This coming Monday Catholics celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. There are other Christians who have devotions to the Saints, such as Eastern Christians, High church Anglicans, etc. And then there are some who do not, i.e. bible evangelicals and fundamentalists. They believe that any devotion to a saint (deceased person) is in direct violation of Sacred Scripture. They believe this for a number of reasons the three most important being One) There is only one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus ( c.f. 1 Tim 2:5). Two) You shall make no image of anything on the earth or the under the earth and worship it, c.f. Ex. 20:4-5, Lev. 26:1.) And three) Once a person is dead there can be no more communication with that person, "anyone who consults with the dead is detestable to the Lord," c.f. Deut. 18:11.
Is the Catholic Church in error then for having devotions to the saints? The answer is a clear no, rather the Church is exercising what is sound, good, and right in the matter of devotion to the saints. Lets look at each of these arguments and see whether they carry any weight.
It is true, there is only one mediator between God and man and that is the man Christ Jesus. The Catholic Church upholds this and would correct anyone who did not believe it. It is Christ who achieved salvation, it is Christ who grants it, and it is Christ who presents us to the Father. And yet, Christ does not work in isolation from others, He Himself was a community man. He gathered twelve apostles and many others to carry out His mission. Christ Himself by nature, in His divinity is a community of persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. St. Paul also calls us co-workers in the mission of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 3:9). What is the mission of Christ? That each and every person come to repentance and be saved (c.f. John 3:16, 2 Pet. 3:9). Any mediation that is shared by St. Paul, for example while he was alive does not take away from Jesus' mediation. St. Paul's intercession on our behalf is a part of Christs' mediation between God and man, for without Christ St. Paul would have no mediation for anyone, again, his only exists because of Christs'.
No fundamentalist would argue that St. Paul could not pray for him or her while Paul himself was alive. If, however, I pushed the fundamentalist in his own argument of 1 Tim 2:5 and taking it literally, then he must agree that no one can pray for anyone since there is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, and that includes even mediation done while people are still alive. Therefore, you cannot ask me to pray for you because I would be violating Scripture. You can see how the argument unravels and falls apart when using common sense. The argument, however, is not that I can pray or not pray for you now while I am alive, but rather once I am dead then it must stop. We will pick this up when getting to argument #3.
The second argument rests with not worshipping or making idols or images. This commandment is from God and is eternal. If a Catholic worships anything or anyone beside God Himself they are in grave sin, they are idolatrous. We DO NOT worship Mary or any saint, but we do give them honor and ask them to pray for us. The language that we use can confuse other Christians because Catholics will often say, "I pray to Mary." The Catholic is using a faulty term, even though for the most part they understand it as different than praying to Jesus. When we say we pray to Mary what we mean is that we are asking them to pray for us like I would ask you to pray for me. Statues, icons, and images are only rememberances and aids to prayer. No fundamentalist would throw away their photos of a loved one, but if I pressed them that God says, "No images," even the ones in your wallet, they would look at me as if I were crazy if not mean spirited. Again the argument is misplaced because of misconception. We do not pray to anyone besides God and we do not worship anyone besides God, but, we do remain connected on the deepest levels with those who have gone before us. An image is a neutral thing, it is non-living matter, the commandment of God is not broken by the image alone, but in how I understand the image. I wonder how many fundamentalists have the image of a cross in their church?
This takes us to the final argument. Can we ask those who have passed away to pray for us? The answer is not only "yes" but we should, since the church militant (those saints on earth - us - believers) pray for each other, so too the Church triumphant (those saints who are already in heaven). Why would those who have died cease their prayers for us? Is it that they are more restricted in heaven then when they were on earth? That would make no sense. Also, the Scripture reaffirms that the saints in heaven pray for their brothers and sisters who are on earth still journeying towards heaven, "He came and received the scroll from the right hand of the one who sat on the throne. When he took it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones." Rev. 5:7-8. Those in heaven have no need to pray for themselves, they pray for us. The elders (the saints in heaven) present God with the prayers of those who are still on earth. The context of this passage is affirmed in Rev. 6 where God asks the saints in heaven to wait a little longer for the rest of their brothers and sisters to give witness to the faith.
As Catholics we do not seek conversation in terms of having a medium, soothsayer, or oracle who speaks to the dead that would be sinful and a breaking of the Divine law. We DO NOT speak to dead people, we ask their intercession, which is much different than consulting the dead as we have seen on recent tv shows, literature, and psychic shops. Any dabbeling in numerology, astrology, wicca, etc. are mediums that can open one up to all kinds of evil, the first being a total disregard for the work that the Holy Spirit should be doing in us, i.e. revealing God's Truth to us in our lives. Prayers to the Saints are no different than me asking you to pray for me, the only difference is that they are in heaven.
The beauty of the Saints is that as Catholics we never forget the familial nature of the Church. We are never cut off from one another, in God we remain on the same vine and branches as those who have gone before us, it is the same Church we belong to - the Kingdom of God. None of which could be without Jesus the one mediator holding it all together. None of our prayers would have meaning without Jesus. So, there is only one mediator between God and man, that is Christ, but in His goodness He allows us all to share in it and today we honor those who have done so faithfully, our brothers and sisters - the Saints. Happy Feast Day to all!
Fr. John
picture taken from therosarium.com
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