Rely on the prayers of the saints, Church Fathers: Day 357

Rely on the prayers of the saints

Responding to one Vigilantius, who opposed praying to the saints, St. Jerome insists that the saints and martyrs are still alive, and still linked with us in love.

You say, in your pamphlet, that as long as we are alive we can pray for one another; but once we die, the prayer of no person for another can be heard, and all the more because the martyrs, though they cry for the avenging of their blood, have never been able to obtain their request.

If Apostles and martyrs can pray for others while still in the body, when they still ought to be anxious for themselves, how much more must they do so when once they have won their crowns, overcome, and triumphed?

A single man, Moses, often wins pardon from God for six hundred thousand armed men; and Stephen, the follower of his Lord and the first Christian martyr, entreats pardon for his persecutors; and when once they have entered on their life with Christ, shall they have less power than before? The Apostle Paul says that two hundred and seventy-six souls were given to him in the ship; and when, after his dissolution, he has begun to be with Christ, must he shut his mouth, and be unable to say a word for those who throughout the whole world have believed in his Gospel?

–St. Jerome, Against Vigilantius, 6

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

Do I often ask for the prayers of my friends—both the ones who are still on earth and the saints who are with Christ?

CLOSING PRAYER

Father, may the prayers of the saints always be with me, and may their holy examples keep my thoughts filled with love for you and for my neighbor.

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