Questions and Answers about Catholic Church How is it that you Catholics pray to saints? Don't we believe that there's only one intercessor in heaven, and here you're having this relationship with someone who's dead. Well, it's fascinating when I hear that, and oftentimes because it's been such a natural part of my spirituality, the presence of holy men and women who have gone before as being part of a family in which we live. It's interesting that I find myself not able to understand when people object to this experience of Catholics praying to saints. But if you look at saints, first of all as people who have died in the body, but who are now alive in the spirit. And when you and I have received the spirit of God through the gift of Baptism, through the gift of that renewed life, we believe that that's not something that dies. That when the physical body dies, that spirit, that spirit that is enlivening the soul continues. And that a person is able then to go and stand in front of the face of God we say, and be present. And so there's in the reality of saints first a desire to find people who have lived good lives and say oh let's remember what they did, and how God loved them, and then try to follow their example. Saint Paul oftentimes talks about making sure you follow my example, and do what I tell you. And sometimes those examples of the saints who ran through many of the difficult problems that we've run through in our own life, in our family, in our work, in our spirituality, they can give us that direction. But we must always remember that saints who are alive are part of a wonderful family. That's what I think of. Just as I know that God is honored when a husband and a wife and a family come together and, and pray together to God, that doesn't mean that we downplay the one intercessor who is Jesus, but we believe that God loves when families come together… not only families, but when communities come together and praise God. Well, believing in that, we then take the step of believing that a person who has died and is now with the Lord is not someone who is far off, but united with us through that Holy Spirit in a wonderful life giving way. And so when I pray, for example, to, let's say, my mom who has passed away, and who I believe now enlivened by the Holy Spirit is in the presence of God. And I believe that the love that my mom has for me up in there, and here in the face of Jesus the one intercessor is one of saying Jesus, please take care of my son. That's not in any way taking away the one intercessor who is Jesus, but it's allowing us to be part of a very beautiful family, of praying together to the one intercessor who is Jesus in a great way. The idea is like turning to someone, for example, here in our own world and asking them to pray for us. I might turn to you and say would you please pray for me? And I believe that your prayers are important, or you might turn to me and say hey, would you pray for me, Father Mike? And that's what we get in these letters, and I pray for people. That doesn't mean that I deny Jesus as the one intercessor, we're all interceding with one another to the one intercessor Jesus. But we're forming a community and a family. So when we talk about saints, we're talking about the reality of God's love that never, never ends, and the life that never ends, and that we're called to both the people who are living and those that are in heaven, being part of a, a mystical body, part of a beautiful union of all the saints both here on earth and in heaven, praising God in a great way. I really believe that God loves the fact of many people coming together and praising him. And I think that you and I need to be able to say that with our husband, our wife, our children, our relatives. But we can also say that to our grandparents who are with the Lord now, let us come together and let us pray. And just as I would ask that you watch over my wife or you watch over my husband, you watch over my children, I believe that the love of those that are in heaven are still interceding for us in a very beautiful way. And it's for us to continually be open to that, and say yes to that in a good way, you know? < Return to Questions and Answers about Catholic Church Call Toll Free: 1-888-496-7363