When we pray, can we pray to the saints? Or should we focus our attention solely on Jesus? Fr. Josh explains what it means to pray to the saints and when to ask for their prayers.
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The saints are the Body of Jesus Christ, just as we are the Body of Christ.
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Glory Story (2:01)
This Episode’s Question (6:47)
I often feel confused about whom I should pray to: Our Lady or one of the saints or Jesus. I feel like I’m hurting Our Lady if I turn to one of the saints and disappoint Jesus if I turn to Our Lady instead of Him. Please can you explain why and when we might pray to one instead of the other?
-Anonymous
Saint Story: Venerable Rafael Cordero y Molina (18:48)
Venerable Rafael was born in 1790 in St. John Puerto Rico into a poor black family. Though his family was not enslaved, because he was black he was allowed to attend school. He learned what he could from his parents and studied on his own. Eventually he was able to become a teacher.
No matter what he taught, be it literature or math or science, people were drawn to him and drawn to Jesus. Using his own money he had from tobacco farming, he founded a school for children in poverty of all races. Under his direction they grew spiritually and intellectually. They grew so much, children in the more affluent parts started to notice and longed for what the children in poverty were experiencing. Soon the wealthy parents started to send their children to his school–which was against the law! Despite it being against the law, the government allowed the school to continue because they too saw the fruit of the school.
In 2004 the process of Rafael Cordero’s canonization was begun. On December 9, 2013, Pope Francis declared that he had lived a life of “heroic virtue” and was worthy of the title Venerable.
Resources
- Submit your questions and feedback to Fr. Josh by filling out a form at www.ascensionpress.com/askfatherjosh
- Broken and Blessed by Fr. Josh Johnson
- Pocket Guide to Adoration by Fr. Josh Johnson
- Pocket Guide to Reconciliation by Fr. Josh Johnson & Fr. Mike Schmitz
- Ascension is pleased to offer our new and improved online bible study programs and sacramental preparation programs digitally to help you minister with flexibility. Go to ascensionpress.com to view all our offerings.
Meet Fr. Josh Johnson
While Fr. Josh was raised Catholic, he didn’t like the Church growing up. Then, one day in adoration, he fell in love with Jesus and received the call to become a priest.
Now, Fr. Josh is the Vocations Director of the Diocese of Baton Rouge in Louisiana. He is a presenter in four of Ascension’s programs: Altaration, YOU: Life, Love, and the Theology of the Body, The 99, and Connected: Catholic Social Teaching for This Generation, as well as the author of Broken and Blessed: An Invitation to My Generation, Pocket Guide to Adoration, and co-author of Pocket Guide to Reconciliation.
