JMJ. Ash Wednesday. Another Lent is upon us. I'm reading a great book called Biblical Evidence For the Communion of Saints by Dave Armstrong. (Don't worry, I'll tie this all together in just a minute.) Anyway, not only does it discuss the doctrine itself, it also shows how efficacious it is to make use of our relations to those who are now either in heaven or purgatory.
For some reason known only to themselves, Protestants believe in praying for each other and to God but leave out those who have "fallen asleep in the Lord" and now are either with Him and seeing Him face to face or who are darned close to that blessed state. Go figure.
Sure, we can still pray directly to God, but just think about how much extra clout we gain by going to those closest to Him for their help.
St. James in his epistle tells us that the prayer of a righteous person is very effective. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that the more righteous that intercessor is, the more effective their prayer is, too. That's the whole idea behind prayers to our holy guardian angels and to the Blessed Mother. Who could possibly be more righteous than she? Taking that a step further, prayers to St Joseph and to the Blessed Apostles would be a great idea.
Ok. Here's the tie-in with Lent. God chose the Blessed Virgin out of millions of women to carry God Incarnate and to bring Him to us. Thus, She's the prime intercessor. And then He chose St. Joseph to be Her spouse and Jesus' adoptive father. (And don't forget that in Jewish society adoption carried the same strength that blood ties did.) Out of millions of men He chose Joseph, surely a supremely righteous man to guard them both.
Who else was chosen for a unique relationship with our Lord? Simon of Cyrene. Out of untold men, the Roman soldiers, guided I'm sure by the hand of the Holy Spirit, chose St. Simon of Cyrene. He (in my humble opinion) epitomises mankind's coming face to face with Divinity. Afraid, frightened...and finally awestruck.
Unfortunately I still have somewhat of the Protestant hidden in my genes. It's hard to over-come built-in habits. But I'm trying. That's why I have just a few favourite intercessors--our Blessed Mother (of course), St. Joseph, St. James, St. Martin de Porres, and Pope St. Pius X.
And St. Simon of Cyrene who stood in for me when He helped our Lord carry His cross. Pray for us, holy one!
