"Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed" Luke 1:48.
Martin Luther, the first Protestant on Christian devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary:
"The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart." (Sermon, September 1, 1522).
"[She is the] highest woman and the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ . . . She is nobility, wisdom, and holiness personified. We can never honor her enough. Still honor and praise must be given to her in such a way as to injure neither Christ nor the Scriptures." (Sermon, Christmas, 1531).
"One should honor Mary as she herself wished and as she expressed it in the Magnificat. She praised God for his deeds. How then can we praise her? The true honor of Mary is the honor of God, the praise of God's grace . . . Mary is nothing for the sake of herself, but for the sake of Christ . . . Mary does not wish that we come to her, but through her to God." (Explanation of the Magnificat, 1521).
Is Praying to Saints Biblical? Where does the Bible
teach this?
Read the verses and Apostolic concepts not taught in
your church, nor underlined in your Bible.
This is perhaps one of the greatest stumbling blocks most
Protestants have before embracing the Catholic Faith. Most objections
spring from the prayer, the "Hail Mary," (which could not be more Biblical
as evidenced by the first chapter of Luke).
Here is the prayer and it's corresponding
Biblicism.
"Hail [Mary] full of grace, the Lord is with
thee,
Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the
fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death,
Amen."
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Luke
1:28 Verbatim: "And the angel
entered to her, and said, Hail, full of grace; the Lord is with thee;
blessed be thou among women." (some versions say
"Hail highly favored one").
Luke
1:42 [Elizabeth]"cried with a great voice, and said, Blessed be thou among
women, and blessed be the fruit of thy womb." (Verbatim, with "Jesus" added)
Luke
1:43 (Elizabeth calls the Virgin Mary the "Mother of
my Lord" which is synonymous with "Mother of God", unless one contends
that Our Lord is not God.) "And
whereof is this thing to me, that the mother of my Lord come to
me?" Luke
1:43
This is a prayer of intercession. In 1
Tim 2:1, St Paul exhorts Timothy "that supplications, prayers, intercessions
and giving of thanks be made for everyone, for this is good and
pleases our Savior."
Everyone
would be all those Christians in the Body of Christ. (Col
1:18- 24) Are those glorified Christians in Heaven not part of the Body of
Christ? Where in the Holy Bible does it teach that Christ has two bodies,
one in Heaven and one on earth, or that the saints in Heaven are outside
the Body of Christ? St Paul tells us that intercessions and
prayers be made for for ALL Christians, all in Christ's
Body.
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But many exclaim: "Those in Heaven can't hear you, they are
dead!" No, their bodies are dead, not the souls themselves. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself tells
us:
"But
regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to
you by God: I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD
OF JACOB'? He is not the God of
the dead but of the
living." Matt 22 :31-32
Those in Heaven, their bodies have departed from us but Christ tells us they are alive and continue to be part of
the Body of Christ. (Col 1:18, 24) A prayer to a saint is simply asking
another Christian to pray for you to God Almighty. It's that simple. It is
not to perform magic, it is not conjure of the dead to foretell the future and
it is not a form of worship. It is simply a request that those in the presence
of God pray for you to God himself. This is exactly what Protestants do when
they ask a family member to "pray" for them. There is no difference. Those
Christians on earth as with those glorified Christians in Heaven are all part of
the Body of Christ. Jesus Himself tells us that they are alive and St. Paul
instructs us in the Holy Bible that "that supplications, prayers,
intercessions and giving of thanks be made for
everyone, for this is good and pleases our Savior." 1 Tim 2:1 Everyone would be ALL
Christians in the Body of Christ. That's all there is to it. It's that simple.
The Holy Bible also tells us to:
"Pray
at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep
alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and
also for me . . ." (Eph. 6:18).
(All
the saints, those in Heaven and those on Earth).
Any objection to
asking fellow Christians to pray
for you (whether they be in Heaven or on
earth) is blatantly unbiblical, for one can find no verse or valid Biblical
objection to this instruction given by the Apostle Paul. Any and all objections
to asking fellow Christians to pray for us stem from years of conditioning as a
non-Catholic and have no Biblical foundation.
If you read any prayer to a saint, it includes or concludes,
with a phrase like "pray for us." The "Hail Mary" is a case in point. Read the
last stanza:"pray for us sinners now and at the hour of
our death, Amen." As for the rest of the prayer,
one can see that it takes its form from the first chapter of the Gospel of
Luke and Paul's teachings on the Body of Christ. (Col 1:18-24) Why would
anyone object to a pray with Bible verses verbatim out of Christ's 3rd
Gospel? One can only guess unless the objection is from the last
stanza" "Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death,
Amen." One can only object to this stanza
if one believes that those glorified souls in Heaven are 1. not Christians
(anymore) and 2. (for some reason) not part of the Body of Christ , and the
instructions given by St. Paul in 1 Tim 2:1 (that is pleasing to Our
Savior BTW ) "that
supplications, prayers,
intercessions and giving of thanks be made for
everyone, for this is good and pleases our Savior." 1 Tim 2:1 does not apply to them! I would ask what
Biblical verse objectors are using to declare that those in Heaven are "outside" the Body of Christ or are excluded from the 1 Tim 2:1? The objection is
unbiblical, unfounded and based on learned prejudice from years of
misinformation about the Holy Bible and the teachings of Christ's
Apostles.
