The Prayers of the Saints

As we strive for holiness on earth with our eyes always on Jesus Christ, we are not alone. Created in the image of the Trinity, a communion of Divine Persons, we are social creatures. When we become united to God through baptism, we also become part of a communion of saints that transcends time and space. Within this community, love moves us to care for the spiritual well-being of others and one way we help is by offering intercessory prayers for one another.

All Members of One Body in Christ

St. Paul describes Jesus Christ and His Church inseparably united – Jesus is the head and all who are baptized compose His Body. In this Church, every member is valuable with something unique to offer the entire community. Additionally, united in Christ, when one member of His Body rejoices, we all participate in this joy. In the same way, the suffering of one impacts us all (1 Corinthians 12:1-31). With mutual concern for all, Christians should pray for each other (1 Thessalonians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 1:11; 3:1), and this act of charity is pleasing to God. St. Paul writes:

I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.  This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:1-5)

Becoming secondary mediators through Christ, we not only have the duty but also the power to intercede to God for others, especially members of our Christian family.

Death Does Not Divide the Body

This communion we have in the Church does not end at death (Romans 8:38-39). As Christ Incarnate did not have two bodies, one here on earth and one in heaven, in the analogy St. Paul gives, there is also only one Body of Christ: Christians in this life and those in the next are one family united in the Church. Death does not destroy our Christian relationships but rather God makes those in heaven perfect (Hebrews 12:23).

Filled with a pure love, the Saints in heaven experience an even deeper concern for the salvation of souls. Scripture shows us a glimpse of this: “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). And in the letter to the Hebrews, those in heaven are portrayed as surrounding us, cheering us on, as we run the race towards our imperishable crown:

Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us . . .” (Hebrews 12:1).

The Saints also continue to lovingly intercede for us. In Revelation 5:8, John writes how the humans in heaven (“twenty-four elders”), “fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” Offering to God not merely their personal intentions but prayers received from those on earth, their role as secondary mediators did not end at death. And being perfectly righteous, the intercessory prayers of the Saints are now far more effective (James 5:16).

Returning once more to St. Paul’s analogy of the Body of Christ, he tells us: “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable . . .” (1 Corinthians 12:21-22). Similarly, we cannot say to others members of the Church, “I have no need of you.” At times we can forget that, though death gives the appear of weakness, those in heaven have become truly indispensable members our family now able to powerfully intercede for us.

How Is This Possible – They Are Dead?

Those who have passed on from this earthly life are “dead” in one sense as their body and soul have separated. However, for those who have been rewarded with eternal life, they are now more alive than they were while on earth. As St. Luke tells us, “Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to him” (Luke 20:38). How those in living in heaven can hear us or be aware of the happenings on earth is a mystery, but God reveals He does make this possible (Luke 9:30; Revelation 8:3-4; Psalm 103:20-21; Tobit 12:12-15). And recognizing we are all one Body in Christ with love for each other, it is reasonable to conclude God allows this awareness and intercession because charity does not end with death but only intensifies.

Does This Not Make Them Gods?

The practice of asking those in heaven to “pray for us” does not then hold they are gods. Those in heaven have no supernatural abilities on their own, and we are not expecting them to directly answer our prayers. When we “pray” to the Saints, we are asking these brothers and sisters in Christ to intercede for us, recognizing their supplications are far more efficacious than our own.

But God Forbids Calling On The Dead?

Some may counter this practice by claiming this is the act of necromancy prohibited in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 18:11). God does forbid calling upon the dead through a séance, witchcraft, sorcery or other means to gain knowledge and information. However, when we ask those in heaven to pray for us, we are not attempting to conjure up spirits. We are simply asking for the intercession of those members of the Body of Christ who are now in heaven.

The Power of This Ancient Practice

Asking all those in the Body of Christ, including those in heaven, for their intercession has been a part of the Christian life since the beginning of the Church; however, opposition to this practice is also nothing new. In 406 AD, Vigilantius, a priest who studied for a time under St. Jerome, wrote a treatise challenging various practices of the Church and called the idea of intercessory prayer of the Saints “superstitious”. St. Jerome wrote an indignant response to all points made by Vigilantius, and, on the matter of asking those in heaven for their prayers, Jerome replied compellingly:

For you say that the souls of Apostles and martyrs have their abode either in the bosom of Abraham or in the place of refreshment, or under the altar of God and that they cannot leave their own tombs, and be present where they will…Will you put the Apostles into chains? So that to the day of judgment they are to be kept in confinement, and are not with the Lord, although it is written concerning them, “They follow the Lamb, wherever he goes” (Revelation 14:4). If the Lamb is present everywhere, the same must be believed respecting those who are with the Lamb. And while the devil and the demons wander through the whole world, and with only too great speed present themselves everywhere; are martyrs after shedding of their blood, to be kept out of sight shut up in a coffin, from whence they cannot escape? You say in your pamphlet, that so long as we are alive we can pray for one another; but once we die, the prayer of no person for another can be heard, and all the more because the martyrs, though they cry for the avenging of their blood (Revelation 6:10), have never been able to obtain their request. If Apostles and martyrs while still in the body can pray for others when they ought still to be anxious for themselves, how much more must they do so when once they have won their crowns, overcome and triumphed? A single man, Moses, oft wins pardon from God for six hundred thousand armed men; and Stephen, the follower of his Lord and the first Christian martyr, entreats pardon for his persecutors (Acts 7:59-60); and when once they have entered on their life with Christ, shall they have less power than before? The Apostle Paul says that two hundred and sixty-seven souls were given to him in the ship (Acts 27:37); and when, after his dissolution, he has begun to be with Christ, must he shut his mouth, and be unable to say a word for those who throughout the whole world have believed in his Gospel? Shall Vigilantius the live dog be better than Paul the dead lion? (Against Vigilantius, 6)

As St. Jerome points out, if our prayers are beneficial for others even though we are not yet pure of heart, the prayers of those great lions in heaven, perfectly united to Christ, are far more powerful and potent. Just as we do not hesitate to ask our brothers and sisters in Christ on earth to pray for us, we should be even more eager to have the intercession of those in heaven.

May all the Saints in heaven pray for us!