Just my two cents. The Bible does not say anything about praying to “dead” saints.
The Bible simply commands the Saints in Christ to pray for “all” (1 Timothy 2:1). We don’t cease to become members of the Body of Christ when we die. Therefore, we don’t cease to pray when we die. If anything, our prayer becomes more perfect as we get closer to the source of our spiritual life (2 Corinthians 5:8).
The New Testament is a new dispensation in Christ. This is clearly expressed in the book of Hebrews. Where the Old Testament is described, it says:
Heb 12:18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
But the New Covenant in the name of Jesus Christ is totally different. We are living amongst our brethren. How can it be that we are not permitted to communicate with those amongst whom we live?
Heb 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Christ is our example. And it is He who first portrayed the new dispensation of the communion of saints, when, still in the flesh, he climbed the Mountain of Tabor and spoke freely with Moses and Elijah in the company of Peter, James and John (Matthew 17:1-3).
Therefore, although the Bible does not give an explicit command to pray to dead saints. The New Testament teaches, by example and implication, that we who are born again in Christ are living in and amongst the saints upon Mount Sion. And since we are living amongst them, we are free to communicate with them.
Great post De Maria.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that as I was reading First Romans last night, St. Paul talks about how we are united in Christ and how we can not be separated from His Body apart from our own doings.
Here is where the theology of protest-antism has serious flaws: If God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, HOW can those who are UNITED to His body possibly be separated from anything? If the Saints are united to Christ, then they are participants in His Glory and Power. I've seen nothing in the Scriptures that states or clarifies those that are united to Christ are completely ignorant and outside of, what is going on down here on Earth.
What is the whole purpose of Christ being married to His Bride, the Church? It is to create a huge family of believers! Does not a family, a true family, take care of each other? Does only one family member take care of all? Did not the Trinity speak in the book of Genesis 2:24:"Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh." Did not Christ Himself repeat these Words in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 19?
Christ being The Son of God, who is and can only be purest love, MUST share Himself, because that is what love does. True love dissolves, or gives of itself, so that others may thrive. Christ is giving His Saints a participation in His Love, Christ is offering all His children a chance to participate in His Glory. Christ is completely sacrificing and giving of Himself so that we may partake. The Saints can not possibly be dead if they are united to The One, True Eternal God, which sees all things, knows all things, hears all things, touches all things, and loves all things.
So, I ask the protest-ants: How can the Saints whose souls were once united to their bodies on earth, be separated from the power of Christ?
God Bless and keep up the great work!
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DeleteYeah. I like the way that St. Joan of Arc said it, as quoted in the Catechism:
Delete795 Christ and his Church thus together make up the "whole Christ" (Christus totus). The Church is one with Christ. The saints are acutely aware of this unity:
Let us rejoice then and give thanks that we have become not only Christians, but Christ himself. Do you understand and grasp, brethren, God's grace toward us? Marvel and rejoice: we have become Christ. For if he is the head, we are the members; he and we together are the whole man. . . . The fullness of Christ then is the head and the members. But what does "head and members" mean? Christ and the Church.
Our redeemer has shown himself to be one person with the holy Church whom he has taken to himself.
Head and members form as it were one and the same mystical person.
A reply of St. Joan of Arc to her judges sums up the faith of the holy doctors and the good sense of the believer: "About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter."