Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
James Martin, S.J.July 09, 2018
Photo: Unsplash

Subscribe to “The Examen” for free on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to “The Examen” for free on Google Play

Do you pray to the saints much? I know that this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but if you don’t pray to the saints, let me encourage you to do so. In the Catholic tradition, the saints are both our patrons and our companions. As companions, they show us the way to live a Christian life, by their examples. The Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner said that a saint shows us what it means to be holy “in this particular way.” But the patron model is also an important one. The saints pray for us in heaven. And if you have trouble with that, like many people do, you might think about it this way: you probably ask for people on earth to pray for you—you might ask a friend for his or her prayers. Why wouldn’t you ask for someone in heaven to pray for you too? There’s nothing strange about that. If you’re in trouble, or even if you need help in your spiritual life, ask the saints for help. Try it. I do it all the time.  Besides, they’re praying for you already!

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
Eunice Novio
6 years 10 months ago

I pray to Santa Rita de Casia. She answered all my prayers. My grandmother taught me to pray novenas whenever something seems impossible. I remember she always prayed to San Antonio de Padua when my mother's remittances were lost several times.

Sandi Sinor
6 years 10 months ago

No, I do not pray to saints. I do not believe in intercessory prayer. I do not ask either living people or dead people to pray for a personal intention.

My understanding of God is that God is love. God loves ALL human beings equally, including the majority of people alive on this earth today who are not christians and do not pray to christian saints. God knows all, so God already knows everyone's needs and problems. There is no need to ask others to try to persuade God to "help" certain people with specific needs. A God who is LOVE does not favor some people over others, does not favor christians over the rest of humanity.

I do pray directly to God for strength for myself or loved ones (or for strangers far away who are suffering) during difficult periods, and I also offer prayers of thanksgiving. I ask God to guide humanity so that we can try to stop inflicting suffering and evil on one another, whether through wars, or by turning away when we see people in great need, especially refugees.

Sandi Sinor
6 years 10 months ago

Duplicate comment deleted.

The latest from america

Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian journalist who helped expose the abuse committed by leaders of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, gives Pope Leo XIV a stole made of alpaca wool, during the pope's meeting with members of the media May 12, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope Leo offered a heartening message for a global media that has endured a pretty awful year.
Kevin ClarkeMay 23, 2025
If you think our enthusiasm for our basketball team was intense, just wait until you see our support for Pope Leo XIV.
Jack DoolinMay 23, 2025
“I don’t think he’s the kind of man who sends coded messages,” Cardinal Michael Czerny says in this exclusive interview with Gerard O’Connell.
Gerard O’ConnellMay 23, 2025
First-grade students finish an assignment at St. Ambrose Catholic School in Tucson, Ariz., in this 2014 photo. Arizona has one of the nation’s strongest school choice programs, with vouchers available to every child in the state. (CNS file photo/Nancy Wiechec)
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ruling denying state funds to a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma. What should American Catholics be asking about public funding for school choice?
Beth BlaufussMay 23, 2025