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You're probably going to get a lot of posts in response to your questions - hope you're ready! But, here are the logical/Biblical steps why we "pray" to Saints. Note pray is in quotes - here, it is used in the Classical English sense, in the sense of asking. E.g. "What, pray tell, are you talking about?"

Are Christians told to pray for each other? Yes.
Are the prayers of especially Holy people more effective? Yes.
Are the people who fall asleep in Christ alive in Him in Heaven? Yes.
Can Heaven hear the words of people on Earth? Yes.

Ok, now that we've got that in front of us, we consider our prayers to Saints, asking them to help us bring our petitions to God, no different than the various prayer threads posted on FR every day. And the reason Mary is the greatest advocate is because she is the Mother of God, and Jesus, as a devout Jew, honored (and continues to honor) His Mother. I'm gone for most of the day, but if you'd like to keep talking about this (and 500 other people can't answer all your questions) I am happy to!

Ok, I think I understand the distinction that you are making between prayer as a petition and prayer as worship. And it certainly would make sense to me to ask a living (on earth) Christian to pray for someone. However, when you talk to someone who is dead isn’t that similar to the seance type of thing that we are not supposed to be involved with. Kind of like what Saul got in trouble with when he tried to have the Witch of Endor call up Samuel so that he could ask his advice. I am not trying to be hostile - you gave me a great answer to my first question and I do genuinly want to hear a Catholic perspective on this.

It always amazes me when Catholics bring pseudo logic into faith. Simply put, Jesus promises to hear our prayers. We have no such promise regarding those who are dead. You're logic may be interesting, but I hold fast to the promises that God made. So prayer in Jesus’ name is valid. Prayer to dead saints may be valid. I'll stick with God's promise and not waste my time on maybe.

I hope you will not think these to be ungracious questios.

They are not intended as such.

I understand Christians praying for each other.

But my understanding of prayer is that my prayers go directly to God. And I also understand that God listens to all prayers from those who truly seek him with a humble heart -- God surely hears my prayers -- and I'm a wretched sinner -- as surely as He hears the prayers of the most holy person on Earth.

If I want ask a living person who is more holy than I am (and I am surely one of the most wretched sinners) to pray for me, and if I am unable to telephone, email, or speak to him face-to-face, can I say a prayer to him, even though he is still alive? Or would it be more effective to pray to God directly? How many prayers to people -- living or dead -- would it take before God would be able to hear my concerns?