Praying to saints is a topic that can make believers and non-believers a little confused. After all, when people put their hands together in prayer, the general belief is that these prayers are directed to God Himself. Therefore, if you're questioning the relevance of praying to the saints, or you need to explain the practice to others, then you might wish to listen to Fr. David Michael Moses.
In a recent post on social media, the priest took time to explain the importance of reaching out to the holy men and women who've come before us. And the first matter Fr. David Michael addresses is the actual word "pray" itself.
As he points out, the simple meaning of the word pray is: "to make a request in a humble manner." It is a word that is often used in old English in a polite form. For example, in the works of Shakespeare -- who incidentally many believe was a Catholic -- the expression "I pray thee... " contracted to "prithee" appears a number of times. In this form it basically means "please."
(In fact, it'd be great fun to try out on your kids: "Prithee, Jack. Could you pass me the salt?")
As Fr. David Michael goes on to explain, the act of praying to the saints is therefore asking them to talk to God on your behalf. He shows how the act of talking to the saints is similar to how we talk to our friends. We share our inner-most feelings, we pray for them, and ask them for their support and to pray for us.
A heavenly support group at hand
Therefore, having a collection of saints whom you can talk to, and pray to, is simply like having an extended heavenly friendship group who are there to offer you community and support, and to bring us all closer to our heavenly father.
Of course, you can always pray directly to God, but sometimes having some powerful intercessors helping out can be very comforting!
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