Invocation (asking saints to pray for us) and intercession (knowing that saints pray for us, even without asking) is a form of reverence for God. We believe the saints are true intercessors for us because they were so close to God on earth, as models of holiness, and now they are even closer to God, as witnesses in heaven. It is important to note that we are not praying to the saints as if they have the power to grant our prayers but rather we are asking them to pray with and for us – we are praying through them. In the same way that we may ask a living person to pray for us, we can ask the same of the saints. The saints are in God’s presence now but they still remain connected to us as one community of faith. Saints are also models of holiness because they preached and lived the Gospel in their daily lives.Ĭatholics pray to the saints and ask them the mediate on their behalf because the saints are in heaven and close to God. Thus a key characteristic of a saint is openness to God. The saints are not saints because they did great things but rather because they allowed God to accomplish great things through them. They were human beings like us in all things, even sin, who trusted in God and lived their lives in God’s presence. The saints provide a good and clear example for us of what it looks like to live our lives in the service of God. They are Catholic disciples of the Lord who lived lives of virtue, faith, charity, and love. The Church has always venerated the saints and set them before us as men and women who lived an exemplary testimony to genuine Christian life while they were alive.
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