Happy and Blessed All Saints' Day!
With this post, I will show how the "Communion of Saints" that Christians across the world profess each Sunday in the Nicene and Apostle's Creeds is actually quite natural, even for those who think that asking for the prayers of the saints is unbiblical or don't quite understand why Catholics (and Orthodox) ask for the prayers of the saints.
Our loved ones are saints
For starters, I don't know any Christian that does not believe that their loved ones aren't looking down on them from Heaven. This is a very natural belief and also very biblical. After all, when we are baptized in the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13), death does not separate the Body of Christ, of which we all belong to, and we all have need of one another (1 Corinthians 12:20-21) according to Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians.
Before I was Orthodox and before I was Catholic, I always knew that my loved ones that had passed on were looking down on me from Heaven, cheering me on in this race of life (Hebrews 12:1). And I don't know of any Christian that doesn't believe that in some form or fashion. Christians normally keep photos of their loved ones around and will often say things like, "I know you're watching down on us from Heaven." There's not much difference between that and saying, "dad, pray for us" or "grandma, pray for us." I think it comes very naturally to all of us. It's not idolatry to look at a picture of our loved ones and certainly not a strange belief to know that they are looking down on us from Heaven.
Since the "saints" (all Christians, including loved ones and other Christians that have come before us, not just the ones recognized by the Church) are aware of us and what is going on in our lives. After all, even Christ has said:
"I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." (Luke 15:7, NIV)
If all of Heaven rejoices when a sinner repents, then the saints are aware of us and the happenings on Earth. So, why not ask those that are at the throne of God to pray for you? What could it hurt? You aren't taking away glory from Christ by asking other "saints" on Earth to pray for you. So, why not ask ALL the members of the Body of Christ to pray for you?
The family of God is a wonderful gift, and this gives glory to Christ for breaking the bonds of sin and death.
Objection: the saints in Heaven can't "hear" our prayers
I have a challenge: where is that in the Bible? Is there a verse that says that the saints can't hear our prayers and are unaware of us on Earth?
I'll end this post with a couple of quotes. C.S. Lewis, one of the greatest Christian thinkers of the 20th century, had this to say regarding the prayer of the saints:
"The consoling thing is that while Christendom is divided about the rationality, and even the lawfulness, of praying to the saints, we are all agreed about praying with them. “With angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.” One always accepted this ‘with’ theoretically. But it is quite different when one brings it into consciousness at an appropriate moment and wills the association of one’s own little twitter with the voices of the great saints and (we hope) of our own dear dead. They may drown some of its uglier qualities and set off any tiny value it has. You may say that the distinction between the communion of the saints as I find it in that act and full-fledged prayer to saints is not, after all, very great." (C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer, p. 16)
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states in paragraph 957:
Communion with the saints. "It is not merely by the title of example that we cherish the memory of those in heaven; we seek, rather, that by this devotion to the exercise of fraternal charity, the union of the whole Church in the Spirit may be strengthened. Exactly as Christian communion among our fellow pilgrims brings us closer to Christ, so our communion with the saints joins us to Christ, from whom as from its fountain and head issues all grace, and the life of the People of God itself" (CCC 957).
Rest easy, my friends. The communion of the saints and all our prayers and their prayers are a natural thing. I need (and want) all the prayers I can get!
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