On the contrary, what is unbiblical is "praying to Jesus" as one would advocate instead. "Praying to Jesus" is not
in the Bible. Jesus himself tells his Apostles to pray to his Father and he
tells us how in the "Lord's Prayer." It is a healthy and holy
Catholic/Protestant practice to "pray to Jesus," but it is not
Biblical in any sense of the word. As the Bible tells us, not everything is in
the Bible to include the unbiblical idea that everything IS in the Bible.
(John 20:30, John 21:35) See 25
Unbiblical Protestant Doctrines and Practices
The Holy Bible tells us to invoke those in
Heaven to pray WITH us, and it tells us explicitly in many places how they
pray FOR us. Protestants object to the practice because they have
been indoctrinated over the years that the "Intercession of Saints" or as the
Apostles Creed calls it the "Communion of Saints" is somehow Unbiblical. They
believe this because, as the following verses show, these verses are not taught
in Protestant churches nor underlined in their Pastor's Bible.
If the objection is the phrase: "praying to saints," the word
"Pray" in this sense means nothing more than to "to ask or to
petition," as in Shakespearean English:"I pray thee
or I ask thee." To "Pray to a saint" is simply to ASK them or
petition them. It is not Worship, which is reserved for God
and God alone, it is a petition. And if you read any Christian
prayer to any saint it does just that, it asks them to pray with us
to our Lord Jesus Christ. As noted the
last stanza of the Hail Mary prayer is an excellent example: "Holy Mary Mother of God, Pray for us sinners now at the hour
of our death, Amen."
That is the whole reason for the prayer, to
gain her intercession of prayer to her Divine Son. Jesus Christ is who she is "praying" to. She is petitioning her Divine Son on your behalf. Just as the Holy
Bible commands all Christians in the Body of Christ to do:
"pray and intercede
for one another."
1 Tim 2:1
and to pray for one another:
"Pray
at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep
alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and
also for me . . ." (Eph. 6:18).
Protestants do the exact same thing when they "pray"
(ask/petition) to a spouse, a mother or friend to "pray for them." They
"pray/petition" others to pray with them or for them to Almighty God.
Again, that is the meaning of the word "pray." "I pray
thee." "I ask thee." Look it up. It is not worship,
that is reserved for God alone. It is a petition or a
request.
The Holy Bible tells us there are two
kinds of prayer.
1. A prayer can be a prayer of petition OR a prayer
of worship. The prayer of petition asks (prays) for something while the
other type is one of worship which glorifies God with no petition. The psalms
are excellent examples. Some are prayers of petition and some are pure prayers
of worship. Most Protestant prayers to God are prayers of petition. The
following is an example of a Catholic prayer to God that is not a petition
but a prayer of worship.
"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without
end, Amen."
2. But ALL prayers to fellow Christians in the Body of
Christ are petitions (whether the Christian in the Body of Christ is
here or in Heaven). Protestants use prayers of petition in the exact same why
when they utilize pray groups or pray chains. They are simply
asking fellow Christians to pray/petition God on your behalf.
================================================================================================
Aside from 1
Tim 2:1 and Eph. 6:18, which commands those in
the Body of Christ to intercede and pray for each other, where else in the
Holy Bible does it ask us to do this or where does it allow Christians to
petition those in Heaven to pray with us?
An online correspondent, who I will call Peg
wrote to me and objected:
"we have a direct line through Christ and we should pray to Him
and only Him.... using Mary is almost like a medium or
idolatry to me."
Peg, this is a common
misconception. (BTW, the Holy Bible never tells us to pray to Jesus, it
tells us to pray to God the Father and it tells us as Christians to pray and
intercede for each other.
(
See 50 Unbiblical Protestant Doctrines and
Practices)
https://www.angelfire.com/home/protestantchallenges/unbiblical.html .
The answer to your
question is an understanding of the Body of Christ as spoken of
in the Holy Bible. Let me ask you a question: are those Holy
Christians, the saints in Heaven OUTSIDE the Body of Christ? Are
they outside His Body even though they are in his presence? Yes, or No.
The answer is No. They are not outside the Body of Christ.
They are part of the Body of Christ and the Saints described in Rev.
5:8, offering up their prayers on behalf of those other Christians in the
Body of Christ still on earth.
