WHY DO WE ASK THE SAINTS TO PRAY FOR US?
By Rev. Fr. Stan-William Ede
Questions regarding the Saints usually come in different forms such as: Who is a saint? Why do we pray to the saints? Does God not hear our prayers? So, why do we ask the saints to pray for us? What makes a person qualified for canonization as a Saint and what is the process? And so on. On this column this week, our discussion on the saints will throw light and espouse all of the afore-stated questions except the very last of them. The last question on canonization is a whole topic of its own that requires lots of pages, and so we make it a topic for discussion in another edition. But first, let us find out who a saint is and why we have to pray to the saints and ask them to pray for us.
In a general sense, a “Saint” is anyone who is in a state of grace. In the strict sense however, it refers to those who by their heroic virtue during life are recognized by the Church through canonization or at least the Ordinary Magisterium (Teaching Authority) of the Church. This official recognition indicates that such persons are in heaven and may be publicly invoked, since their virtues and death are an example and witness to Christians.
According to a renown Professor of Theology, Richard McBrien, (cf. Catholicism, San Francisco: Harper Collins Pub., 1994, pp. 1109-1110), there are at least four different meanings of the word “saint”: (1) all those who have been justified by the grace of Christ, whether they be living or dead; (2) those who, having been justified by Christ on earth, have entered into eternal life; (3) particular figures, especially biblical personages, who are examples of holiness; (4) those whom the Church, either through custom or formal canonization, has singled out as members of the Church triumphant, so that they may be commemorated in public worship.
In the Catholic tradition, all four levels of meaning apply to the term “saints”, but the 2nd, 3rd and 4th levels are usually referred to when, every November 1st, we celebrate the “Feast of All Saints”. Nevertheless, the 4th level comprising those formally recognized by the Church constitutes the aspects that elicits most of the questions in matters of the saints, and that is what we shall mostly focus on, even though the preceding two levels come into play explicitly or implicitly.
When the Church celebrates the feast of saints, it does so not to draw attention away from Christ who is the one mediator between ourselves and God, but rather to proclaim the wonderful works of Christ in his servants, and display to the faithful, fitting examples for their imitation. St. Paul rightly proclaims that God is the glory of the saints and is glorified in the saints (2Thess. 1:10).
In his visions, St. John saw in heaven, a huge crowd, a great multitude impossible to count standing before the throne and always in the presence of the Holy Trinity. They are the ones who have come out of great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (cf. Rev. 7:9-17)
We venerate (i.e. honour, and not worship or adore) the saints. In other words, we respect, love and commune with the saints because they are venerable, respectable, communicable and lovable. The saints are not extra-ordinary beings but human beings like us who lived in the same world as ours now, but in an excellent and virtuous manner. They have now, thanks to their excellence, attained the ultimate height, our heavenly home, the beatific vision of God. They have departed this physical and earthly realm, but they live now in the presence of God, crowned with victory for a life gracefully accomplished while following Jesus the Lamb (Rev. 7:14-15).
As Vatican II teaches, the Church has always believed that the apostles and Christ's martyrs, who gave the supreme witness of faith and charity by the shedding of their blood, are closely united with us in Christ; she has always venerated them, together with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the holy angels, with a special love, and asked piously for the help of their intercession (cf. Lumen Gentium, 50). To look on the life of those who have faithfully followed Christ is to be inspired with a new reason for seeking the blissful city which is to come (cf. Heb. 13:14; 11:10).
It is pertinent to note, as the Church teaches, that it is not merely by the title of example that we cherish the memory of those in heaven, but the strengthening of the union of the whole Church in the Spirit through devotion to the exercise of fraternal charity (cf. Eph. 4:1-6). Exactly as Christian communion between men on their earthly pilgrimage brings us closer to Christ, so our community with the saints joins us to Christ. It is most fitting, therefore that we love those friends and co-heirs of Jesus Christ who are also our brothers and outstanding benefactors, and that we give due thanks to God for them, humbly invoking them, and having recourse to their prayers, their aid and help in obtaining from God through his Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord, our only Redeemer and Saviour, the benefits we need (cf. Lumen Gentium, 50).
