One Mediator
Brother Ignatius,
What do we mean when we say Christ is the one mediator between God and man (from Phil)?
Also I understand that we ask people on Earth to pray for us, but when we pray to saints to mediate for us, how is this not violating Christ being the one mediator? Does Christ still mediate even when we pray to saints?
Thanks,
QUESTION from Jim on March 12, 2004
Jim
ANSWER by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM on March 16, 2004
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Dear Jim: Praying to the Saints is no different than asking people on earth to pray for you. The word "prayer" means "to ask". If I ask you to pray for me, I am praying to you (asking you). Think of this analogy. The Mississippi River flows into the Gulf. All the water in the Mississippi must come through the Delta to reach the Gulf. The Delta is like a mediator between the river proper and the Gulf. The water that comes through this mediator (Delta) comes from many tributaries along the length of the river. That is how this works. Jesus is THE mediator between God and man. All prayers must come through Him, like all the water of the Mississippi must come through the Delta to reach the ocean. The saints and we are the many tributaries that feed water to the main river that flows to the Delta to reach the ocean. Jesus is Mediator. We are assistants who help to bring the prayers of the faithful to the One Mediator that is Christ. The Bible tells us that the prayers of a righteous man avails much. There is no one more righteous than those in heaven, thus their prayers on our behalf have great effect. Why do we pray for one another when we can pray directly to God? Because God wants us to pray for one another. We are a family and as a family we should support one another and help one another in our petitions to the Father. This is the way God wants it. So, we can pray for ourselves and that prayer goes through Jesus to the Father. Someone can ask us to pray for them so that prayer goes from our friend to us to the Father, through Jesus. We can relay our friend's prayer intention to yet another person; that prayer goes from our friend to us to another person to the Father through Christ; and so on. It all goes through Jesus no matter how many people the prayer has travelled through. This dynamics applies whether we are asking a friend or asking a Saint in heaven to intercede for us. To put this another way, paraphrasing a old saying that all roads lead to Rome -- there are many prayers coming through many people, but all prayers lead to Jesus.
God Bless, |