We tend to ask people for their prayers in times of need! Even those who do not have any belief system or “believe” in New Age spiritualities like to ask people to keep them in “good thoughts” so that there is no negative energy being sent out into the universe that could go against them. Agnostic or self-dependent people like to think that there is some kind of ominous energy force out there that could “affect” their decisions or outcomes, so any set of good or negative thoughts could somehow lend to the ultimate positive or negative outcome. I do not believe in all this pseudo-spirituality stuff because we profess our true faith in the real and loving God. Much more, we believe in the communion of saints! Therefore, I would like to explain how we can understand intercessory prayers and how the Blessed Mother (and the saints) can help us grow and strengthen our relationship with Christ Jesus.
First, to overcome these egocentric and fake “spiritualities” that only exist to serve one’s self-empowerment, we have to understand that our faith is never about the achievement of the “best version” of ourselves. Our faith is personal, intimate, and real because it is not individualistic, self-dependent, or some doctrines, matters, or instructions alone. True faith invites us to die to our hedonistic and self-centered desires to become more like Christ in both words and actions, life and deeds. True faith grounds us in personal and communal relationships with Him, His Church, and one another. True faith teaches us that we are not here alone, to simply live by and for ourselves. We are united with one another because we are one with Him! When we live in a real and genuine faith, knowing who we are and understanding what it means to be loved by Him, we will personally make efforts to build and nurture this theocentric communion with others.
If faith is only about ourselves and what we need alone, it would be the most boring, pitiful, and unsatisfactory lie ever! Faith is never about us getting what we want at all costs. To have faith is to trust in the greater, transcendental, eternal, and ever-faithful love of God. To have faith is to trust that God loves and cares for us beyond our imagination, and even when we are going through hard times, His providence will get us through them, for He willed everything for our eternal good. When the storms are all around us and life gets hard, even when we think we cannot make it through the other side, His grace will be sufficient for us. The good Lord will never remove us from our own trials and hardships or somehow make life easy and smooth, but His loving grace will give us what is needed to bear them — even when we kick and scream at times.
Even in my own life, I have gone through a lot of failures, faced a lot of trials and hardships, and embraced a lot of oppositions, mishaps, and limitations. Those challenges were HARD! They hurt! I did not like them at all. However, I would not be the person where I am today if they were not given opportunities for growth and maturation for me. Therefore, I genuinely believe in the providential love of God, who sees, understands, and wills my eternal and ultimate good more than me. Even though I felt like those moments were big obstacles, like high mountains and deep valleys at times, they were all PERSONAL and necessary moments when I needed to learn and grow. They were all moments when I had to let go, die to my self-centeredness and comfort zones, and personally trust in Him.
Failures are not fun, especially when we have invested a lot of time and effort into the subject matter. Nonetheless, one failure is nothing in comparison to the scope of eternity! We are disturbed and distressed when we meet our very own human and personal limitations. They irritate and frustrate us because none of us like to face our ineffectiveness or inability to do something. Nonetheless, the greatest lesson is never to break that communication and relational line with the only One who genuinely and unconditionally loves us more than we love our very own selves! No matter what is or might going on in our very own lives, we have to make that personal choice of never abandoning Him. Our very relationship with God is the only one that truly matters and gives life because nothing else makes sense or really matters unless we know who we are, what is important in life, and how everything else is simply instrumental to our eternal salvation. If we know who we are, we become more detached from earthly goods and worldly matters as to become more attached to Him. If we know what is truly important and life-giving for us, we do not have to worry about being controlled, manipulated, duped, or distracted by other people or lesser things that are filling our minds with their influences, temptations, and voices.
Once we have our relationship grounded and prayer life fixed on the Lord, we can begin to appreciate and embrace the wonderful communion of saints through intercessory prayers. Sometimes, we are so afraid of praying to the saints, asking them for their intercessions because we think they somehow will take away our trust and dependency on God. Perhaps there is a big misunderstanding and stigma that is connected to this beautiful understanding of our spiritual communion with one another, especially those who are enjoying the beatific vision and those who are still on their purgative journey. As a matter of fact, to truly be Christians and to know who we are as disciples of Christ is to understand that we are not alone but surrounded by people who are on the journey, those who finished their races, and those who are in need of our prayers to finish their period of growth.
