Today we are reminded that saints aren't just the great people whose names and lives have remained familiar through the ages — people like Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, Augustine, Thomas Becket, etc.
The saints also include a vast throng of ordinary people, many of whom we have never heard of, but others of whom are our own ancestors, relatives, friends, and acquaintances who have gone before us. So we rejoice in the way God's grace has worked in them, we ask them to intercede for us before the throne of God, and we take encouragement for our own struggle in life.
10 comments:
Thanks for reminding us this isn't all about Snickers, Reese's cups and cleaning up wet toilet paper from your trees in the morning ....
John, thanks for your comment, you’ve said “It seems to me that praying to the saints in heaven is in principle no different from asking the saints on earth to intercede for us.” A protestant friend says to me today, we’re not praying to the saints but with the saints. I have to think about this.
As a prostestant, we believe that the saints are all who believe in Jesus Christ and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. So those who are followers of the Christ are called saints.
And we believe pray directly to God in which the Holy Spirit intercedes for us.
Just my thoughts
I know when I was in Switzerland, All Saint's Day was a big deal. Everyone went to the cemetery to light candles and remember loved ones. It was sad and a bit eerie, but it was very interesting.
btw, I was in a Catholic town, not Protestant.
Thanks for the comments, guys.
@ tom — I think that the saints in glory are part of what the Apostles' Creed calls the "communion of saints," and I think they can offer intercessory prayer for us. Taking it one step further, I think we can ask them to offer such prayer, just as we can ask the saints on earth to do so.
@ Jason — I guess the Europeans have some religious customs which either didn't make it to these shores or got lost because they didn't involve the whole community. It would be interesting to see that candle-lighting.
who does it refers to when you say 'saints in glory'? Secondly i dont see the need/point in praying via a saint if we can pray directly to God through the holy spirit. This is my understanding of it.
The saints in glory are those who have died and gone to heaven.
The point is the same as when someone here on earth prays for you. God listens to prayers that others make on our behalf.
i think im understanding what you are saying yet i still dont see the need to pray via a believer who has died and gone to heaven.
Do you have any scripture references which i could further investigate this?
"[I] still dont see the need to pray via a believer who has died and gone to heaven."
I wouldn't say it's exactly a *need*, just a good option.
As for scripture, I think there are two parts to the question.
First there is the matter of asking others to pray for us, rather than only going directly to God. Acts 8:24. There are numerous instances where St. Paul tells his readers that he is praying for them (not just telling them to pray directly to God for themselves. In 1 Thessalonians 5:25 and 2 Thessalonins 3:1 he asks them to pray for him. Also James 5:14-18; 1 John 5:16.
Second there is the matter of saints in heaven being the ones who pray for us and whose prayers we can request as much as those on earth. Luke 20:38 (they are living); Hebrews 12:1 (they are aware of us).
thanks for replying. i still dont really understand it as an option, as such, to ask a believer that has gone to heaven.
i think that we should pray or seek prayer together with each other here on earth, it seems to me the instances of requesting prayer are to the believers that were still on this earth, and not those who died and live because of the Lord.
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