st jude helps student!

BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF THE GRACES GIVEN TO ST. JUDE!!! I am graduating college in three weeks and helplessly began my novena asking for help with a job, someone to sublease my apartment, and help to find a place to live. I had sent my resume out to any place that sounded remotely appealing and only was able to get 2 interviews-one was canceled bc they hired someone before my interview, and the other decided not to hire anyone for another 3 months. I was frustrated...I began my novena and asked for help. one week later I got offered my DREAM JOB for an unexpected salary in the #1 location of my choice. the company said they had been looking for the perfect person to fill this position for 5 months and this was the first offer! that same day I received 2 calls interested in my working for them. 3 days later, a girl whom my present roommates get along with, decided to sublease my apartment! (almost impossible to find anyone to take your lease over because of all the December graduates). now I had an issue of where and who to live with. I had two options of places I found online with girls I had not met. (a few of my friends are moving up there after their graduation-but that wasn't until may) 4 days later I found out that one of my good friends from school had a townhouse built in the area and is looking for a roommate!!!! (St. Jude added a bonus by making it the cheapest rent I could find!) How can my life get in any more order? I have absolutely no clue-but I do know that when it isn't in order, who to turn to. what I am most happy about is that I let go of my will and told St. Jude to help me be where God wants me to be-so I feel that I am in accordance to Gods will. I prayed that what he wanted for me, to "put that desire in my heart." I am just so thrilled! "work like it depends all on you and pray like it depends all on God" THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU ST. JUDE!!!

Although I am a Catholic I have never accepted the Church's embrace of Saints. I am devoutly monotheistic. I do not doubt that God has often chosen to act through special people and that these people are somewhat blessed. I do not accept that they continue to act from Heaven with the powers of God.

Although Catholic, I do not think you understand the Cathoic teaching on the subject. The Catholic church is monotheistic. The Catholic Church does not worship Saints or even believe that the Saints are themselves acting from heaven.

A novena (from the Latin for nine each) is a devotion in which nine days are set apart for prayer to God, Our Lady, or a particular Saint for a certain intention (a person or object for which prayer or Mass is offered). The first novena was the nine-day period from the Ascension of Our Lord till the Descent of the Holy Spirit, during which time the Apostles waited in Jerusalem for the "promise of [the] Father" (Lk 24:49). A novena concentrates our attention, increases our zeal, and strengthens our faith, that God will grant our petitions according to His will.

Catholics pray to Saints not as if they were praying to God, but to ask the Saints to add their powerful prayers to our own. It's not much different from asking friends to pray for you, except these friends are in heaven, see God, and are very close to Him.

Catholics have a Saint associated with categories into which most intentions fit (for lost things, recovery from illness, childbirth, students, policemen, etc.) because these particular Saints had something in their own lives that may make them sympathetic to our request. Over a period of time, when numerous people seem to benefit from asking a certain Saint for the same thing, that helps to solidify the association of the Saint with that particular intention.

Catholics believe that we are obliged to pray for each other, not only in this world, but in the next. Christians on reaching heaven don't forget the needs of those they have left behind. Otherwise, they would be less charitable in heaven than they were on earth. They know our needs and our prayers, because God reveals to them what they need to know to do us good. Praying to a Saint is not the same thing as praying to God. It is not worship, but asking someone close to God to intercede for us.

As to the foundation of the Catholic belief, the Bible directs us to invoke those in heaven and ask them to pray with us. Thus in Psalm 103, we pray, "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!" (Ps. 103:20-21). And in Psalm 148 we pray, "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!" (Ps. 148:1-2)

Not only do those in heaven pray with us, they also pray for us. In Revelation, John sees that "the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8). Thus the saints in heaven offer to God the prayers of the saints on earth.

Angels do the same thing: "[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God" (Rev. 8:3-4).

Jesus himself warned us not to mess with small children because their guardian angels have guaranteed intercessory access to the Father: "See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 18:10).

Because he is the only God-man, Jesus is the only Mediator between man and God (1 Tim. 2:5), but this in no way means we cannot or should not ask our fellow Christians to pray with us and for us (1 Tim. 2:1-4), including those Christians in heaven, who have already had their sanctification completed, for "[t]he prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects" (Jas. 5:16).

Kind of sad, you have put your faith in a dead man, not in Christ Jesus!

I think that we should set up a special place for anti-Catholics to gather, you seem terribly keen to waltz into each and every Catholic thread and spout nonsense (e.g. that devotion to the Saints is putting faith in dead men). One would have thought that you have better things to do with your time.

Giving public thanks for favours granted by God, through the intercession of S. Jude is a well established practice. One frequently sees little adverts in newspapers saying this. My day was brightened by this story, and my faith in God deepened.

As for you statement it is the pinnacle of fatuous nonsense. I put my faith in God, yet am happy to rely on British Telecom to provide by telephone line, I also rely on Thames Water to fill the taps, this does not detract from faith in God, nor from acknowledgement of Him as the ultimate source of everything that is. Just as He allows humans to create utility companies to aid our lives, so He listens to the prayers of His Saints and through those Saints grants to faithful Christians that which they desire (if it is according to His most gracious will).

The practice of revering and worshiping "Saints" is a continuation of Roman culture in which there were literally hundreds of minor dieties, household gods and gods of special causes.

The following is an excerpt from the Catholic Answers Web Site, and explains there is a biblical basis for the belief in, and value of, the prayers of the Saints in heaven.

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In Heaven and On Earth

The Bible directs us to invoke those in heaven and ask them to pray with us. Thus in Psalms 103, we pray, "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!" (Ps. 103:20-21). And in Psalms 148 we pray, "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!" (Ps. 148:1-2).

Not only do those in heaven pray with us, they also pray for us. In the book of Revelation, we read: "[An] angel came and stood at the altar [in heaven] with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God" (Rev. 8:3-4).

And those in heaven who offer to God our prayers aren’t just angels, but humans as well. John sees that "the twenty-four elders [the leaders of the people of God in heaven] fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Rev. 5:8). The simple fact is, as this passage shows: The saints in heaven offer to God the prayers of the saints on earth.

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