When will you acknowledge that Catholic don't pray to the departed; they pray to God to have mercy on the souls of the departed?
Those prayers to Mary don't count????
All of the prayers to the "patron" saints of whatever don't count????
Here's a prayer TO "St Anne"
Dearest St. Anne,
it is you I wish to honour in your statues and images.
They are the tangible representations of the mysteries of divine love that were accomplished in you.
The sight of your holding the infant Virgin Mary brings to my mind a clearer understanding of your role in Christ's Redemption of mankind.
http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=593
Here's a prayer TO St Anthony.
"Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints" O Holy St. Anthony, gentlest of Saints, your love for God and Charity for His creatures, made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers. Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to obtain for me (request). O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the sweet Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms; and the gratitude of my heart will ever be yours. Amen.
http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=163
Just these two proves that Roman Catholic pray TO departed saints in contradiction of the NT.
Mrs. D....I say this in all sincerity....it seems that for every argument you put up I am able to show you a countering position of Roman Catholicism using Roman Catholic sources.
Catholics do not pray to a relative that died a day ago.
‘O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the sweet Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms;’
Can anyone explain this to me? I thought Anthony lived many centuries after the birth of Christ?
[Link to the St. Anthony prayer:
http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=163]