Kosta50 states things as they are.
To his thoughts I would add one more.
When I ask my friends and family to pray for me, do I sin.
When I pray for someone else, someone I don't know, because I have been asked to, do I sin?
No?
Why, then, does it make any difference whether the friend or family member I am asking to pray for me happens to be a spirit and not a spirit bound to flesh anymore?
What is the distinction? What's the difference?
And why would anyone think their was a difference?
I don't think my friends and family can alter the laws of nature on their own, whether they are alive or dead. I do think their prayers might help, both ways, and what harm is there in asking someone to pray for me?
When I ask my cousin to pray for me, I am not worshipping her as a god nor mistaking her for God.
When I ask God's Mother, Mary, to pray for me I am not doing anything different, and I am not mistaking her for God either.
Really, what IS the big deal here?
Why bother to ask.
The big deal is that there are cultural prejudices at work that have built up on account of philosophies and ancient wars. Some folks want to carry them on to this day, and to call what I do when I ask saints and ancestors to pray for me "worshipping evil spirits" or whatever. I'd say that such folks need to tend to the weeds in their own garden, and stop worrying about mine.
Well said. Demonizing those who don't think or do exactly as we do is the rule of thumb for mankind since the beginning. The first thing humans do is commit sin, and their son outdoes his parents by killing his brother out of jealousy.