Saints and Begorrah

Growing up in the Catholic faith, I was surrounded by reminders of the saints: from paintings in the classrooms, to statues in the church next door, to studies of the various lives of saints across history, to the collection my mother had around the house. She even recently buried a statue of a saint on my deceased brother's property to quickly sell it. I have never understood that part of the Catholic faith.

If anything, my understanding of saints were that they were one more layer between me and God - and it wasn't an observation I treasured. Through the eyes of a child's ego, there was a pecking order that I learned:

• God the Father
• Jesus the Son
• Holy Spirit
• Angels (7 tiers)
• Mary (Mother of Christ)
• Saint Peter
• The other Apostles
• Saint Paul (formerly Saul)
• Other Saints
• The Pope
• Cardinals
• Archbishops
• Bishops
• Monsignors
• Priests
• Nuns
• Holy Men
• Holy Women
• Lowly sinners
• me

There is a lot of "red tape" between me and God. Thus, it was practically impossible to access God's ear. I'd have a better chance walking into a large corporation unknown and getting to talk with the CEO right away. Sometimes I wondered, why would God WANT to hear from me? He had all these other important people in line ahead of me.

I was also frustrated that all these other people, with their own ideas, perspectives and opinions, would add to, filter, or otherwise influence any message that may be sent down to me. There was no intimacy between God an myself, but all those "middle managers." In the years following, I learned to change that list:

• God (Father/Jesus/Spirit) as One
• (through the intercession of the Spirit)
• me

This simplified things and invited me to actively seek and participate in a meaningful conversation and develop a RELATIONSHIP with God. For a time, that worked.

For a time...

Yeshua (Jesus) has been pushing me to open my prayers to incorporate others. Not only praying for others (which I do); He means praying TO others - the saints and Mary.

I've gone back to praying the rosary, but to take petitions to St. Jude, Mary or others seems... foreign to me. Saying pre-written prayers seems cold and lifeless (spirit-less), and I wrestle with the parallel of praying to a "Saint of Such-and-Such" and the practices I've seen in pagan worship. They really are not so different...

Yeshua's answers to my arguments is that the saints are not needed for God and I to communicate. It is not a "ladder" (what I call "pecking order"). But the saints and Mary WANT to help us. Our prayers open us / our lives to that help.

I guess it is not dissimilar to when God works through another in this life, where (S)He is able to accomplish something just fine without our help. Because we WANT to help, God enables us and works through us.

We also need to be open to God's help in order to receive it ourselves. So it may be the same for the saints and Mary.

I learned that there is a point from which God, Yeshua, and others who have "gone before" us, actually exist beyond time. So to be able to affect things in "our time" is quite possible.

Yeshua has taught me that I am connected with all my brothers and sisters - past, present and future.

Maybe it is as simple as when I ask another online to say a prayer to help me through an IC/PBS flare or similar issue in life. We are all brothers and sisters...

... even beyond time.

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Saints and Begorrah

Saints and By God

:D