Campion: “Why does St. Paul as his readers, in several places in Scripture, to pray for him? Does he think he can’t go directly to Jesus?”
Well there is one obvious distinction here. Paul was asking for prayers from people who were still living on earth. Asking someone who has been glorified and lifted to heaven (i.e. already with God) to pray for you seems superfluous. Why would this saint need to pray?? This saint already has perfect communion with God...
I think it all comes down to who you want to glorify and whether you think God is truly sovereign. It is my desire to continually build my relationship to the one true soveriegn God - not Peter, Paul, Mary, Francis, Pio, etc.
When I ask other believers to pray for me, it is only because I know God works to sanctify his people through prayer - I assume these saints you are referring to require no further sanctification.
Yes, Paul's asking others to pray for him is not an answer to a question about communication with those in heaven. It's an answer to the asked question about seeking for intercession.
With respect to asking for intercession, whether the person asked is on earth or in heaven is not to the point. So to raise the quite different issue of whether one can communicate with those in heaven is to change the subject from the subject of the question. IF, as was the case, the question is about intercession, THEN Paul's asking for intercession would put us where we have to say either that it is good to ask for intercession or that Paul erred (or we don't know yet). If we agree that it is good to ask for intercession, then we can examine the quite different question of whether we can or -- if we can -- should communicate with those in heaven.
Both points go to the question about asking for the intercession of the saints in heaven, but they are different questions.
You only ask people to pray for you for their own good?