The Church sets aside November 1 every year as ‘All Saints’ Day’ to honour all Christian saints, both known and unknown. Besides honouring the saints, we are required to emulate their holy lives and virtues and pray to them, as they are in communion with God. However, asking saints for their intercession and mediatorship has come under attack by fundamentalists, as it violates the sole mediatorship of Christ, who St Paul states: “For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5). Besides, Deuteronomy (18:10-11) explicitly forbids contact with the dead. The question, then, is whether praying to the saints for their intercession is a misconception that infringes on Christ’s role as the sole mediator.
A. F Nazareth, Alto Porvorim
