Today, on Catholic radio, a man called in with a question. The guest was an author of a book on prayer and that was naturally the topic of conversation. The man’s question went a little something like this:
“If I haven’t gone to confession and am guilty of a mortal sin am I allowed to pray to the saints? Or do I have to be in a state of grace in order for my prayer to be heard?”
The man went on to explain that the confessional in his parish is only open for one hour on one day each week, and he was wondering if he had to wait until after that visit before he could again pray to the saints.
What struck me honestly with this question was not the theological issues of praying to the saints or the institution of the priesthood necessarily. Rather it was the big picture. How many checkpoints do we have to have before we can communicate with God?
If this man’s idea is true, which he must have been told it was at some point, then there are at least four checkpoints to get to God. First, he has to be at his particular church, between 3:00 and 4:00 on Friday. (Hard to do that if you’re working normal hours.) Second, he has to go through a particular man, an ordained Catholic priest. Third, he has to then pray to a particular saint. Fourth that saint would intercede for him with Christ and/or the Father.
To be fair, the host and guest didn’t affirm this idea. Instead the best answer they could come up with was a lukewarm “I don’t think so.”
How sad is it that we Christians have set up these roadblocks to speak to God? Everybody had better have all their papers together for each checkpoint.
Here’s the truth. Through faith in Christ we can speak to the Father directly. We don’t pray through intermediaries and we don’t need to be absolved of all sin to be heard.
God heard the prayers of the Israelites in Egypt long before they had the law to follow or a priest to go through, and God hears your prayers as well.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
– Hebrews 4:14-16
You don’t need to confess your sins to pray. You need to pray to confess your sins. Don’t let the guilt or shame of your sin keep you away from prayer. We have a priest who is able to sympathize. Therefore we can draw near to the throne of God with confidence. Not only between 3pm and 4pm on Friday, but “in time of need”. We don’t need to go through Joseph, Mary, or any other saint. We go straight to our Father, in the name of Christ.
In [Christ] we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father….
– Ephesians 3:12,14
Tessera Sola 