In the natural order, we seek the help and assistance of those who can assist us to obtain our needs or solve our problems. It has even become all too popular in a country like Nigeria to go through influential persons to obtain admission or appointment, or to get off the hooks of certain persons considered to be taking undue advantage of their positions to oppress others.
In the spiritual, moral and supernatural order, we also do, and must be at the service of one another. The nearer one is to God in holiness, the more able he would be to assist with prayers to obtain mercies from God for those in need. Thus, God asked Abimelech to request Abraham's prayers: “He shall pray for you and you shall live” (Gen. 20:7); “Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and healed his wife and female servants that they bore children” (Gen. 20:17). Moses' intercession saved the Hebrew people in the desert (Ex. 32:11-14). God declared that He'll listen to Job's prayers for Eliphaz and group (Job 42:8-10). When Tobit and Sarah prayed, it was Raphael the Archangel who brought and read the record of their prayers before the glory of the Lord (Tob. 12:12).
St. Paul constantly requested for, and encouraged the prayers from, and among the saints (cf. 1 Thess. 5:25; Eph. 6:18; Rom. 15:30). Let us however note that Christ remains the sole mediator between God and man. The saints are not mediators but effective helpers and guide in our struggle to attain the glory of God via Christ's unique mediation. According to St. John Chrysostom, the saints are able to aid us via the merits of Christ our one mediator. They assist us via their greater powers as holy people to attain our common ultimate end. According to St. Jerome, the saints, having been one with us as the militant Church, now assist us more effectively as the triumphant Church in the Father's bosom. That is the reason why even “angels rejoice greatly over one sinner who repents” (Lk. 15:10).
As found in the spiritual book, My Daily Bread, Jesus speaks to us thus: “Honor My saints not only for the help which they can obtain for you, but also because they are the firmest heroes of all mankind. The greater the cause for which a man lives, the greater the man. The saints lived for my glory, for the praise of my goodness and the following of my truth. Theirs was the highest, most noble, and least selfish of all causes”.
By reason of the fact that those in heaven are more closely united with Christ, they establish the whole Church more firmly in holiness, lend nobility to the worship which the Church offers to God here on earth, and in many ways contribute to its greater edification. They shared our humanity while their lives were more perfectly transformed into the image of Christ. God vividly manifests his presence in them and his face to men. He speaks to us in them, and gives us a sign of his kingdom, to which we are strongly drawn, having so great a cloud of witnesses over us (Heb. 12:2) and such testimony to the truth of the Gospel.
To the extent we share with saints not only in the common commitment of following our Lord Jesus but some more special form of serving him, it is appropriate that we develop a special closeness to them, while as individuals we may have one or some that we have particular closeness and devotions to. Their lives exhibit many more definite aspects of goodness and particular ways of holiness to imitate as we find on the life of Jesus himself. Furthermore, since we share in their work, it is only to be expected that they do what they can to help us. These close personal relationships with real though invisible friends give our hope a concreteness and vivacity it otherwise lacks.
One who is conscious of the communion of saints, which gathers together God's children of every time and place, is not likely to be overly impressed with arguments based on the values of contemporary humankind. The “contemporary” world rapidly passes away; the relevance of today is the straitjacket of tomorrow. But why do members of this one generation imagine their judgment to be a reflection of anything but rationalization, when far larger groups of persons already have reached heaven by accepting this teaching and striving to live up to it, often with great sacrifices which showed a love of Jesus not so evident today?
According to our beloved Pope John Paul the Great, “Today, those white robes which St. John described, shine with a thousand lights; they are the innumerable reflections of one single Light which a multitude of men and women 'from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues' (Rev 7:9) reflect over the whole Church. They are men and women who show us Gods holiness incarnate in the human being.” The saints are members of Christ's glorified body, and form the Church triumphant, yet they are also in communion with us, in the bond of charity which never diminishes. Charity makes them united with us and solicitous for us; this is the ineffable mystery of the saints. Through this there exists a profound relationship between those who are still pilgrims on this earth, those who are being purified, and those who enjoy glory (cf. Lumen Gentium, 49).
Through this deep unity we should feel closer today to all the saints who, before us, have believed all that we believe, and who are now our friends and intercessors in heaven.