This
essay was excerpted from a letter I wrote to a man in Scotland who had
written a rebuttal to an article published in a Catholic magazine by a
friend of mine. The article had been forwarded to him by his sister who
lives in England. The rebuttal was actually addressed to her, but she
forwarded it to my friend, who elected not to respond due to the volume
of mail that he was receiving. He did however allow me to write a
response, a portion of which comprises this essay.
" 'In full consciousness
of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church
in its pilgrim members, from the very earliest days of the Christian
religion, has honored with great respect the memory of the dead; and
"because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead
that they may be loosed from their sins" she offers her suffrages
for them.' Our prayer for them is capable not only of helping them, but
also of making their intercession for us effective." (Lumen
gentium 50; cf. 2Macc. 12:45. CCC 958)
You stated that Scripture expressly forbids
communication between the living and the dead, and I agree. Since you
neglected to cite any scripture to support this, I must assume that
you are referring to Deuteronomy 18:11. (My search of Strong's
Comprehensive Concordance failed to turn up any others.) The context
of this passage (Deut. 18:9-14,) is that Moses is warning the Israelites
against pagan practices; divination, soothsaying, augury, sorcery, casting
spells, consulting ghosts or spirits, and seeking oracles from the dead. I
suppose that "consulting ghosts or spirits" could be construed
as "praying to dead Saints," but as I searched for more
scriptures that would help shore up your case, the incongruity of your argument
became suddenly apparent. In John 11:26 Jesus said, "...and everyone
who lives and believes in me will never die." All this talk of
"praying to the dead" and "the dead praying for the
living," when the people of whom we are speaking are not even dead!
Indeed, Jesus said in Luke 20:38, "Now He is not God of the dead, but
of the living: for all live to Him." Now if God is not God of the
dead, and if the Saints are no longer living, then is He no longer their
God? When you die, will God cease to be your God?
If you will concede that the Saints are alive, is
it reasonable then to suppose that these same Saints, who prayed for each
other and for all Christians while on earth, would lose interest in us
once they reach the kingdom of heaven? Jerome wrote in the fourth century:
"If Apostles and martyrs, whilst still in the flesh and still needing
to care for themselves, can pray for others, how much more will they pray
for others after they have won their crowns, their victories, their
triumphs? Moses, one man, obtains God's pardon for six hundred thousand
armed men, and Stephen prays for his persecutors. When they are with
Christ, will they be less powerful? Paul says that two hundred and
seventy-six souls were granted to his prayers, whilst they were in a ship
with him. Shall he close his lips after death, and not mutter a syllable
for those who throughout the world have believed in his gospel?"
Just as the Saints were once "in the
flesh," so we are now. But in Christ, we are all part of the Mystical
Body. Romans 12:4-5 says: "For as in one body we have many members,
and all members do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one
body in Christ, and individually members of one another." Would you
dare to say that when a Saint dies, he ceases to be a member of the Body
of Christ? I don't believe that any thinking Christian would. What then,
would you believe their function to be?
The early Fathers of the Church unanimously
taught the doctrine of the intercession of the Saints. Hilary, Cyril of
Jerusalem, and John Chrysostom all wrote concerning the intercession of
the Saints as early as the fourth century. John Chrysostom wrote:
"When thou perceivest that God is chastening thee, fly not to His
enemies... but to His friends, the martyrs, the Saints, and those who were
pleasing to Him, and who have great power."
Dominic, on his deathbed in 1221 said, "Do
not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall
help you more effectively than during my life."
It is clear that even by the early centuries of
the Church, intercession of the Saints was a well-established, widely
accepted doctrine. A doctrine that has endured nearly two millennia, and
only within the last 500 years has been denied by any calling themselves
Christians.
The Catholic Church points to I Timothy 2:5 to
show that Jesus is the One Mediator, just as do those who would protest
the intercessory prayers of Saints. Let us examine then, exactly what
is being said here. I Timothy 2:5-6 says: "For there is one God, and
there is one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus, who gave
Himself as a ransom for all." In order to put this verse in its
proper context, let us look at other verses which discuss Jesus' role as
Mediator. Hebrews 9:15 says: "Therefore, He is the mediator of a new
covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal
inheritance, since a death has occurred which redeems them from the
transgressions under the old covenant." Also, in Hebrews 12:24,
we find that we have come "...to Jesus, the mediator of a new
covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the
blood of Abel."
All three verses make a direct reference to the
shedding of Jesus' blood to redeem us from sin. This clearly refers to
Jesus as the One Mediator of a new covenant, who reconciled us to
God by sacrificing His life on the cross in payment for our sins.
So you see, by praying to Mary and the Saints,
the Church is not usurping the authority of Jesus as the One Mediator. On
the contrary, the Church has this to say on the subject: "Being more
closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church
more firmly in holiness... [T]hey do not cease to intercede with the
Father for us as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth
through the one mediator between God and men, Christ
Jesus... So by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly
helped." (Lumen gentium 49; cf. I Tim. 2:5. CCC
956)