Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: cms@dragon.uucp Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Message-ID: Date: 5 Aug 90 23:21:04 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Computer Projects Unlimited Lines: 61 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Regarding prayer to the saints: Given the choice between praying to God and not praying to God, which would you choose to encourage? Obviously a rhetorical question. Many Catholics choose to pray to God in a particular way which seems to be onerous to many Protestants. Given the choice between encouraging a Catholic to pray to God through a saint and encouraging a Catholic not to pray to God at all, which would you choose? Many Protestants do not recognize the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Now, the Bible says that anyone who partakes of the body and blood of Christ unworthily, profanes it to his loss, or as Paul puts it in I Corinthians 11:26, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself." Some might conclude that it is therefore better for the Protestants who don't acknowledge the real presence to decline celebrating the Eucharist at all, since whenever such churches do so, they profane the body and blood of the Lord and drink judgment on themselves. This is a bit strong, however. I encourage Protestants to celebrate the Eucharist; it's the central act of our redemption. Even if their understanding of the Eucharist is imperfect, and the importance they attach to its celebration is less than what it ought to be, I still think it's important for them to celebrate the Eucharist. In the same way, I would hope that the oft-stated Protestant belief in the power of prayer and a personal relationship with Jesus would encourage them to encourage Catholics to pray to God through a saint if this is what helps Catholics develop a personal relationship with Jesus. Mary, for example, led me to Jesus and helped me to establish a personal relationship with my God and my Saviour. I have strong feelings about the efficacy of prayer and James's advice (letter of James) that the prayers of the righteous are powerful before God is advice well taken. Nevertheless, I have a strong live-and-let-live attitude as well. If you derive spiritual benefit from prayer to the saints, then, by all means, pray to the saints. If you derive spiritual benefit from receiving what you believe to be a mere representation of the body and blood of Christ, then, by all means, participate in such a Eucharistic celebration. If it bothers you receiving from a minister who says, "This represents the body of Christ," then don't go to that Church. If it bothers you to pray to the saints, then don't pray the saints. I wouldn't encourage you to leave a church over the issue, however, since prayer to the saints or even prayer to God in whatever format isn't central to our redemption -- the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross is. After all, many Episcopalians, myself included, often pray to the saints, whereas other Episcopalians don't. It's extremely important to pray and my point is that the importance I attach to prayer exceeds my personal feelings about the method. The importance I attach to the Lord's Supper exceeds my personal feelings about what other people think the Mass is and what consuming the Eucharist is all about. -- Sincerely, Cindy Smith _///_ // SPAWN OF A JEWISH _///_ // _///_ // <`)= _<< CARPENTER _///_ //<`)= _<< <`)= _<< _///_ // \\\ \\ \\ _\\\_ <`)= _<< \\\ \\ \\\ \\ <`)= _<< >IXOYE=('> \\\ \\ \\\ \\_///_ // // /// _///_ // _///_ // emory!dragon!cms <`)= _<< _///_ // <`)= _<< <`)= _<< \\\ \\<`)= _<< \\\ \\ \\\ \\ GO AGAINST THE FLOW! \\\ \\ A Real Live Catholic in Georgia