Personally, i think prayer to the angels, the saints, and above all, Mary is really important. Some Protestants make, i think, the error that prayer = worship. This is, of course, false. Prayer to the angels and saints is about befriending them and asking them to pray on our behalf to God. But anything good can become idolatrous if excessive at the cost of our personal relationship to Christ. When Protestants make this point, i think it is a fair one. And then Catholic (and Protestant and Orthodox) mystics ask the question to what degree should we be focusing our prayer each Person of the Trinity. Personally, i think we should be focused on Christ as our rock, throughout the day. But, also, focusing on the Holy Spirit and the Father too (not forgetting, of course, that The Three Persons are, ultimately, one united God. The angels, the saints and Mary are not our rock, but they are adornments to the Rock - and that we seek them out in a way that adds to Gods glory, not taking away glory from. I think (?) Ed (UK)
Personally, i think prayer to the angels, the saints, and above all, Mary is really important. Some Protestants make, i think, the error that prayer = worship. This is, of course, false. Prayer to the angels and saints is about befriending them and asking them to pray on our behalf to God.
ReplyDeleteBut anything good can become idolatrous if excessive at the cost of our personal relationship to Christ. When Protestants make this point, i think it is a fair one.
And then Catholic (and Protestant and Orthodox) mystics ask the question to what degree should we be focusing our prayer each Person of the Trinity. Personally, i think we should be focused on Christ as our rock, throughout the day. But, also, focusing on the Holy Spirit and the Father too (not forgetting, of course, that The Three Persons are, ultimately, one united God.
The angels, the saints and Mary are not our rock, but they are adornments to the Rock - and that we seek them out in a way that adds to Gods glory, not taking away glory from.
I think (?)
Ed (UK)
"To deny the communion of saints is cutting down the family tree."
ReplyDeleteBeautiful.