic"

“…Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”

1 Peter 3:15-16

So more often than not, as I Catholic I have found myself having to defend my belief in the intercession of the Saints over and over gain. For me, ever since I discovered the great wealth in their intercession, I have always turned to the Saints during my times of greatest need. The writing of this article has been on hold for several months now, probably because I had lost my will to write again and also a lengthy writer’s block was blocking all my attempts at finding my pen once again.

So the inspiration to finally write again came from a conversation I had with one of my closest friends this past week. She outlined how she would always skip my daily posts on Catholic Saints and focus on the funny stuff that I would post everyday on my WhatsApp status. But as someone who was once in that space at one time, I know that it is because we don’t fully understand as well as comprehend some of the mysteries that sometimes we fail to fully partake or make use of them. At one point in time I actually struggled with saying the “Hail Mary” prayer but through more research about my Faith I managed to understand it at a much better level than where I was initially.

The intercession of Saints is another very hot topic and time and time again we find ourselves as Catholics being accused of heresy by other denominations. And some of the times if not most, we aren’t able to make a firm response and defend our beliefs cause we ourselves sometimes don’t fully understand them. The thrust behind this article is to share what I’ve heard, learnt and read with regards to this topic, with the hope that it will be of aid in your journey of faith and you won’t be easily shaken when the accusations come your way.

In order to fully dissect this topic, we have to start from the very basics on what the word pray actually means. The meaning that the majority of us are used to (myself included), is the modern sense or meaning of the word which implies asking God to provide for us as well as our needs out of the boundiness of his Power and Might. But in very old literature, you may have probably come across the word “pray” being used in place of the word “please”. Taking for example a quote from Shakespere’s play “Much Ado About Nothing”,

I pray thee, cease thy counsel, which falls into mine ears as profitless as water in a sieve

Again in the early church, during prayer sessions, when the word pray was used during prayer time, as when it was said “we pray thee” the phrase simply meant, “we ask you”. Hence in those days when someone was praying to the Saints, they were simply asking them. Even up to this day and age, the practice hasn’t changed, we just aren’t as aware of the other meanings of the word.

So in terms of prayer there are basically 5 main types;

· Prayer of Blessing and Adoration,

· Prayer of Petition

· Prayer of Intercession

· Prayer of Thanksgiving

· Prayer of Praise.

But for today, the crux of the matter is on the prayer of intercession, the other prayers are a subject for discussion on another day. But what really is a prayer of Intercession?

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church;

Intercession is a prayer of petition which leads us to pray as Jesus did. He is the one intercessor with the Father on behalf of all men, especially sinners. He is "able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." The Holy Spirit "himself intercedes for us . . . and intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."

CCC 2634

In that moment when you intercede on behalf of someone else, in that moment of prayer you do not look at your own interests, but rather you look at the interests of others and you focus on them fully. If you have ever asked someone to pray for you at a point in time when things were not going so well in your life, you had a particular reason why you chose that particular person. In choosing you probably knew that you could trust them, or they were people who fully understood the situation you were going through or rather you believed they had a better proximity to God at that point in time than you had.

But whatever reason it was, you trusted in their intercession and you had hope that it would yield for you the results you very much desired. Every single day when I wake up I’m always very much thankful cause I know I have an army of people praying for me and those prayers are helping me so much along the journey of life. Especially this year in particular there were times I didn’t think I would see it through but those silent prayers some which I'm not even aware of have helped me through and can visualise better and healthier days ahead.

But at this point someone would then ask that these intercessory prayers you’ve talked about so far are prayers from people still here on earth, how then do you justify asking those who are dead to pray for you.

In answering this, will try to make use more of scriptural evidence in answering some of the questions that have been thrown my way over time. Most of the questions were posed as bible verses and very often we aren’t aware of how to respond to such. As for me when such happens my response is always a very simple but calculated one, “I agree with the scripture that you have presented and thrown at me, but I’m in disagreement with your private intepretation of it.”

When I finally get the inspiration to write I can practically spend several pages waffling about related stuff before I actually get into the crux of the matter. My belief though is that it draws the person into the discussion much better, but I stand to be corrected. So time to dive into the subject matter.

“There is one God, and one mediator between God and Men, the man Christ Jesus.”

1 Timothy 2:5

This verse is commonly thrown at us when we are accused of “worshipping the Dead”. The scripture though forms the words of one of my favorite Catholic songs in my mother tongue and hence it is one I know by heart.

St Paul had just finished asking the people to pray for one another, when he immediately affirms that Christ is the one mediator. One thing that we can never shy away from is that it is Christ alone who offers a unique mediation, one which cannot be duplicated. This unique mediation is further strengthened by his nature as True God and True Man.

So if we are fully aware of this, by praying to the Saints arent we moving away from the unique mediation of Christ. The answer which I stand with and subscribe to is a big NO. No one can go to the Father except through Jesus and That is a firm fact again, but it is always important for us to define our terms. The most important one in this section being what a Mediator is.

A mediator in simple terms, is one who comes between two parties or entities with the purpose or hope of uniting them. As I have previously stated and alluded, Christ himself plays a very crucial role of mediation, one which can only be done by a True God and a True Man. However, in light of our relationship with Christ, he has established systems as well as people who aid as well as help to mediate our relationship with him.

Christ is the mediator between us and God, but he has also called us as Christians to serve the role of mediators between him and the world. In its entirety, this does not reduce the unique role of Christ, but it is Christ’s unique role that forms the basis of our intercessions.

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”

Romans 10:17

Therefore, our relationship with Jesus is mediated by both Scripture as well as those individuals that the Lord sends to evangelise to us such as Evangelists, Priests and Teachers. In the event that Christ’s mediation was in the absolute sense then:

· We should never ask someone to pray for us.

