The Blog of St. Mark

In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

Why do Catholics pray to Mary and the saints?  Because the pope tells them so?  Not necessarily just that, though certainly he does command it.  I submit to you that Catholics pray to Mary and the saints because they want to get it right.  They want their prayers heard and answered.  They take Christ seriously when He said, If you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer (Matthew 21:21-22).  Convinced that their prayers to God just won’t cut it, or haven’t cut it, conveniently Mary and Joseph and Peter and Paul and Jude and Christopher and an abundance of other smarter, wiser, and more pious people stand ready to pray away.

I’m not going to accuse you of such a thing when you ask me to pray for you or your family privately or during the prayer of the Church, but I wonder if sometimes a similar thought lies beneath the surface.  “Sure, I can pray to God, but I’m not too good at it.  I fumble my words.  I forget things.”  Then there’s the issue of personal piety.  “Why would God listen to prayers from a sinner like me?”  And so there’s a temptation to find someone to intercede on your behalf, someone better, smarter, more pious.  Someone God might listen to a little more than you.  Because you too want to get it right.  You take seriously not only the words of Christ, but the words of his brother, James, who said, If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does (James 1:5-8), and later, When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures (James 4:3).

According to the pope, Mary and the saints stand ready to perform such service, to help you get it right.  But Scripture forbids it.  Scripture says that we have one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).  Scripture tells us that Jesus stands at God’s right hand and intercedes on behalf of believers.  Jesus.  Not Mary.  Not the saints.  Not the angels.  Jesus advocates for you.  Jesus defends you before the Father.  Jesus points to His shed blood, the wounds in His hands, feet, and sides.

“But that’s only talking about forgiveness,” some might claim.  “The Son intercedes and reminds the Father about the saving work He did.  He reminds the Father that you are right with God because His blood atoned for sins and your faith clings to that.  What about the other stuff I pray for and about?  What about sons and daughters, houses and homes, jobs, nations, my weak faith?  Might not God task those things to Mary and saints and angels?”

Hear Jesus: I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with your forever – the Spirit of truth (John 14:16-17a).  Jesus uses the same word for Counselor in John 14 about the Holy Spirit that John uses in 1 John 2 to refer to Jesus.  We have two Counselors.  Likewise, here in Romans, Paul uses the same verb for intercede to talk about the Spirit’s work, and then five verses later to talk about the work of Christ.  We have two interceders.  And they’re both God!  Wrap your mind around that.  As children of God you intend to get your prayers right.  You want to pray with the right motives.  You want to pray for the right things.  You want to pray continually.  With the Holy Spirit, you do.  Paul wrote:  In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will (Romans 8:26-27).

I’m tired, I’m weak, I’m worn.  You’ve sung those words.  Paul puts those words into your mouth too.  You’re weak.  You don’t always know what to pray for or how to pray for it.  Admit it.  You wrestle with prayer.  Not just in prayer, but with prayer.  You’ve prayed and prayed and prayed.  And what happens?  Anything?  You’ve sought answers and received what?  Paul reminds you that it’s not always a case of not being able to divine God’s eternal course.  Sometimes it’s a matter of your own sinful weakness.  Sometimes you pray with the wrong motives.  Sometimes you pray with the wrong intent.  Sometimes you pray mechanically.  Sometimes you pray superstitiously.  Sometimes you pray thinking that your body language, or position, or gestures will effect change.  Sometimes you pray thinking the sheer mass of words will overwhelm God.  Sometimes you pray only when you’ve got nothing left to lose.  Sometimes you pray leaving off the Your will be done.  Admit it.  You don’t always get it right when you pray.

Remember the context of these words.  Last week we heard verses 18-25 of Romans 8 where Paul reminded us about our earthly sufferings, the groaning of creation, and the pain of sinful living.  He reminded us what it is to be a co-heir with Christ – we get what Christ got: cross, pain, death.  That’s hard to deal with.  It skews our prayer-view.  Sometimes it puts an end to our prayers, either out of anger or despair.

Paul says that neither is necessary, because God steps in.  In our weakness we foul up our prayers.  We don’t know what or how to pray.  So God helps.  The Holy Spirit helps.  The Spirit Himself intercedes for us (Rom. 8:26).  Just as Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, now, in this more extreme case, the Spirit actually does the praying.  And there’s no doubt that He gets it right.  He takes our words, our weak words, our poor words, and He translates them into groans that words cannot express (Rom. 8:26).  Chew on that. Divine groanings from Divinity Himself.  Not an angel.  Not a saint.  Not the mother of God.  But God steps in.  God prays.  God intercedes.  For you.  The Spirit intercedes for the saints (Rom. 8:27).

You need the strength to call God “Father” in this trying time.  The Spirit says it for you.  You need the confidence to stand before the Father in your weakness.  The Spirit gives it to you.  You need the words to speak to Him who scares you immeasurably more than the great and powerful Oz.  The Spirit has them.  And they’re yours.  He does it right.  The right prayers.  In the right words.  To the right person.

And there’s no doubt, because as Paul says, He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will (Rom. 8:27).  The Father and the Spirit are on the same page.  They know each other’s mind.  When the Spirit comes to the Father, the Father knows what to expect.  And vice versa.  The Spirit, just like the Son, knows what to say to the Father.  He intercedes in accordance with God’s will (Rom. 8:27).  Unlike you in your awkwardness, the Spirit always says the right thing.  In the right way.  To the right guy.  And the Father knows that when the Spirit speaks it’s worth listening too.

Listen yourself.  Because no matter how well you know these things, you stumble.  When Dad dies, or Wife’s sick, or the Child gets diagnosed, when your faith stands mute, simply look, plead, and pray, trusting in the Spirit’s intercession and the Father’s eternally positive working for the saints.  The saints.  Again, it comes to faith.  Faith in the Christ who atoned for you.  Faith in the Christ who got it right to get you right.  Faith in the Christ who spoke and speaks to the Father in your defense.  Faith in the Christ who died and left, but said “I’m sending another Helper to you.”   Not Mary.  Not an angel.  Not the saints.  But God the Holy Spirit.  The One who brought you to faith.  The One who keeps you in the faith.  He too stands at the ear of the Father and speaks on behalf of your faith.  He gets it right, so that you get it right.  Amen.