Patron Saints?

[Breaking Babylon]

They are not praying to the saints Davis, they are simply asking the living in Christ (both here and in Heaven) to pray *with us* for whatever needs we bring before Him. This is not about asking a demigod for help because we can not go to the Big Guy ourselves. Or rubbing a magical lamp for one problem and picking up a different lamp for another problem.

If you ask for others to pray for you and with you, are you putting them on an equal plane as God? Of course not. Its the same idea. At least as far as I can understand.

You hit it right on the head.

The saints in Heaven have been illumined and perfected, and "the prayer of the righteous avails much." I wouldn't say they're bound by us asking for them to pray for us any more than we're bound to pray for those who ask us, but the saints, being in a place outside of space and time, surely can intercede for us with a mighty voice, perhaps whether we ask them to or not. I couldn't imagine the Theotokos not praying for us simply because we never asked.

The saints are also vessels of the Holy Spirit and are blessed with the grace of wanting what He wants, and in a sense, vice versa. Through theosis we die to the world and become very much alive in Christ, and our actions and will is no longer about us, but that which God wants for us. Thinking of it that way, it's not hard to imagine the Church Militant praying for us not only for what we've presented to them, but also for Gods will towards us.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Dust and Ashes]

My wife chose St. Anna, mother of the Theotokos as her patron because of St. Anna's experience with being childless. She felt that she could really relate to St. Anna and that she could empathize with my wife's situation. We tried for 9 years to have a child and after 5 miscarriages and much anguish, we were blessed with the little guy you see in my signature.

We give all the glory to Christ our God but we are certain that St. Anna's prayers, along with those of the Theotokos and St. Seraphim of Sarov (my patron) were offered for us.