Intercession of Mary & the Saints

The Cultural Experience of Mary and Prayers to the Saints

When I began to look at the truths of the Catholic faith, one of the first I had to deal with was the “Mary talk.” As a Protestant, Mary was only mentioned at Christmas and prayer to the saints was never even discussed. Protestants just don’t do that.

But the Jew in me that loves and relishes tradition and the generational traditions of cultures and peoples, had to recognize that these aspects of the faith are based on just that- tradition.

Truths about Mary are important to the basic gospel message but they aren’t central. Many Protestants believe wrongly that Catholics think they are and to some, this may be so. Her role in the Christian life does not compete with the role of Jesus. Anyone who confuses the role of Mary and Jesus does not have a problem with their “Mariology”; their problem is that they have never really met Jesus Christ. Those who know the life and power of Jesus will never be tempted or able to confuse Jesus’ role with that of Mary.

Mary is special, in that she alone was chosen by God to be the “ark of the new covenant” by which God entered into the world. She is considered the “New Eve” in typology because, unlike the first Eve, who said “no” to God, Mary willingly said “yes”. She is the first person who received the Holy Spirit in the New Testament (Lk 1:35). Luke declares Mary highly favored by God ( Lk 1: 28-30) and she declared herself to be the servant of the Lord ( Lk 1:38). At the cross Mary was there, and artists throughout the years have depicted her holding his lifeless body, the “sword” “that pierced her heart,” as Simeon prophesied (Lk 2:35).

Mary’s prophetic prayer of praise, Luke 1:46-55 (the Magnificat), glorifies God and brings to light the mission of Jesus to bring the Good News to the poor and downcast. She prophecies over herself that, “all generations will call me blessed” (Lk 1:48). This prophecy is fulfilled through all Christians who call Mary the “Blessed Virgin”.

Catholics look to Mary as our mother in the faith, but they do not “pray to Mary” as they pray to God. Worship belongs to God alone. Catholics do ask Mary to pray for us and believe that her intercession can call forth God’s grace because of her special relationship with Jesus.

God provides and accomplishes everything that man needs, but he also asks us to have a share in his work. Jesus is our high priest ( Heb. 8:1), but he calls us a “priestly people” and invites us to share in his priesthood ( I Pet 2:9). He encourages us to bring our intentions to him (I Tim 2:1-6) and to pray for others.

Ultimately, Mary is honored because God has honored her by choosing her to be the mother of Jesus. She is the example of the perfect disciple and shows us as human beings, how we are to relate to God through Jesus. She always points us to her son, Jesus.

Along this same line, prayer to the saints is a misunderstood. Catholics use the term “saint” to refer to people of outstanding holiness. In the New Testament, the word is used in a broader term, Paul calls all his fellow believers “saints” ( Rom 12:13, 16:15, I Cor 16:1,15; 2 Cor1:1; Eph 1:1; Phil 1:1; 4:21-22, Philemon 5). The Apostles’ Creed also states, “I believe in the communion of saints.”

This phrase, “the communion of saints” refers to that bond of unity among all those, living and dead, who are, or have been committed followers of Jesus Christ. We know that those who have died in Christ are still saints and are only physically dead. Their spirit is still alive. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living ( Mk 12:26-27; Lk 20:34-38; Mk 5:39; Mt 9:24; Lk 8:52). Jesus even demonstrated this principle of those saints being alive in Christ when Moses and Elijah appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mk 9:4). The story of the “good thief” also illustrates this point (Lk 23:43).

One of Satan’s chief strategies is to defeat the Church is to cause division. One divisive tactic that has been successful has been the strategy of dividing and isolating the Body of Christ from one another- those on earth and those in the heavenly. Hebrews 11 calls us to remember those who have gone before and Hebrews 12:1 states, “WE have so great a cloud of witnesses…” These men and women of God, who have gone on before are there, encouraging us to holiness and discipleship.

The Catholic church takes this a step further through the process of “canonization“, a way the Church discerns the life that someone has lived on earth. The custom of honoring the lives of holy people with the title of “saint” dates back to the first centuries of Christianity and comes from the apostles and martyrs who sacrificed their lives instead of abandoning their faith in Jesus ( Rev 6:9-11, 7:13-15).

Jesus is the ultimate model of holiness, but there are many role models that the average person can look to for an example to follow. Since we believe that this great cloud of witnesses is available to us, we choose to ask for their intercession and prayers to the Father on our behalf. What an army of witnesses!

Many of us ask one another to “pray for me”. As Catholics, we not only ask those “saints” on earth to pray for us but those in the heavenlies, who are already united with the Lord. This can be abused and become a form of worship, as St. Augustine warned but it doesn’t have to be.

When we ask the saints in heaven or Mary to intercede and pray for us, it cannot detract from the unique mediation of Jesus, anymore than asking someone on earth to pray for us would. Worship is due only to God. All Christian prayer, whether asking that of a saint, through a written prayer or a heartfelt plea, is directed to the Father through Jesus Christ, who is the “one mediator between God and men” (I Tim 2:5).