In Defense of the Saints - Zelda Peach
Okay, today I am going to try and explain the relationship of saints and prayer in the Catholic Church. I cannot possibly do this explanation justice, but I am going to do my best. Considering that my old pal Zwingli brought it up, I find this to be my perfect opportunity to provide clarification on who Saints are, what a relationship with them is supposed to be, and just overall try to defend them. Two of Zwingli's points ( XX & XXI) are about his disagreement with the view of Saints in the Catholic Church. I think that Zwingli is confused about what a relationship with the saints is really supposed to look like, and is mistaken thinking that the Catholic Church advocates "worshiping" saints which is a very false idea. I have had a lot of close friends ask me about this idea, as unless you grow up Catholic, it can be hard to understand the details of it. So let's start with the basic knowledge check of Saints:
1. Who are Saints? What did they do? How are they honored?
Saints are people whose lives have demonstrated what it truly means to be a Christian/Follower of Christ. They are people whose lives showed miracles, strong faith, and great works. To become a saint is a very big deal as it is a very rigorous process. Typically it is common for a Saint to be a Patron Saint of a particular thing that was tied to them. They often will also have a feast day during the year where their life is remembered and celebrated. For example, St. Thomas Aquinas is the patron saint of universities and students and his feast day is January 28th.
Now that we have established that, we can turn next to Zwingli's statement XX. He states that "That God's desires to give us all things in his name, whence it follows that outside of this life we need no mediator except himself" and I agree with this statement because the Saints do not have to be and are not mediators between one and their prayers to God. People very often ask me if I or other Catholics, in general, pray to the Saints, and the short answer is no. I or other Catholics do not pray to the Saints. The idea that we do pray to Saints is a misunderstanding of what I am going to call a "prayer-with" model of prayer with the Saints. The way that worship or prayer works with the Saints is almost more as if you asked a friend to pray with you. Prayer with Saints is a combined effort of prayer from you and a Saint that you ask to help you. Basically, they help aid you in your spiritual life with God. You might ask a saint to pray for you like you would ask a friend to pray for you. I know that this idea sounds very foreign to many protestants, but once one understands, one is able to view the difference between what I call a "prayer-to" model (that one would use to pray to God) vs. a "prayer-with" model (that one would ask a Saint for help with). Therefore, when Zwingli accuses the Saints as being "mediators" between one and God it upsets me. A mediator is someone who blocks or is between two people, where a Saint is someone who is meant to help, aid, and direct one's prayer, not hinder it.
I know that many of you will probably somewhat disagree with this view, and that is perfectly okay as each of our prayer lives are different and personal to each of us individually. My reason for this post is to mainly to help guide into the understanding of who/what Saints are as an explanation for what can sometimes just be a mixup of terminology/understanding. I hope that I made at least a little sense and I would be happy to talk about it more in class if the issue arises again. :)
I commented on Sophia and Brenna's posts
1. Who are Saints? What did they do? How are they honored?
Saints are people whose lives have demonstrated what it truly means to be a Christian/Follower of Christ. They are people whose lives showed miracles, strong faith, and great works. To become a saint is a very big deal as it is a very rigorous process. Typically it is common for a Saint to be a Patron Saint of a particular thing that was tied to them. They often will also have a feast day during the year where their life is remembered and celebrated. For example, St. Thomas Aquinas is the patron saint of universities and students and his feast day is January 28th.
Now that we have established that, we can turn next to Zwingli's statement XX. He states that "That God's desires to give us all things in his name, whence it follows that outside of this life we need no mediator except himself" and I agree with this statement because the Saints do not have to be and are not mediators between one and their prayers to God. People very often ask me if I or other Catholics, in general, pray to the Saints, and the short answer is no. I or other Catholics do not pray to the Saints. The idea that we do pray to Saints is a misunderstanding of what I am going to call a "prayer-with" model of prayer with the Saints. The way that worship or prayer works with the Saints is almost more as if you asked a friend to pray with you. Prayer with Saints is a combined effort of prayer from you and a Saint that you ask to help you. Basically, they help aid you in your spiritual life with God. You might ask a saint to pray for you like you would ask a friend to pray for you. I know that this idea sounds very foreign to many protestants, but once one understands, one is able to view the difference between what I call a "prayer-to" model (that one would use to pray to God) vs. a "prayer-with" model (that one would ask a Saint for help with). Therefore, when Zwingli accuses the Saints as being "mediators" between one and God it upsets me. A mediator is someone who blocks or is between two people, where a Saint is someone who is meant to help, aid, and direct one's prayer, not hinder it.
I know that many of you will probably somewhat disagree with this view, and that is perfectly okay as each of our prayer lives are different and personal to each of us individually. My reason for this post is to mainly to help guide into the understanding of who/what Saints are as an explanation for what can sometimes just be a mixup of terminology/understanding. I hope that I made at least a little sense and I would be happy to talk about it more in class if the issue arises again. :)
I commented on Sophia and Brenna's posts
Catholic-based questions confuse me a lot, as I know more about Arianism than I do the Catholic religion... And whenever I've tried to look it up, I never had a clear answer that didn't leave me with more questions. As in, what do you think about Mary? How long is Purgatory? What does it mean to be a believer? I know it differs from the view of the Baptist (my denomination), where we accept Jesus in our hearts and are reborn through Him and make a public declaration by immersion in water. Like, how do you make a declaration as a Catholic? I should probably just write this down and ask it in class, so I will do that. But I honestly want to learn more.
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