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These are specific passages in the Bible that support the Catholic practice of asking the saints in Heaven to pray for us.
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1 Corinthians 12:
20 As it is, [we] are many parts, yet one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
22 On the contrary...
25 ...the members [should] have the same care for one another.
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Argument:
Paul says that we cannot say to any member of the Body of Christ that we do not need them; we should do "the contrary," because true "care" should move us to accept that there are other Christians besides ourselves, and then acknowledge one to another: "I DO need you!" I have need of your prayers! Pray for me, please! Do what you can for me, exercise the gifts that God has given you for the building up of the Body of Christ!
We should request this service from all the members of the Body of Christ; St. Paul isn't talking about the Church on earth alone, for he goes on to say that this love for one another that animates us does not stop at death: "Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away" -- but love will never pass away. (1 Corinthians 13:8) So let us have care for those in heaven as they have care for us, and let this care move us to say to them, as we must say to one another, "I have need of you," and your prayers, and everything that you can do to build up the Body of Christ. These are prayers; these are interactions between the members of the Body of Christ, in heaven and on earth; and this is completely biblical.
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Hebrews 12:
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, ...
22 [for] you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
23 and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel.
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Argument:
We are encouraged to lift our drooping hands to all of Heaven, including the Saints and Angels. 'Lifting drooping hands' and 'strengthening weak knees' refers to praying for help when in trouble: when Joshua fought the Amelekites in Exodus 17:10-13, Moses lifted his hands to heaven in prayer. "But Moses' hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua mowed down Am'alek and his people with the edge of the sword."
So when we pray for help, we are to come -- not to God alone -- but to all of the heavenly Jerusalem, the Saints and Angels and Jesus and the Father. That is biblical prayer: that is Catholic prayer.
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Matthew 21:
9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"
Mark 11:
9 And those who went before and those who followed cried out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
10 Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming! Hosanna in the highest!"
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Argument:
The word "Hosanna" is a Biblical cry to God with a phonetic ring that makes for easy repetition and delight. It means "Oh save, we pray." It comes from the Hebrew compound word Yasha'na. The first two syllables of this word refer to saving; "na" is a Hebrew reference to praying or beseeching someone (see Strongs Hebrew #3467 and #4994).
What interests us is that this Messianic prayer, dating from the Bible, is that those in heaven ("in the highest") sing Hosanna, "Oh save, we pray!" Now the Saints and angels are those in heaven; what then could they mean by this prayer? "Oh save, we beseech you" -- certainly they do not beseech God for their own salvation because they are already saved; they beseech, then, for us, and every time we ask for the Hosannas to ring out in the highest, we are asking the Saints to intercede on our behalf. The Saints, then, are called upon, and our prayer is that they cry for our salvation. Do not then hesitate, O Protestant, to see in such Catholic prayers that it is a profoundly Biblical practice to call upon the Saints to cry out to God for us.
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Jeremiah 51:
34 "Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me like a monster; he has filled his belly with my delicacies, he has rinsed me out.
35 The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon," let the inhabitant of Zion say. "My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea," let Jerusalem say.
36 Therefore thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea and make her fountain dry;
37 and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, the haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without inhabitant.
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Argument:
The inhabitants of Jerusalem had been "crushed" and "devoured" by Babylon. They were asked to pray for judgment against their enemy, and because of their prayers Jerusalem was delivered.
The prayer itself proves that the request was made even to those who had been martyred in defense of their land, since they prayed on the basis of their own "blood" and "the violence done to [them]" and their families. So here we have an ancient prayer, which all of Jerusalem is asked to join in -- even her martyrs, for they knew that they would be crying out to God and pleaing for justice.
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2 Samuel 1:
12 ...for Saul, and for Jonathan his son...were fallen by the sword. ...
17 And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son:
18 (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.)
19 The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! ...
24 Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul...
25 ...O Jonathan, thou was slain in thine high places.
26 I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan:
Very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
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Argument:
David directly addresses all of Israel and the slain Jonathan in the same passage. A Catholic would be very comfortable saying this; but Protestants would worry, "Shouldn't I be addressing God alone?" Now this was a lamentation, not necessarily a prayer, but the principle that the saints in Heaven can be addressed is clear. The difference between the lamentation of David here, who says, "I grieve for thee, O Jonathan," and the prayers of Catholics, who say, "Be mindful of me, O Saints," is only the difference between two kinds of prayer. To say that the first is okay, but not the second, is unbiblical.
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Psalms 103:
20 Bless the LORD, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word!
21 Bless the LORD, all his hosts,
his ministers that do his will!
P.S. Psalms 29:1-2, Psalms 148:1-2, and Daniel 3:58 contain similar prayers.
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Argument:
Here David addresses all the heavenly host in his psalm of rejoicing.
He says: "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, ...all his hosts!"
Catholics say, "Pray for us, O you angels, all you saints!"
This is only the difference between two kinds of prayer. Who will say that you may ask the angels and saints to pray with you in rejoicing, but not for you in supplication? For I protest that if we may pray with them at all, and they may hear us, then we should be asking them to pray for us out of simple concern for the Body of Christ.
Psalms 29 is especially powerful in this regard, because the first two verses are directed to the Saints and angels to ask them to pray with us: "Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength." (Psalms 29:1) But then after asking them to pray with us in this Psalm, it continues with a prayer for Israel: "May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!" (Psalm 29:11) Thus in Psalms 29 we see that we certainly can ask them to pray with us, even when that prayer includes a prayer of supplication.
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Revelation 18:
17 Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off.
18 When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, "Was there ever a city like this great city?"
19 They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out:
"Woe! Woe, O great city,where all who had ships on the seabecame rich through her wealth!In one hour she has been brought to ruin!20 Rejoice over her, O heaven!Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets!God has judged her for the way she treated you."
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Argument:
In this passage, all the angels and saints are directly addressed in a prayer of thanksgiving. This passage, like the others above, demonstrates quite clearly that the saints in Heaven can be addressed in our prayers. The difference between "Rejoice, saints," and "Pray for us, saints," is only a difference between two kinds of prayers -- a prayer of thanksgiving and a prayer of supplication. And who will say that the one is biblical and the other not? For I see the Scriptures urging us to both: "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people." (1 Tim. 2:1)
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Luke 15:1-3
To encourage others to be kind to sinners, Jesus begins to tell four parables -- we are supposed to imitate the examples in these parables.
Luke 15:4-7
A man who loses one sheep from among his flock, leaves the rest and finds the lost one. "And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents". (vv. 6-7)
When he calls upon his friends to rejoice, it is the Saints and Angels who rejoice, suggesting that he has called upon the Saints.
Luke 15:8-10
This is basically the same parable as above, except a woman loses a coin instead of a sheep. When she finds it and calls upon her friends to rejoice, "there is joy before the angels of God".
Luke 15:11-32
In the parable of the prodigal son, the sinner repents and returns to his father. His father rejoices over him, that he "might make merry with [his] friends." (v. 29) But the father represents God: thus these 'friends' who are called upon are the Saints and Angels.
Luke 16:1-9
In the parable of the steward, a rich man's collections-agent is discharged from his duties for wasting money. Having nowhere to go and hated by his debtors, he calls them up and reduces all their debts on his last day, that they might welcome him into their homes. "And I tell you, make friends for yourselves," Jesus explains, "[for] they may receive you into the eternal habitations."
The Saints are those who will receive us into eternal habitations: Jesus says we should make them our friends, thus we are supposed to call upon them as did the man in this parable.
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