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What does it mean “to pray to a Saint”?

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This blog post is meant as a supplement to my earlier earlier posts on the subject of Saintly intercession (read here and here)…

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One issue we have in Catholic-Protestant dialogue concerning the Saints is the language we use. You will often hear Catholics talking about “praying to Saints”. However, it is important to point out that what we really mean is that we’re asking the Saints to pray for us.

What’s in a name?

Part of the problem is the use of the verb “to pray”. It can mean two different things, depending on context. The word itself comes into English from the Latin word “precari”, which means “obtained by entreaty”. To pray, therefore, means to ask for something.

This is aptly demonstrated in my favorite Shakespeare play, A Much Ado About Nothing (Act 2, Scene 3):

BENEDICK: An he had been a dog that should have howled thus, they would have hanged him: and I pray God his bad voice bode no mischief…

DON PEDRO: Yea, marry, dost thou hear, Balthasar? I pray thee, get us some excellent music…

Here you see both uses of the word “pray”. In the first, Benedick petitions God, and in the second, Don Pedro asks Balthasar for music. In the former, a request is made to God, in the latter, to man.

A better dialogue

While I think that pointing out this distinction goes a long way to further Catholic-Protestant dialogue, I think that Catholics should go the extra mile and be careful with the way they speak around Protestants, so as to communicate the Catholic Faith as clearly as possible.

When talking with Protestants about praying to Saints, it might be worth spelling out exactly what you mean, saying explicitly that you’re asking the Saints for their intercession before the throne of God. Rather than talking about “Praying to the Saints”, you might speak about “Praying with the Saints”. Most Protestants are used to talking about praying with friends, so when expressed in these terms, the Catholic devotion will seem less alien and more accessible.

All you angels and saints, pray for us.

Symbolism: The Cross

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A little while ago I wrote a post about the earliest known depiction of the crucixion, the Alexamenos Graffito. During the ensuing Facebook discussion, the subject of the use of the cross in Christian art and worship was raised. This reminded me that I had myself that I would do a blog series on early Christian symbolism.

I’ve written before about abbreviations such as IHS and INRI, but I would like to expand upon this by examining early Christian symbols. So with that in mind, I’ve decided to do that today, beginning with probably the best known Christian symbol, the cross.

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Irenua-Veleia, Basque (3rd Century)

It may come as a surprise to many people to find out that, in the first few centuries, the use of the cross in Christian art and worship is somewhat unclear. Some historians and archeologists see this symbol throughout the historical record, while others claim that the cross is almost completely absent.

At first glance this might seem strange. Why is there such disagreement? Over the remainder of this post we will see why…

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When The Church Was Young

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Screen Shot 2014-10-13 at 4.27.03 PM“When The Church Was Young” is the latest book from “Dr. Italy”, Marcellino D’Ambrosio.

I first came across Dr. D’Ambrosio when I was living back in England and was exposed to the Catholic Faith Exploration (CaFE) videos. His warmth and gentle presentation style made the Catholic Faith look rather attractive. During the priestly discernment of my mid-twenties, I read his book Exploring the Catholic Church which gave me a lot of light concerning my vocation during that somewhat turbulent time.

A couple of years later, I got to meet Dr. D’Ambrosio in person when I travelled to Walsingham for “New Dawn”, a charismatic Catholic family camp and retreat. Dr. D’Ambrosio was one of several speakers giving smaller talks around the campsite. I didn’t really understand the title of the talk listed in the schedule as I had no idea who the “Church Fathers” were, but having enjoyed watching him speak in the CaFE videos, I decided to go and have a listen…

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Quick Apology: Catholics think Mary is divine

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This should be the last Marian “Quick Apology” I’ll be doing for a while. After all, I have other things I want to write about! However, before we leave the subject of Mary, I wanted to address the claim that Catholics think that Mary is divine…

Objection

On this blog I’ve received comments like the following:

 “Catholics basically think that Mary is divine. It’s like the Trinity has been replaced with a quartet – Father, Son, Spirit and Mary”

How might you respond?

Response

The simplest way to respond to an assertion like this is to ask for any official Church document which teaches this. Can the objector produce a reference in the Catechism, a Council or a Papal Encyclical? I can guarantee you they cannot.

When they are unable to provide the evidence you request, I would suggest that you then point them to the binding teaching of the Catechism:

488 “God sent forth his Son”, but to prepare a body for him, he wanted the free co-operation of a creature. For this, from all eternity God chose for the mother of his Son a daughter of Israel, a young Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee…

The Father of mercies willed that the Incarnation should be preceded by assent on the part of the predestined mother, so that just as a woman had a share in the coming of death, so also should a woman contribute to the coming of life.*

[This is a beautiful teaching from the Early Church, where the Fathers referred to Mary as being a kind of “New Eve”]

489 Throughout the Old Covenant the mission of many holy women prepared for that of Mary…Eve…Sarah…Hannah…Deborah; Ruth; Judith and Esther….

Mary “stands out among the poor and humble of the Lord, who confidently hope for and receive salvation from him. After a long period of waiting the times are fulfilled in her, the exalted Daughter of Sion, and the new plan of salvation is established.”

Mary

Quick Apology: Is Mary “Mother of God”? (Redux)

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I’ve already written a “Quick Apology” to this topic before, but as I was responding to a recent commenter on this subject, I thought of an even shorter response…

Objection

Here’s the standard objection:

“Mary is not the ‘Mother of God'”

Response

In response to this, you may ask a very simple question: did the child Jesus call Mary “Mama”? Yes or No?

maryBabyJesus

UPDATE: As the more pedantic among the readers have pointed out, Jesus would have spoken Aramaic and therefore called her “Ima”.

Bringing out the best in men

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Now, to be honest, I’m not much of a Vanity Fair magazine reader. I guess I’m not really part of their core demographic. After all, it’s not like their articles regularly reference Star Wars, martial arts, Catholic theology or computer programming languages. As such, typical Vanity Fair content is not really my thing.

However, the November issue of Vanity Fair features something that attracted my interest, an interview with Jennifer Lawrence, the star of the popular “Hunger Games” movies.

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As you may know, about a month ago Miss Lawrence’s iCloud account was hacked and nude photos found there were released onto the internet. In the Vanity Fair interview she spoke about this invasion of privacy and the trauma she experienced as a result. In the part where she spoke about the photos, she made a comment which I found no less revealing than the pictures themselves. Here’s what she said:

“I was in a loving, healthy, great relationship for four years. It was long distance, and either your boyfriend is going to look at porn or he’s going to look at you.”

I’m afraid to say that the sentiment expressed here is one which may well be felt by other women, which makes me very sad.

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Christian Copycat

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In Bible Study last week we just finished up our study of St. Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians. During our time together, it struck me how many times the subject of “imitation” is raised in the letter. In this post I’d like to take a brief survey of these references.

Likeness in Jesus Alone?

The first example of imitation and mimicry appears in the very first chapter of the epistle:

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit… – 1 Thessalonians 1:6

This is typically the verse that I reach for when speaking with Christians who object to the Catholic devotion to Saints, and who tell me that “The only person we need to imitate is Jesus”. Clearly, this wasn’t the opinion of St. Paul, who speaks proudly of how his fledgling congregation imitates, not only Lord, but also the senders of this letter (Paul, Timothy and Silas).

In that first chapter Paul describes himself as a nursing mother and a loving father:

But we were gentle… among you, like a nurse taking care of her children… for you know how, like a father with his children – 1 1 Thessalonians 2:7,11

Given these loving parental terms, it’s hardly surprising that the Thessalonians began to imitate the evangelists.

Mimics

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