For a long time I thought asking a saint to pray for me was basically going around God. Like I didn’t fully trust that Jesus actually heard me, so I found a workaround through someone who maybe did a better job of it. Nobody ever told me that outright. It’s just what settled in, somewhere along the way, as the shape of what was happening when a Catholic asked for a saint’s prayers.

But that isn’t what’s actually happening. When I ask my mother to pray for me, I’m not bypassing anyone. I’m asking someone who loves me, who I believe is close to God, to carry something to Him on my behalf. James tells us the prayer of a righteous person is powerful. That’s true of the people praying beside me right now. It doesn’t stop being true the moment they die and are with Him for good.

The saints aren’t a shortcut around Christ. They’re united to Him more closely than I am, and the Church has always believed they keep interceding for us because of that closeness, not instead of it. Asking for a saint’s prayer isn’t worship. It’s the same thing as asking a friend to pray for me, just a friend who’s already seeing God face to face.

I’m not owed an answer for why that felt like idolatry for so long. But I don’t think it was ever really about the saints. I think it was about whether I believed anyone else’s prayers mattered as much as my own.

Today’s Bible Study

There’s a scene easy to miss in 2 Maccabees 15. Before a decisive battle, Judas Maccabeus has a vision of the high priest Onias, already dead, praying with his hands raised for the whole nation. Then the prophet Jeremiah, also dead, appears and hands Judas a sword, telling him God has given it for the fight ahead. Nobody in that story is confused about who’s actually fighting for Israel. The point is just that Onias and Jeremiah hadn’t stopped caring, or praying, for the people they’d left behind. That’s not a Christian invention. It’s older than Christ was born.

Recommended Reading

If you want to try this instead of just reading about it, the Resources page here has a list of patron saints by occupation, life situation, and cause. Pick whatever you’re actually carrying this week and ask that particular saint to pray with you about it.