Why do we venerate saints? “Because they are friends of Christ, and reign with Him in eternal happiness (II Tim. 2:12), having faithfully followed Him on earth, and with St. Paul fought the good fight (II Tim. 4:7); because they are living members of the Church, through the bond of charity (Col. 3:14) are united with us as friends and brothers, heartily love us, and take great interest in our welfare (Lk. 15:7), and therefore pray to God for us (II Mac. 15:14).”[i]
If we give venerate (give praise) to the saints, doesn’t that diminish God in some way? Not at all. This argument is used a lot when dealing with the issue of praying to Mary. Some might think that if we venerate and give honor to anyone other than God, we are saying that Mary and the saints are somehow on the same level of God. This is completely not true, “since all the honor shown to the saints is referred to God alone, whose friends and servants they are, and who has wonderfully revealed Himself in them (Ps. 67:36). This veneration therefore, cannot diminish the honor due to God, but is rather a confirmation of it.”[ii] How did the saints get to heaven in the first place? It was only through God.
How should we honor the saints? “As servants and friends of God, joint heirs with Christ, and glorified members of His body, who dearly love us and aid us by their intercession, but not as God, nor as if they could aid us by their own power; we are, therefore, not permitted to adore them, or show them divine honors.”[iii]
What’s the difference between veneration and worship? The word worship has changed over the centuries. “For many centuries, the term worship simply meant showing respect or honor, and an example of this usage survives in contemporary English. British subjects refer to their magistrates as ‘Your Worship,’ although Americans would say ‘Your Honor.’ This doesn’t mean that British subjects worship their magistrates as gods. It means that they are giving them the honor appropriate to their office, not the honor appropriate to God.”[iv] This term of worship as to mean of honor and respect was understood as such during the time of Christ and before. “Worship is the greatest of all honor, due only to God, by which we acknowledge Him as the supreme Being, and as creatures submit to Him with deepest reverence. Besides this, the word worship, in Scripture as well as in ancient profane writings, signifies an external reverence, a low bow, etc. (Gen. 23:7; 27:29; 37:7; II Kings 18:21; III Kings 1:16). Thus when we read that David bowing himself down to the ground (before Saul) worshipped, we must understand by all means that it was not the worship due to God alone, but merely a rendering of external honor. In this sense the Church uses the word worship in regard to the cross of Christ. Veneration is nothing more than an outward sign of the esteem which we have for the dignity and merits of others.”[v] As Catholics, we never put saints in the same honor as God who deserves all honor, praise, and worship.
How should we venerate the saints? We should venerate by imitating their lives because by imitating their lives of holiness we too can obtain heaven. St. Augustine said when we do not imitate the lives of the saints, “then the saints are not gladdened by our veneration, but are pleased only when we imitate their virtuous examples. To venerate without imitating them, is simply to flatter them falsely.”[vi]
Are we supposed to ask for saints’ intercessions? Yes. Why? “for the intercession of saints is taught by the holy Scripture. When thou didst pray with tears, and didst bury the dead, I offered thy prayers to the Lord, said the Angel Raphael to Tobias (Tob. 12:12). St. Paul asked the intercession of his living brethren (II Thess. 3:1), and God Himself advised it to the friends of the pious Job. If the doctrine of the holy Scripture permits us to ask intercession of the living why should not we be allowed to ask the intercession of the saints who stand before the throne of God, and gaze upon His countenance? The Church has always taught that it is useful and good to invoke the intercession of the saints and has at all times practiced it. Unbelievers who abuse this holy practice, seek the intercession of the living without regarding it as a circuitous path to God; why should not as much be granted to the saints, who are the glorified members of the body of Christ?”[vii]
How could the saints hear everyone’s prayers at the same time? We have to remember that the Saints are not subject to time/space limitation of this life. “This does not imply that the saints in heaven must therefore be omniscient, as God is, for it is only through God’s willing it that they can communicate with others in heaven or with us.” Catholic Answers goes on regarding the argument about different languages, “Does anyone really think that in heaven the saints are restricted to the King’s English? After all, it is God himself who gives the gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues. Surely those saints in Revelation understand the prayers they are shown to be offering to God.”[viii]
Why not pray directly to God? Absolutely we should pray directly to God! “But that does not mean it is not also a good thing to ask others to pray for one as well. Ultimately, the ‘go-directly-to-Jesus’ objection boomerangs back on the one who makes it: Why should we ask any Christian, in heaven or on earth, to pray for us when we can ask Jesus directly? If the mere fact that we can go straight to Jesus proved that we should ask no Christian in heaven to pray for us, then it would also prove that we should ask no Christian on earth to pray for us.”[ix]
Do we believe the saints have the power to give us what we pray for? The Roman Catechism says: “We do not invoke the saints in the same manner that we do God; we pray to God, that He Himself may give us the good, but we pray to the saints that they, since they are pleasing to God, may be our intercessors, and obtain from Him that which we need.”[x] Anything the saints would give us from heaven is only given to them because God gave it to them. All glory and adoration belongs to God.
Which saint do we give the most honor to? The greatest saint is the Queen of Saints, Mary. Why? “Because she is the Mother of the Son of God our Redeemer, and is therefore the Queen of Saints. Why should she not be honored and praised who is full of grace above all the saints. Is not the Lord with her, and is she not blessed among women! Has she not said of herself in the spirit of a prophet: From henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Concerning her a woman among the people cried out: Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck (Lk. 11:27)! For similar reasons St. Joseph deserves after Mary a special veneration, because he, on account of his sanctity, was chosen, from among all men, to be the foster father of Christ.”[xi]
[i] Goffines, The Church’s Year pg. 472
[ii] Goffines, The Church’s Year pg. 472
[iii] Goffines, The Church’s Year pg. 472
[iv] Catholic Answers, Catholic Survival Guide, pg. 98
[v] Goffines, The Church’s Year pg. 473
[vi] Goffines, The Church’s Year pg. 473
[vii] Goffines, The Church’s Year pg. 474
[viii] Catholic Survival Guide pg. 94
[ix] Catholic Answers, Catholic Survival Guide pg. 94
[x] Goffines, The Church’s Year pg. 475
[xi] Goffines, The Church’s Year pg. 476-477