Knowing that we are not alone and in need of others’ prayers is important. Nonetheless, it is very crucial that we know that life does not end after death, and we have great multitudes of holy ones who are praying for us and with us. If we can ask other people for prayers, I just do not know why we cannot find comfort and trust in asking those who have finished their journeys of faith and are now enjoying eternal life with Him. I do not understand why we are scared of asking those who are completely united in love with Him, enjoying eternal beatific vision, to pray and intercede for us. It is not like they will somehow lead us astray or do something contradictory to God‘s will! It is not like they will somehow compete or try to overshadow God because we ask them to pray for us and with us.
I believe there are many misunderstandings, misconceptions, and stigmas that were created due to poor theological understanding, catechesis, and piety that were warped, water-downed, and manipulated by erroneous practices that made us lose sight of the real focus of the communion of saints. I have personally learned much from the saints, especially their radical love for Christ and their perseverance in the midst of many trials, hardships, persecutions, misunderstandings, pains, and sufferings. Unlike many misconceptions, many of them were not perfect from the beginning… as a matter of fact, none of us are perfect! Nevertheless, they taught us what it truly means to leave everything of the past behind to truly embrace the life-changing decision of loving God first and foremost, before all and above all things.
When I faced my own trials, I took comfort in reading some saintly examples of my favorite (spiritual) heroes. To be honest, when we go through our own personal trials, we tend to think that our sufferings or hardships are uniquely particular to us as if we are alone and have no one to relate to. However, if we take a moment to open up the lives of the saints and read what they did to love Christ in the midst of many challenges, we will able to see whatever we are going through in life can be taken as opportunities of growth and maturation. We can pass at times, but we can also fail, and that is perfectly fine! What is important for us to see is that, in all things, we have to personally choose to love, be faithful, and persevere even when things get hard for us. The saints taught us through their life examples of what it meant to personally choose to love Him even when it got hard.
Therefore, it is not wrong to learn from the saints and ask them to intercede for us on our very own faith journeys! They understand what we are going through and are very happy to help us to love Him above all things. They will pray for us and with us as long as it is not to get our way. They want us to reach the heavenly homeland and to enjoy the beatific vision with them. Even the souls in purgatory are with us, too! If we can hear them, they would be telling us not to give up, and no matter how much life or the purgative can be, everything is worth the sacrifice of being loved by God and spending eternal life with Him. Even though they are being purged of their imperfections, they are embracing the time with love because they have seen how loving and merciful God has been in their own lives and at the time of judgment. These souls who are in purgatory want us to know that nothing in this world (or in the world to come) is worth more than the prize of being loved by Him and to love Him in return with all of our mind, heart, soul, and every fiber of our being.
Furthermore, we have our very own Blessed Mother who is teaching us what it means to believe when it hurts! Through her courageous fiat at the annunciation to the unexplainable miseries felt at the foot of the Cross, from the unspoken life of love and service to the silent accompaniment with her Son and His disciples, Mary taught us what it means to love and to stay faithful to God‘s will every step of the way. Whatever we think we are going through at this moment, our Blessed Mother understands, and the saints can relate with us in many ways through their own discipleship and particular journeys of faith. Therefore, even when we feel like we have nothing else to give and doubts begin to creep in, do not give up and allow the evil ones to win. We will not lose our ways for very long if we humble ourselves and ask Mother Mary and the saints to take our hands and lead us back to Christ.
Of course, we will doubt and question His timings at times, but it is important that we try our best to just hold on and not give up! Our victories will not be glorious, glamorous, or noticeable by others because only we can know how much effort, willingness, and perseverance were put into place so we can be where we are today. We are not perfect and have fallen short at times, and that is perfectly fine. The saints were not completely perfect, but they stayed and remained faithful, and so can we! Hence, let us not give up or give in but stay the course in loving Him, coming to the Blessed Mother and the saints for their intercessions, and asking for help from our brothers and sisters when needed. The fights are hard, but they are not ends in themselves. The hardships and challenges will be hard to be at times, but no matter what is going on in life, do not give up, learn, and allow ourselves to grow and mature in, with, and by His loving care. No matter how hard the days might seem, let us learn to always choose, desire, and will to come to Jesus Christ through Mary and the saints.
I Thirst (John 19:28) with Father Khoi 