The Communion of Saints

Our Protestant brethren object to our invocation of the saints on several grounds: (1) Invocation of the saints seems to compromise the one mediatorship of Christ (1 Tim 2.4). (2) The scriptures are silent on the practice. (3) We do not need the saints; we can go directly to God.

With regard to the first objection, the Catholic Church has never understood that invocation of the saints in any way compromises the unique mediatorship of Christ, any more than Paul’s request that the churches pray for him compromised that unique role of Christ (Rom 15.30; Eph 6.19). If Christians can ask other Christians on earth to pray for them, why can they not ask the saints in heaven to pray for them? The invocation of the saints is subordinate to and made possible by Christ’s mediatorship.

The fact that Christ is the one mediator does not exclude the possibility that Christians can pray for one another and that the saints in heaven can continue to serve as their intercessors. We are intercessors for one another and the saints are intercessors for us entirely in dependence on Christ and because of Him.

The second objection assumes that everything belonging to Christian faith is found explicitly in the Bible. But the Bible itself does not make that claim; neither did the Church for sixteen hundred years. Christ did not write a book as the depository of His truth, but founded a Church, to which He promised the guidance of the Holy Ghost to lead it into all truth. The Bible did not come before the Church, but the Church before the Bible. The Church did not come from the Bible, but the Bible from the Church. Actually, one can find the foundation for invoking saints in the Bible.

Saint Paul tells his churches that he prays for them; he asks them, in turn, to pray for him. If Paul could pray for his friends when he was still on earth, why can he not pray for us now when he is in glory? Does death destroy the communion of the saints? If Paul could ask his friends to pray for him, why can we not ask Paul to pray for us? Surely we can! And if we can ask Paul to pray for us why can we not ask other saints to do the same? The Church has always recognized that we can!!

Finally, yes, we can go directly to God in our prayer, and we should do so often. But that does not mean that we cannot or should not ask other people to pray for us. No doubt God is pleased that we do this loving service of praying for one another, since Paul encourages us to do this.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching