dl2y+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU (Donna Marie Lewis) (01/15/90)
Hello everyone! I'm back . I hope everyone's Christmas was as
blessed as I wished in my last posting.
I'm surprised that no one answered the question about St.
Nicholas posed by Mr. Evans last month. Here it is.
> Can Catholics ask Saint Nicholas to mediate between God and them?
Christ is, of course the one Mediator between God and man.
Catholics may ask Saints, including St. Nicholas, to intercede for them.
This means asking St. Nicholas, as a fellow Christian , to pray to God
for us. It is similar to the prayer requests found on this bboard.
Intercessory prayer is found in the Hail Mary ( " Holy Mary, Mother of
God, pray for us sinners, " ), and the Confetior, ( " And I ask blessed
Mary, ever-virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and
sisters, to pray for me to the Lord, our God " ), to name two common
Catholic prayers.
I have never asked St. Nicholas to intercede for me, mostly
because he is not one of my favorite canonized Saints, but I have asked
for intercession often from other Saints, most frequently from Mary,
Queen of all saints, St. Joan of Arc, St. Philip Neri, and St. Edmund
Campion.
One might object that one has heard Catholics speak of praying "
to " Mary or another saint. This is merely shorthand, convenient when
one is around other Catholics, but misleading to others.
No doubt, also, the practice has been abused in certain times and places.
A Catholic may also ask God to help him or her to imitate a
Saint's virtues. I have done this also, many times.
The basis for all of this, and also for the practice of
praying for the souls in purgatory, is the communion of saints. I don't
think I'll get into that just now. One can find a good explanation in "
Catholic and Christian " , which I recommended to Mr. Wiebe.
That's enough for this post . I'll put a little more information
on other queries in another.
Yours in Christ,
Donna Marie Lewis
Cor ad cor loquitur - " Heart speaks to heart "
Gaudete semper - " Rejoice always "