Praying to Dead People
Praying to dead people is not something that comes easy for me - I wasn't brought up that way. The trick, it seems, is to actually believe what I say I believe. That is, I say I believe that dying "in the Lord" is to be alive with Him. Well, do I? Do I believe that saints (holy ones) are alive...somewhere? Do I really believe they are in some sort of "tweener" state until the general resurrection and that God somehow enables them to be involved with us?
Well, let's assume that I do actually manage to believe that. I still have a problem. Why should I pray to saints when I can pray directly to God? I was raised a Protestant American, and if I was taught anything by that, it was to be independent and realize that "if you want something done right...do it yourself!" But as appealing as that is to my ego, it doesn't square with my experience. Over the years I've learned that I really don't have a clue as to how to pray. As near as I can tell, I've prayed "well" very few times in my life. Only during moments of profound helplessness or profound thankfulness...when my prayers consisted mostly of tears instead of words. The second best class of prayers I've ever uttered are when I'm reading them out of a prayer book, or chanting one of the services, or making some of the prayers in Scripture, especially the Psalms, "mine". Other than that, my prayers have been pretty useless. That being the case, it only makes sense to ask someone else - someone who actually knows how to pray - to pray for me.
OK...but you don't just walk up to a stranger and ask them to pray for you unless you've been reduced to a spiritual panhandler. I get the feeling that if the saints are aware of me at all, they probably know me as the guy at the street corner with a sign that says, "Homeless...would appreciate your spare change." Like just about everything else in Orthodox Christianity, praying to the saints has to do with love - relationship. Praying to the saints requires getting to know them and connecting with them emotionally - just like any other relationship. At that point I suppose I could start asking for their assistance (prayers) and not feel too weird about it. But as of right now...I'm basing this on the experience of others and my own experience with the living. I need to get to know some dead folks.