· We should not listen to homilies or sermons.

· We should not even read scriptures.

For these are all systems as well as people that meditate Christ to each and every one of us in some sense. The prayers of the Saints do not in any sense substitute Christ’s mediation, but rather are facilitated by Christ himself.

Our Lord Jesus Christ himself is the Head of the Church and he creates a communion for all the members of the Church. The members of the Church consist of the members still here on Earth (Church Militant), the members of the Church in Purgatory (Church Suffering) as well as the members of the Church who have made it home to heaven (Church Triumphant).

These are all members of the body of Christ and are all united by him. Taking for instance, my right leg and my left leg have communion and work together to facilitate me to walk, but its not because they have the individual capacity to work well on their own, but rather they have communion because the brain is there which unites and directs them. And so it is the same with the Member of the Body of Christ.

“If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

1 Cor 12:26

The Members of the Body of Christ in Heaven (Saints) are aware of us, and pray for us before the throne of the Almighty God. Christ as Head of the Church creates a communion of all the members, allowing them to assist and support one another.

I remember during one of the engagements on this topic, I was asked a very peculiar question:

“Suppose I’m a Teacher at a School and having a problem at work. Why should I bother taking my problem to the groundsman if I’m close friends with the Headmaster himself”

Metaphorically speaking, this question appears as if it has finished the sports as well as the whole debate around the topic. But If a Catholic should not ask those in heaven for their prayers, then no Christian on Earth should ask another Christian for their prayers.

At that moment when you ask another person to pray for you, it is not because God is so distant, but rather it is because God out of his mercy and generosity has provided the Body of Christ great unity such that each member can pray for the others.

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

James 5:16

It is beyond any argument that the Angels as well as the Saints in Heaven are righteous and hence their prayers have great power. But then this begs another question:

“But if you pray to the Saints, are you not worshipping them.”

For this question we would need to go back again to the definition of the wordf “pray” itself. When you ask someone to pray for you, it clearly shows and proves that you know they are not God. None of the prayers I have come across so far ever terminate in the Saints, though I stand to be corrected on this.

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.”

Eccl 9:10

To the Hebrew mind Sheol was simply the state or abode of the dead. The grave was the resting place of the body from which the spirit had departed, while Sheol was the resting place of departed spirits, or personalities. So if there is no knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, how then do the Saints in Heaven hear our prayers?

In order to answer this, we will mostly base the response on scripture.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”

Heb 12:1

But who are this great cloud of witnesses? In other words this great cloud consists of the heroes of our Faith as well as Martyrs from years past. They serve as a good exmple for us with regards to the path we are supposed to follow and they sorround us just as spectators do when watching a race. Therefore it is a proven fact that they know about us and see our everyday struggles from heaven.

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.”

James 5:16-18

The most powerful intercessors in the Church are those advanced in holiness. It is such people that we approach when we need someone to pray for us. And who is more advanced in holiness than a Saint who is already fully sanctified and in Heaven.

“And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”

Rev 5:8

The saints referred to in the above passage are the Christians here on Earth.

“And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.”

Rev 8:3-4

The Angels as well as the Elders (Holy Christian Leaders now in Heaven) hear the prayers of every Christian hear on Earth and join their prayers with theirs.

“There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.”

Deut 18:10-12

From the above scripture it is immediately apparent that the Bible condemns communication with the Dead. Are we not then as Catholics committing a mortal and grave sin through asking the Saints for their intercession? The answer to this question is a bit more on the complex end than the previous ones.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) condemns communication with the dead. But for the grave sin of necromancy of spiritism to take place, two conditions have to be met.

• Firstly, the person has to be dead, and

• Secondly, a technique has to be employed to make the dead person present so as to receive a communication.

In the prayers to the Saints, both of these conditions are not met and hence no grave sin of necromancy would have been committed. The Saints are not dead, they are alive and well in Heaven. Our Lord God is not the God of the Dead but the God of the Living. The Saints are not in Hell awaiting Christ, Christ has already come to them.

We are not in any sense attempting to communicate with them like the Episode of King Saul and the witch of Endor:

“Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” He said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul.”

1 Sam 28:12

We are simply asking the Saints who are in Christ to pray for us to God. There is no effort to make them appear to us so that we can communicate.

Another line of argument usually thrown at us, is that there is no Biblical proof with regards to the Intercession of the Saints.

“Then likewise a man appeared, distinguished by his gray hair and dignity, and of marvelous majesty and authority. And Oni′as 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.” Jeremiah stretched out his right hand and gave to Judas a golden sword, and as he gave it he addressed him thus: “Take this holy sword, a gift from God, with which you will strike down your adversaries.”

2 Mac 15:13-16

This is irrefutable evidence that the Saints in Heaven continue to pray for the saints still here on Earth. The setting of the above scripture is more than 3 centuries after the death of the Prophet Jeremiah, but he still continued to pray for the Lord’s people. The scripture though is from the Deuterocanon and hence a non-Catholic may not take it into consideration.

In this article though, scriptures have been outlined previously which support the belief in the intercession of the Saints.

“…for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.”

Luke 16:28

The body of Christ is composed of members who have concern for one another. The rich Man in this rather familiar story had indeed died and his Soul had made it to Hell, the place of endless torment. Nevertheless, he still had concern for his brothers on Earth, who he did not want to meet the same fate as his. He then asks Abraham to warn them of their impending doom. If this case is true for the rich man who was in a place of torment, then wouldn’t the Saints in Glory have more concern for the saints still on Earth? I guess this article has already answered that question.

---Amen---