Praise God for the Saints who have gone before us who have lived out human lives who have fumbled and tripped along their faith journey ultimately caught and set on solid ground by the grace and mercy of God. Many ask Catholics “Why do you ask Saints for prayer?” (Well, let me be real, what many really ask is: “Why do you pray to Saints?” but being when the question is asked in this way it is clear that the question comes from a lack in understanding which is good to ask questions. 🙂 ). We don’t pray to Saints. We call upon the Saints to pray for us.
Now, why do we bother to ask Saints to pray for us when we clearly have the Almighty and Powerful combustible power of the Trinity at our disposal in prayer? Because they can relate to our humanness and prayer is their language in heaven. At least this is the way I see it. 😉 Seriously, think about what makes up most of your conversation throughout your day. You are discussing work, family drama, complaining, lamenting over your most recent struggle or gossiping about how you feel about this or that person or disapprove of this or that.
The Saints had learned along the way in their life journey to turn away from the very human inclination to speak in this way. Many learned the gift in silence is being able to be closer to God. This is why when I picture heaven and the Saints I imagine them in sheer bliss because they are finally able to speak the language they had only touched briefly while on earth. I believe we all would agree that when you think of heaven you don’t picture yourself still caught up in drama, gossip, anxiousness and worry. It is free from the burdens of the world and we are one with God and when we are ‘one with God’ we are praying.
I suppose my viewpoint is a little selfish. When I think about someone I love having passed one way for me to feel comfort and peace is knowing that my loved one will be speaking HIS language in heaven (aka: praying). And since time is not of the essence in heaven then I’d imagine their spirits are still willing to communicate for those of us here on earth still tripping and stumbling our way along this journey.
We are all called to be Saints. We are all called to be Saints because it is a call within our Spirit to speak its original language of prayer. In my opinion, that is why Christ felt the need to ‘go off alone’ and pray, he needed the silence to speak His language and why do you think Jesus would get upset when it was his darkest hour and he would find his apostles sleeping and not praying? He didn’t need them to pray FOR Him…He needed them to be in COMPLETE COMMUNICATION with God. I think His humanness needed to know that they had received the instruction He had been emulating all along by communicating with God.
I love this day that we honor the Saints and the loved ones that have passed before us because it brings us into a deeper communication with Him.
Happy All Saints Day! And do me a favor, set aside one minute of silent time tonight – you’ll feel a circle of LOVE around you. 😉
One last thing…if you follow my blog then you know how EXCITING today is (and how it solidifies my crazy belief) but today is 11-1-11 🙂 ULTIMATE! Remember, 11:11 was the first ‘time’ that I recognized that for me this is a ‘sign’ the angels and saints are praying for us and letting us know they have our back. Anytime that I randomly look at the clock and it is 11:11, 12:12, 1:11, 2:22, 3:33, etc I say ‘Thank you Jesus and to my gaurdian angel and all the angels and saints in heaven.”
How appropriate for 11-1-11 to fall on ALL SAINTS DAY.
Blessings
Shannon