Isn’t that amazing? Roman Catholics go to Mary and a whole host of earthly no-accounts to try to get them to manipulate God on their behalf, and all along the Creator of the universe Himself is working for them and with them. He has committed Himself to our protection.
Of course the “working on their behalf” is not what we might imagine.
For example, as with all of us, satan was out to destroy Peter, who was one of Jesus’ early followers. Jesus told Peter, “satan has asked permission to sift you like wheat,” (remember from the account of Job that nothing happens in your life without God’s permission or will), but I have prayed for you.”
Jesus prayed for Peter before anything had even begun to happen. Jesus knew that Peter would fail Him. Peter didn’t know it. He wouldn’t have believed it if you told him so.
Even in his failure (and by extension ours) Peter was not alone. While Jesus does not protect us from the trials that we need in our lives, He never forsakes us. He never leaves us alone.
When Peter denied Jesus for the third time, Jesus looked at Peter, I think to remind Peter that He was still on Peter’s side and to remind Peter of His words, “And when (not if) you return to Me, you will strengthen your brothers.”
Peter (and by extension you and I as well) are loved with an everlasting love. Whatever the trial, whatever the pain, whatever the doubts that our wrong beliefs about God may engender, we can be certain that Jesus is walking with us, supporting us, encouraging us. Jesus came to earth in part to know what it is like to suffer the pain of living in our fallen world. None of what we go through escapes His experience and compassion and empathy.
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"Isn’t that amazing? Roman Catholics go to Mary and a whole host of earthly no-accounts to try to get them to manipulate God on their behalf, and all along the Creator of the universe Himself is working for them and with them. He has committed Himself to our protection."
ReplyDeleteI think you misunderstand the intercession of the saints. You have the right idea that Mary can't do anything on her own - she does not work miracles. Neither do any of the other saints one might pray to. But if you think that the prayers are an attempt to manipulate God, you misunderstand.
I would be willing to bet that you have asked people to pray for you. Do you think that this is attempting to manipulate God to do what you want?
A prayer to a saint, Mary or any other, is simply asking that person, who is absent from us, but present with the Lord, to pray for us as they worship God. The fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. If the prayers of someone here on earth might help, how effective do you think the prayers of those standing around the throne might be?
Many people think of those of us who are alive on earth as being in the Body of Christ which is alive. But they don't want to think of those who have died in the faith as being part of that Body of Christ. Those who die in the Lord are alive in Him!
If you would ask someone who sits next to you in church to pray for you during their devotions, if you would ask that your name be put on a prayer chain so that strangers would be praying for you, if you would ask your church to pray for you during the worship service, why not ask those saints who worship God day and night to pray for you?
If you have a certain medical problem, let's say arthritis, you will get more sympathy, and probably more prayer from someone who knows the pain and feels empathy for you than from someone else who just thinks, "oh, he feels bad - joints hurt" but has never experienced it. (Let's face it, how many people say, "I will pray for you" and then forget to!) Why shouldn't we ask someone who stands at God's throne to pray for us - someone who knows what we suffer and cares for us as part of the Body of Christ?
You can find a list of saints from the Orthodox Church here:
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Patron_saint
They are part of the great cloud of witnesses who watch us and intercede for us. There may be someone there you would like to get to know better now. After all, God willing, we will be spending eternity with them!
On the other hand, if you think intercession is trying to manipulate God, and don't ask for it or give it, that's okay with me, too. I think it is sort of stupid, especially in light of the fact that Paul prayed for people as he says in his epistles. And he asked for prayer. And Jesus even tell us to pray (intercede) for our enemies. But, hey, each to his own....
Very good explanation!
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