On intercessory prayers

A friend messaged to ask me how I am. I responded by replying about the health issues that have been troubling in life, such as the tension headache, and the panic attacks. I wished that I could say something else more interesting about my life, but I figured I would just be genuine about what bothers me most. It occurred to my mind that she was a catholic, so I asked her whether she could pray for me. I even asked her to obtain intercessions from the saints from her faith to get God to heal me. I told her that my Christian friends have been praying for me but to no avail, and perhaps, a prayer from a catholic friend would be good. She told me to ask St Anne to pray for me, and that there is a St Anne church in Singapore. However, as someone brought up in the protestant faith, I am reluctant on taking up the practice of resorting to the saints for intercession. But I just feel that perhaps, the Catholics might have something there about appealing to the saints for intercessory prayers.

I don’t quite get the idea behind intercessory prayers though. Even protestants practice it to some extent, asking for people perceived to be of good standing with God to pray for them in the belief that “God listens to a righteous person”. The underlying thought is that their prayers might not have gone answered because they were sinful or not righteous enough.

I really don’t know how God works, and who is right on their characterization of God. I suppose some Christians would argue that the notion of requiring intercessory prayers limits the understanding of the way God works, that he acts for our good will whatever faults we may have. Other Christians out there have the understanding that God would not answer prayers if the individual sins, or that he prefers to listen to the prayers of those he consider righteous, or closer to him.

While I prefer the former understanding of how God works, I still have an innate mentality of the latter. But all said and done, I am quite the pragmatist. Whatever floats God’s boat. If he wants a righteous person, and I am not a righteous person, get me a righteous person to say a prayer for me. For now, it seems quite a cultural maladjustment to call upon Catholic saints, although I have the belief that there is possibly a good argument from the Catholics on why they call upon the saints. I don’t think it is an idolatorous practice to call upon such figures for intercession.