That should have been “Mary” not “Amry” a simple typo and my error.
It is my understanding (and feel free to correct me if I am wrong my fellow RCC Freepers) that in Catholicism, the priest is the intermediary between Man and God, he offers the Eucharist and Baptizes etc. and that praying to the Saints or Mary is the laities access?
I could be wrong about that though.
And “yes” Saints has a very different meaning in the Bible then what it has evolved to in the Roman Catholic Church.
The Bible says there is one mediator between God and man, the God-man, Jesus - our true High Priest. There is no need for any other, otherwise He came in vain.
I'm sure I'm not worthy to answer. But in the RCC, the priest has all the same roles as a priest had in Israel. It is one of my complaints about RC doctrine but it doesn't bug me as much as Marianism. There is no priest but Christ for a Christian! After that we are all elevated to the roll of priest.
***the priest is the intermediary between Man and God, he offers the Eucharist and Baptizes etc***
The priest stands “in Persona Christi” - in the person of Christ. Jesus gave this authority to the Apostles, who then passed it down to their successors the bishops, to the present day. Here are the relevant Scripture verses:
“And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:17-19
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen” Matthew 28:18-20
“Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” John 20:21-23
***praying to the Saints or Mary is the laities access?***
No, we can go to Jesus any time we want. “Praying to the Saints and to Mary” just means that we ask them to pray for us, as we ask our friends and relatives to pray for us. Since we believe that they are already in heaven, and can see the Beatific Vision of God, then they can pray for us, too, and are nearer to God. Here are the Scripture verses:
“And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.” Revelation 5:8
“And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.” Revelation 8:3-4
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us…” Hebrews 12:1
***Saints has a very different meaning in the Bible then what it has evolved to in the Roman Catholic Church***
Actually, the Catholic beliefs about the Saints are straight from Scripture:
“And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.” Revelation 7:14b-15
in Catholicism, the priest is the intermediary between Man and God...
The priest is the only one who gives confessions and offers the Eucharist in the person of Christ. "As my father sent Me so I send you", "do this in memory of Me"; "whoever hears you hears Me" were the words of Christ regarding the priesthood.
The Eucharist is the sacrifice of Christ, one and only. It is incorrect to call the priest mediator, as Christ is the mediator. Both the priest and the laity can and are encouraged to pray to Christ, the Holy Ghost or the Father, or pray for the intercession of the saints and Mary, and venerate the saints and Mary.
A priest is not technically necessary for baptisms and marriages, although when one is available these sacraments should be done in a Church by a priest.
St. Paul called his correspondents, living Catholic Christians, saints. In the Age of Martyrs, the word took on a narrower meaning of those who are evidently alive in Heaven with Christ on the account of their martyrdom, and naturally they were prayed to and venerated because of that. Gradually, the word "saint" came to signify a person who the Church in her ability to open and shut the gates of the Kingdom (the "keys" promised St. Peter, the architect of our Church), has formally canonized as saints.
It is nevertheless permissible to ask for intercession of anyone dead and alive, and not necessarily a canonized saint in Heaven.
The Basis of my thought is that God is the REAL Father. I am a father, but only a very poor version of REAL fatherhood, because I have a child, and really most of what's splendid about her is either unrelated to me or in spite of me. But everything that's splendid about creation is all from God. It happened just as He intended.
If I as a poor, smudged simulacrum of Fatherhood want my child to have everything I have and more, can I not think that the God whose Son called us "Friends" before He died for us and turned the universe upside down to save us -- can I not imagine that He wants to share everything with us? And among the things to be shared is the ministry of reconciliation. Different ones may undertake different aspects. Some plant, some water, God gives the increase, if increase there be. But we ALL share in the work of Christ.
Or try another tack: Our Lord said that he who would be greatest among us must be servant. Then He showed us what real servanthood is all about. He called us to be like Him, and died and rose to share the core of Who and What He is with us.
So, it seems to me, one way to view all this, and especially Heaven as we -- I dare to hope -- come closer to it, is like a grand country dance, a Virginia Reel say. We all dance, we all move to the head of the line, and dance down before our friends as they clap and laugh and joke and love us. And then we move down to the bottom of the line where it is our joy to clap and laugh and joke and love all those who dance down before us.
The point is it is our joy to dance down the middle and be loved and supported by our fellows, AND it is, if anything, our greater joy to hold up our fellows when they dance down the middle.
And you know if you've ever done such a dance (and if you haven't then Unam Sanctam applies in all its rigor, and you are in very deep spiritual trouble) that some beautiful and talented couple will dance down the middle, and you love and wonder at their beauty and gracefulness. And then some of your friends, maybe not the most graceful, maybe a little thick around the middle, maybe sporting a few more chins than absolutely necessary, then they dance down the middle, and you love them because they are your friends and because they love each other, and because they are who they are -- and tonight, because the punch is good, that is more than enough reason to love them.
And because you were lost in the fun of seeing your friends dance, you didn't notice that it was YOUR turn to dance down the middle. So hastily, awkwardly, you bow or curtsy, and are bowed or curtsyed to, then you grasp your beloved. And down the middle you go - amidst music and laughter and wine punch and love as thick in the air as cigar smoke at a convention.
This is a poor image, as my fatherhood is a poor image of the True Father, of how we mediate and are mediated for, how we serve and are served and how it is our very real joy to minister and to be ministered to. This is how we all mediate for one another: Some better, some worse, some one way, some another. Yes, priests have a special mediatory responsibility. But I have a special responsibility to plead to God for them as well as for others -- as only I can, however poor that may be. I dance down the middle the way it has been given to me to dance, and they dance down the middle the way it has been given to them to dance. I clap as I can, and they clap as they can.
As for the rest: HECK no! I talk to God. I talk to the Father. I talk to His Son. I talk to the Spirit. I talk to just about anybody who will hold still. I'd like to see some priest try to stop me from talking to God.