Saints Gone Before

March 27, 2020

One of the hallmarks of Catholicism is the intercession of the saints. Although this practice is not shared by Protestants, Christians can at least agree on most of the theology about why this may even be possible. With sufficient Greek and Latin tangents, Adam and David explore what Catholics say about those who have passed on and how this is practically applied.

Undergirding this type of prayer is the belief that Christians who have died are now alive in Christ, living with Him, and capable of affecting what happens in our world through their connection with God. Catholics may pray to the saints directly and remember them with icons and relics, but this isn’t the same as worshipping them. The communion of saints represents, among other things, the community of the church (both the living and the dead) and the ancestry of Christians.

Listen in to this episode to hear Adam and David address common objections to praying to the saints, superstition, and the importance of death and tradition.

 

Jump Through the Conversation

  • [2:03] What it means to pray to the saints

  • [4:08] Brief aside, Adam’s “cultural question”

  • [4:51] What it means for the saints to be “alive in Christ”

  • [5:55] Scriptural references of talking to those who have passed on

  • [8:43] How the saints represent community and heritage

  • [11:41] Lack of rootedness/continuity in Protestantism

  • [12:23] Secular vs Christian views of death

    • Meaning of “the communion of saints”

    • Saints are alive in Christ

  • [14:10] Flippancy and superstition vs sacramentality

  • [16:19] Protestant and Catholic responses to issue of superstition

  • [17:42] The intercessory role of the saint

  • [20:40] Why pray to a saint instead of Christ?

  • [22:57] Scriptural basis of saints’ authority

  • [24:45] The liturgical significance of praying to the saints

  • [27:12] Issue of tradition in Protestant churches

  • [29:10] Quote from the Catholic catechism on intercession of the saints

  • [29:51] The mystery of the method and remembering heroes of the faith

 

Links and Resources

 

A resource of the Chattanooga House of Prayer