Sunday, November 18, 2007

Pray to Jesus or the Patron Saints?


What is right for a Catholic to do; go pray to Jesus for the Lord’s favors or employ the intercession of the patron saints for every request that he has? My thoughts on this concern are somewhat not clear. I mean as Catholics, we know that the Catholic Church recognizes the Saints, and that it has been a widespread practice that we pray to the saints as our intercessors to the Lord.

In all our concerns on every conceivable aspect of our lives, we have a Patron Saint to pray for assistance so that the Lord will hear and answer our prayer requests immediately. There are the Patron Saints of Hopeless Cases – and these are Saint Rita of Cascia and Saint Jude. Then there is Saint Paul, who the Patron Saint of Catholics wanting to know the truth.

Definitely, we have the blessing of the Roman Catholic Church with our veneration of the Saints. But, we are also specifically taught not to worship them. Only the Lord God is worthy of our worship and praise.

On the other hand, what makes it confusing is the passage from the Holy Bible John 14:6 wherein Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through me.” Now here is where I am confused, because Jesus says it is only through Him that we get to God. So, where are the Saints in all this?

In my opinion, whatever the teachings of the Catholic Church, we can base our religious practices and actions. It can be that Jesus is the Main Man, as far as connecting to the Lord is concerned. When all else fails, we can pin all our hopes in having God hear our prayers through the intercession of Jesus. However, as the Church teaches, the Saints are there likewise to hear our pleas for them to intercede for us to God. Just like when we ask a friend to pray for us, the Saints act also like a friend. They also pray to the Lord in our behalf, making sure our intentions and requests are heard.

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