Dear St. Anthony, we are all pilgrims. We came from God and we are going to Him. He who created us will welcome us at journey's end. The Lord Jesus is preparing a place for all His brothers and sisters. St. Anthony, Guide of Pilgrims, direct my steps in the straight path. Protect me until I am safely home in heaven. Help me in all my needs and difficulties. (Name them.) [http://catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?s=41]
Tell me again how Catholics ONLY ask them to be pray FOR them.
>>Do you mean to tell me you don't believe it is easier to communicate face-to-face with God in heaven<<
Yes, I do mean to tell you that. We are told to go boldly before the throne. To think that somehow God is incapable of hearing our prayers as well as those in heaven is doubting His omnipresence and omniscience.
>>"They claim only those proclaimed by the CC are saints."<<
If you don't believe that why do they only declare some to be saints? Scripture says all believers are saints.
Scripture says that Jesus turned the bread and wine into His Body and Blood. Why don't protestants believe that?
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You are mistaking a prayer shortcut (with obvious implicit direction to God through the saint for fulfillment) with some kind of stand-alone action by a saint.
As a very rough and very imperfect illustration, when Donald Trump asks his butler to bring him a case of "Courvoisier", he doesn't think the butler is going to go make it in his basement or something, and he also doesn't specifically tell him to go the liquor store and buy it either -- that is implied in his request, and just goes without saying. He just makes the simple request to the butler, and the butler will go to the source he has to in order to get that request successfully fulfilled for Trump.
Your mischaracterizations of those fervent prayer requests you keep searching around for, grossly distort the whole picture of what is actually happening. The saints in heaven who hear these requests are intelligent, and understand perfectly what the person praying is actually requesting, and that it is God who actually fulfills all prayer requests.
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"Yes, I do mean to tell you that. We are told to go boldly before the throne. To think that somehow God is incapable of hearing our prayers as well as those in heaven is doubting His omnipresence and omniscience."
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Once again, you are grossly misstating what I said. I'm not talking about God's ability to hear our prayers. I'm talking about our own ability to formulate and express prayers, when we are tired, distracted, agitated, hungry, confused, etc., all maladies not suffered by the saints in heaven.
Now God does not need ANY prayers. God already knows every single need, and every single prayer request that will ever be made by anyone, including all people on earth, and all the saints in heaven. However, we do know that God wants (for our sakes) all of us to pray for one another, as He plainly tells us in His Sacred Written Word.
Do you not believe God when He says that?
God also wants us to love Him, and to love one another, and prayers for others is a wonderful way to extend our love to them (and that love principle still holds true for the saints in heaven).