RomeSweetHome wrote:Aieno Wrote
Can you show me a Scripture that states emphatically that saints and angels can hear our prayers?
The Bible doesn't tell us anywhere to pray to God the Holy Spirit, does this mean that it is wrong to pray to Him? Sacred Scripture does, however, contain invocations of the holy angels of God in the Book of Psalms (Ps 103:20-21; 148:1-2). Since God intends for us to pray these Psalms, there must be nothing wrong with believers on earth addressing the holy angels in Heaven.
Well, using your reasoning should we pray to the fish in the sea or the earth and the heavens? How about the wrath of man?
Ps 69:34
34 Let heaven and earth praise Him,
The seas and everything that moves in them. NAS
Ps 76:10
0 For the wrath of man shall praise Thee; NAS
So if we followed "the Bible alone" on this matter, we would pray only to to God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the holy angels - but not to God the Holy Spirit! There's something rather odd and unbalanced about that arrangement; we can address two Persons of the Trinity and some of God's creatures, but not the Third Divine Person - even though He is co-equal to the Father and the Son and infinitely greater than the angels? Strange indeed!
Of course, the Bible itself never claims to be the sole authority on matters of faith, so we need not follow "the Bible alone" on this or any matter. Sacred Tradition and Church history tell us that the early Christians addressed all Three Persons of the Trinity in prayer (no imbalance here), plus the holy angels and saints in Heaven. So the Catholic Church simply continues to do what she has always done from the beginning.
Peace
Jesus instructs us to "ask Him" and we are also told to "pray like this "Our Father who art in Heaven".
Rom 8:26-27
26 And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. NAS
By
understanding the Bible we can see that we are told to pray to God the Father, God the Son, and that God the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness while praying. So you analogy breaks down by understanding what God is teaching us in His word. "Traditions of men" are nothing more than "traditions"