The Intercession of the Saints
Fundamentalists often challenge the Catholic practice
of asking saints and angels to pray on our behalf. But the Bible directs
us to invoke those in heaven and ask them to pray with us.
Thus, in Psalm 103 we pray, "Bless the Lord, O
you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice
of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!"
(Ps. 103:20–21). And in the opening verses of Psalms 148 we pray, "Praise
the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!"
Not only do those in heaven pray with us,
they also pray for us. In the book of Revelation, John sees that
"the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell
down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of
incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8). Thus the saints
in heaven offer to God the prayers of the saints on earth.
Angels do the same thing: "[An] angel came and
stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much
incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar
before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of
the saints from the hand of the angel before God" (Rev. 8:3–4).
Jesus himself warned us not to offend small children,
because their guardian angels have guaranteed intercessory access to the
Father: "See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell
you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is
in heaven" (Matt. 18:10).
Because he is the only God-man and the Mediator
of the New Covenant, Jesus is the only mediator between man and God (1
Tim. 2:5), but this in no way means we cannot or should not ask our fellow
Christians to pray with us and for us (1 Tim. 2:1–4). In particular, we
should ask the intercession of those Christians in heaven, who have already
had their sanctification completed, for "[t]he prayer of a righteous man
has great power in its effects" (Jas. 5:16).
As the following passages show, the early Church
Fathers not only clearly recognized the biblical teaching that those in
heaven can and do intercede for us, but they also applied this teaching
in their own daily prayer life.
Hermas
"[The Shepherd said:] ‘But those who are weak and
slothful in prayer, hesitate to ask anything from the Lord; but the Lord
is full of compassion, and gives without fail to all who ask him. But you,
[Hermas,] having been strengthened by the holy angel [you saw], and having
obtained from him such intercession, and not being slothful, why do not
you ask of the Lord understanding, and receive it from him?’" (The Shepherd
3:5:4 [A.D. 80]).
Clement of Alexandria
"In this way is he [the true Christian] always
pure for prayer. He also prays in the society of angels, as being already
of angelic rank, and he is never out of their holy keeping; and though
he pray alone, he has the choir of the saints standing with him [in prayer]"
(Miscellanies 7:12 [A.D. 208]).
Origen
"But not the high priest [Christ] alone prays for
those who pray sincerely, but also the angels . . . as also the souls of
the saints who have already fallen asleep" (Prayer 11 [A.D. 233]).
Cyprian of Carthage
"Let us remember one another in concord and unanimity.
Let us on both sides [of death] always pray for one another. Let us relieve
burdens and afflictions by mutual love, that if one of us, by the swiftness
of divine condescension, shall go hence first, our love may continue in
the presence of the Lord, and our prayers for our brethren and sisters
not cease in the presence of the Father’s mercy" (Letters 56[60]:5
[A.D. 253]).
Anonymous
"Atticus, sleep in peace, secure in your safety,
and pray anxiously for our sins" (funerary inscription near St. Sabina’s
in Rome [A.D. 300]).
"Pray for your parents, Matronata Matrona. She
lived one year, fifty-two days" (ibid.).
"Mother of God, [listen to] my petitions; do not
disregard us in adversity, but rescue us from danger" (Rylands Papyrus
3 [A.D. 350]).
Methodius
"Hail to you for ever, Virgin Mother of God, our
unceasing joy, for to you do I turn again. You are the beginning of our
feast; you are its middle and end; the pearl of great price that belongs
to the kingdom; the fat of every victim, the living altar of the Bread
of Life [Jesus]. Hail, you treasure of the love of God. Hail, you fount
of the Son’s love for man. . . . You gleamed, sweet gift-bestowing Mother,
with the light of the sun; you gleamed with the insupportable fires of
a most fervent charity, bringing forth in the end that which was conceived
of you . . . making manifest the mystery hidden and unspeakable, the invisible
Son of the Father—the Prince of Peace, who in a marvelous manner showed
himself as less than all littleness" (Oration on Simeon and Anna 14
[A.D. 305]).
"Therefore, we pray [ask] you, the most excellent
among women, who glories in the confidence of your maternal honors, that
you would unceasingly keep us in remembrance. O holy Mother of God, remember
us, I say, who make our boast in you, and who in august hymns celebrate
the memory, which will ever live, and never fade away" (ibid.).
"And you also, O honored and venerable Simeon,
you earliest host of our holy religion, and teacher of the resurrection
of the faithful, do be our patron and advocate with that Savior God, whom
you were deemed worthy to receive into your arms. We, together with you,
sing our praises to Christ, who has the power of life and death, saying,
‘You are the true Light, proceeding from the true Light; the true God,
begotten of the true God’" (ibid.).
