Prayer to the Saints
People have gotten the wrong perception of Catholics with time. The Catholic Religion is not just all about the saints. We are also Christians. We believe in Jesus Christ our savior. This evolution about Catholics worshiping the saints is wrong. It is not true. But why do Catholics pray to saints, when they can just go through God? The saints do hear our prayers. Praying to the saints does not equate them with God as our only mediator. Saints are not dead.
To pray means to ask, not to worship. We do not pray to the saints instead of God. We pray to God and ask that the saints pray for and with us. Galatians 6:2 "Bear one another's burdens", and to "pray for one another" James 5:16 we are doing just that. "All baptized into one body" 1 Corinthians 12:13 we are as it is said baptized into one body. Are not the saints in heaven still members of that body?
It is true that intercessory prayer is a type of mediation but not the type exclusively performed by Jesus. Hebrews 9:15 tells us that Jesus "is the Mediator of a new Covenant." When the saints in heaven pray for us they are no more mediating a new covenant than we are when we pray for each other. In the Hail Mary Catholics pray to the Mother of Jesus, asking her to “pray for us now, and at the hour of our death.” that is with us.
It is said by non-Catholics “why pray to saints. The saints cannot hear you. They are dead.” This makesit pointless to pray to the saints, to ask for their intercession. Scripture designates those in heaven are aware of the prayers of those on earth. This can be seen in Revelation 5:8, where John portrays the saints in heaven offering our prayers to God in the form of "golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." But if the saints in heaven are offering our prayers to God, then they must hear our prayers.
The Saints are aware of our petitions and present them to God by interceding for us. This can all so be seen in Revelation 8:3-4 “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”. Prayers are not something that can be touched or physically offered to God. Saints in heaven are offering our prayers to God mentally. They are interceding.
"The prayer of a righteous person has great power" (James 5:16). Saints are alive in heaven as much as we are here on earth. If the Saints are already perfected in God’s presence, they are righteous enough to pray for and with us. We are not talking to the dead. It may get thrown in our face that God does not want us to connect in any way with the dead. An example is shown in Deuteronomy 18:10–11 "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead." with that said it can be misleading. What God does not want us to do or practice is necromantic conjuring up the spirits. “The nation you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the lord your god has not permitted you to do so. The lord your god will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brother. You must listen to him” Deuteronomy 18:14-15 God indicates that no one is to conjure the dead for meaning purposes of gaining information. We are to look for God’s prophets instead. There is a complete difference between holding a séance to have the dead speak through a person and someone humbly saying “Grandpa, please pray to Jesus for me. I’m in a big mess”. One is a bad practice set on getting secret information. The other is a humble request for a loved one to pray to God on one’s behalf.
We are not trying to make the saints equal with God. It has