To believe otherwise is
to fracture Christ's Body and self declare that the right arm of
Christ's Body is separated from His left arm. I.e. that one part
of Christ's Body cannot help or pray for the other part of His Body even while
he is the Head of the Body. (Col 1:18).
Peg if this is your
contention, what Biblical verse are you using to split Christ's Body in two
so that those in Heaven cannot pray or intercede for those on earth as the
Holy Bible tells us they do. Or what verse do you quote that prohibits those
Christians in the Body of Christ on earth from asking those in THE SAME BODY to
pray with and for them? There is no such verse, so this objection is
by definition: UNBiblical. This Protestant objection is absent
of any scriptural support. Many Protestants argue that the Old Testament
prohibits "conjuring up the dead." This is not what Christians do in petitioning
their prayers and if they would read this OT passage in context the verse
actually prohibits "conjuring up the dead for foretelling their future" as in
the case of Samuel. Asking a fellow Christian to pray for you to Almighty God
does not fit this prohibition
What the Bible really says
is shown below:
The Holy Bible tells us
explicitly that we should intercede on the behalf of other
Christians.
The Holy Bible tells us
explicitly that Christ has but ONE Body.
The Holy Bible tells us
explicitly that we should invoke those in Heaven to pray with us.
That is why our earliest
creeds from the 1st century speak of the "Communion of Saints," i.e. Christ's
One Body. One Body of Christians all praying and helping each other just as
the Bible commands.
"...We believe
in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints
the forgiveness of Sin and the resurrection of the Body and life
everlasting, Amen."
For Scripture
says:
I
urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercessions
and thanksgiving be made for everyone for this is good, and
pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to
a knowledge of the truth. " 1 Tim 2:1-4
And:
"Pray at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and
supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making
supplication for all the saints, and also for me . . ." (Eph.
6:18).
The
Holy Bible commands us to interceded and make supplication for everyone and all
the saints. Nowhere is this commandment only for those in Christ's Body on
earth nor does it exclude those Saints in Christ's Body in Heaven.
It says for everyone. All those Christians in the One
Body of Christ. This is by definition the "Communion
of Saints." Unless one is ready to reject the
Apostles Creed as apostate, one must accept this Communion
of Christ's Saints in Heaven and on earth. To limit
this to those Saints on earth is not only UNBiblical, but it fractures the Body
of Christ and limits the power of God.
Does this make
sense? Peg, just because it is a new concept to you doesn't mean it's
wrong. It is ancient, it is apostolic and it's Biblical. It is
the teachings of Jesus Christ. You just haven't been taught this yet
because your church rejects what Christians have always believed on this subject
in favor of your pastors modern interpretation of the Holy Bible 2000 years and
3 languages removed.
If you have a direct
line through Christ, (which is true), why don't you just pray to him? Why
do you ask/petition/pray to others, (prayer groups, siblings, spouses) to
pray with you and for you? Why do you use them for intercession if
you have this direct line? You do this because the Bible tells us to, and
ironically, it never instructs you to pray to Jesus which you advocate. Yet both
are holy practices.
Do you see my point? You
use others for intercession, so do Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox.
Only we (also) ask those in Heaven who are so much closer to God to pray
with us. Just as the Holy Bible commands us.
Here are some verses
that might help explain this.
The following two
examples from the Psalms give Biblical testimony of
"invoking those in Heaven" to prayer and asking them to pray
with us.
In Psalm 103 we
pray: "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his
word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
his ministers that do his will!" (Ps. 103:2021).
And in the opening
verses of Psalms 148 we ask those in Heaven to Pray with us: "Praise the
Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!"
Not only do those in heaven pray with
us, they also pray for us. In the book of Revelation,
John sees that "the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in
heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls
full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev.
5:8).
Thus the saints in heaven
offer to God the prayers of the saints on earth.
Angels do the
same thing: "[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] 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" (Rev. 8:34).
Jesus himself warned us not to offend
small children, because their guardian angels have guaranteed intercessory
access to the Father: "See that you do not despise one of these little
ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my
Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 18:10).
Because he is the
only God-man and the Mediator of the New Covenant, Jesus is the only mediator
between man and God (1 Tim. 2:5), but this in no way means we cannot or should
not ask our fellow Christians to pray with us and for us (1 Tim. 2:14). Many
invoke 1 Tim 2:5 referring to Jesus as the only mediator yet fail to read the
previous 4 verses that come before 1 Tim 2:5 instructing us that we should ask
the intercession of those Christians in heaven, who have already had their
sanctification completed, for as Scripture says: "[t]he prayer of a
righteous man has great power in its effects" (Jas. 5:16).
Catholic Answers: "Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth" A compendium of basic Catholic beliefs and the Biblicism behind these beliefs. http://www.catholic.com/library/pillar.asp