Cyril of Jerusalem
"Then [during the Eucharistic prayer] we make mention
also of those who have already fallen asleep: first, the patriarchs, prophets,
apostles, and martyrs, that through their prayers and supplications God
would receive our petition . . . " (Catechetical Lectures 23:9 [A.D.
350]).
Hilary of Poitiers
"To those who wish to stand [in God’s grace], neither
the guardianship of saints nor the defenses of angels are wanting" (Commentary
on the Psalms 124:5:6 [A.D. 365]).
Ephraim the Syrian
"You victorious martyrs who endured torments gladly
for the sake of the God and Savior, you who have boldness of speech toward
the Lord himself, you saints, intercede for us who are timid and sinful
men, full of sloth, that the grace of Christ may come upon us, and enlighten
the hearts of all of us so that we may love him" (Commentary on Mark
[A.D. 370]).
"Remember me, you heirs of God, you brethren of
Christ; supplicate the Savior earnestly for me, that I may be freed through
Christ from him that fights against me day by day" (The Fear at the
End of Life [A.D. 370]).
The Liturgy of St. Basil
"By the command of your only-begotten Son we communicate
with the memory of your saints . . . by whose prayers and supplications
have mercy upon us all, and deliver us for the sake of your holy name"
(Liturgy of St. Basil [A.D. 373]).
Pectorius
"Aschandius, my father, dearly beloved of my heart,
with my sweet mother and my brethren, remember your Pectorius in the peace
of the Fish [Christ]" (Epitaph of Pectorius [A.D. 375]).
Gregory of Nazianz
"May you [Cyprian] look down from above propitiously
upon us, and guide our word and life; and shepherd this sacred flock .
. . gladden the Holy Trinity, before which you stand" (Orations
17[24] [A.D. 380]).
"Yes, I am well assured that [my father’s] intercession
is of more avail now than was his instruction in former days, since he
is closer to God, now that he has shaken off his bodily fetters, and freed
his mind from the clay that obscured it, and holds conversation naked with
the nakedness of the prime and purest mind . . . " (ibid., 18:4).
Gregory of Nyssa
"[Ephraim], you who are standing at the divine
altar [in heaven] . . . bear us all in remembrance, petitioning for us
the remission of sins, and the fruition of an everlasting kingdom" (Sermon
on Ephraim the Syrian [A.D. 380]).
John Chrysostom
"He that wears the purple [i.e., a royal man] .
. . stands begging of the saints to be his patrons with God, and he that
wears a diadem begs the tentmaker [Paul] and the fisherman [Peter] as patrons,
even though they be dead" (Homilies on Second Corinthians 26 [A.D.
392]).
"When you perceive that God is chastening you,
fly not to his enemies . . . but to his friends, the martyrs, the saints,
and those who were pleasing to him, and who have great power [in God]"
(Orations 8:6 [A.D. 396]).
Ambrose of Milan
"May Peter, who wept so efficaciously for himself,
weep for us and turn towards us Christ’s benign countenance" (The Six
Days Work 5:25:90 [A.D. 393]).
Jerome
"You say in your book that while we live we are
able to pray for each other, but afterwards when we have died, the prayer
of no person for another can be heard. . . . But if the apostles and martyrs
while still in the body can pray for others, at a time when they ought
still be solicitous about themselves, how much more will they do so after
their crowns, victories, and triumphs?" (Against Vigilantius 6 [A.D.
406]).
Augustine
"A Christian people celebrates together in religious
solemnity the memorials of the martyrs, both to encourage their being imitated
and so that it can share in their merits and be aided by their prayers"
(Against Faustus the Manichean [A.D. 400]).
"There is an ecclesiastical discipline, as the
faithful know, when the names of the martyrs are read aloud in that place
at the altar of God, where prayer is not offered for them. Prayer, however,
is offered for the dead who are remembered. For it is wrong to pray for
a martyr, to whose prayers we ought ourselves be commended" (Sermons
159:1 [A.D. 411]).
"At the Lord’s table we do not commemorate martyrs
in the same way that we do others who rest in peace so as to pray for them,
but rather that they may pray for us that we may follow in their footsteps"
(Homilies on John 84 [A.D. 416]).
"Neither are the souls of the pious dead separated
from the Church which even now is the kingdom of Christ. Otherwise there
would be no remembrance of them at the altar of God in the communication
of the Body of Christ" (The City of God 20:9:2 [A.D. 419]).
NIHIL OBSTAT:
I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004
IMPRIMATUR:
In accord with 1983 CIC 827
permission to publish this work is hereby granted.
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004
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