Praying to the Saints

Asking the saints in heaven to pray for us is an ancient Christian practice, shared by Catholics, the Orthodox and other Eastern Christians. Scripture shows the saints in heaven are aware of our prayers and offer them to God, and their intercession no more violates Christ's unique mediation than asking a fellow Christian on earth to pray for us.

Can the saints hear us?

In Revelation 5:8 the elders in heaven hold golden bowls of incense, "the prayers of the saints." If they offer our prayers to God, they are aware of them. And if those prayers were addressed to God rather than to them, they would be aware of prayers not even directed to them.

One mediator

Christ is the one mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5): the only God-man, and mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 9:15; 12:24), as Moses was of the Old (Galatians 3:19-20). The intercession of others does not compromise this. In the four verses just before, Paul urges Christians to offer prayers and intercessions for all, calling this good and pleasing to God (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

"No contact with the dead"?

Deuteronomy 18:10-11 forbids necromancy, conjuring spirits to obtain information, and tells Israel to heed God's prophets instead (Deuteronomy 18:10-15). God himself allowed contact with the departed when Moses and Elijah appeared at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:3). A séance is very different from a son at his mother's grave asking her to pray to Jesus for him.

How can they hear so many?

Loraine Boettner asks how Mary and the saints, who are creatures, can hear millions of prayers in many languages, even silent ones. But the saints are not in the next room, bound by earthly space and time. They are not omniscient; they communicate with us only as God wills. And the God who gives the gift of tongues is not limited to English.

Why not go directly to Jesus?

We should pray directly to Jesus (John 14:13-14), and the prayers of the Mass are addressed to God, not the saints. But the objection proves too much: it would forbid asking any Christian on earth to pray for us. Paul urges intercession (1 Timothy 2:1-4), asks others to pray for him (Romans 15:30-32; Ephesians 6:18-20; Colossians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 3:1), and prays for them (2 Thessalonians 1:11), and Jesus commands us to pray for others (Matthew 5:44). The benefits are real:

Others' faith can supply what ours lacks; Jesus often acted on one person's faith for another (Matthew 8:13; 15:28; 17:15-18; Mark 9:17-29; Luke 8:49-55).
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful (James 5:16-18), and the saints in heaven have been made perfect (Hebrews 12:22-23).

The saints pray for us

Revelation shows an angel offering incense with the prayers of all the saints (Revelation 8:3-4), and the twenty-four elders, human leaders of God's people, holding bowls of incense that are the prayers of the saints (Revelation 5:8). The saints in heaven offer to God the prayers of the saints on earth.