Okay. I get that. Can someone be a perfect Catholic and NOT ask saints to intercede for them? Can they just pray to Jesus straightforward, and not go through anyone else? Or would that be considered heresy in Catholicism?
Maybe in YOUR church people can be perfect protestants, but as far as I know, all Catholics are sinners, saved by the body and blood of Christ.
Why don't you ask your questions at a Catholic inquiry site? I'll tell you why--you don't want answers, you want people to admit you're right, and they're wrong.
I just admire "perfect" people so much..../sarc
'Nother psst: ain't no perfect Catholics. Some pretty good ones, I guess ....)
It's not so much whether one CAN as why one would want to. But yeah, rarely in our "required" liturgical worship is anyone but some person or other of the Trinity addressed. Sometimes Mary is addressed, but rarely. In my parish at the Easter Vigil we have a litany of the saints and ask a whole WAD of saints to pray for us and for those about to be baptized. Other than that, there's not any expectation.
But the other side of it is an increasing sense of having a BUNCH of friends and fellow warriors. - and of finding them where one least expects it. My personal image of myself is that asking French women to pray for me is certainly not something I would do of my own accord. But somehow I find that the stern and simple Catherine Laboure or the deceptively child-like Terese of Lisieux are good friends. It runs against ALL my inclinations, and my own "conceit" of myself is that if anything (or anyone) I would be affiliated with Polycarp or John the Evangelist, or John of Damascus (There was a thinker!) -- certainly not someone FRENCH, for crying out loud!
But when I go up against all the temptations and tests of everyday life, I find to my surprise that, as I pray mostly to Jesus, I have Catherine and Terese rooting for me. I am surrounded not with a silently watching cloud of witnesses, but with friends who, when I stumble, rush to the track to encourage me, who give me advice and help, who assure me that I am in their prayers.
It's quite remarkable. I wasn't thinking much about the intercession of the saints when I became Catholic. I was thinking about obeying Jesus. But I have found friends.
I am saying this soppy stuff to try to give a "feel" of what our piety to the saints is. I could almost say that my feeling about Catherine Laboure is in many ways very much like my feeling about a sergeant I had once. He was very different from me, but we both share a commitment to excellence and to caring even for the bad guys. And he's very wise about fighting. He's a good man to have on our side.
I don't mean this to be persuasive but descriptive.
Of course you can pray directly to Jesus.
Interesting! I never heard that question before. I suppose one could be a Catholic and not do intercessory prayer, but .... hmm... that would be missing out on the whole "Communion of Saints" thing, which we very much believe in.
It strikes me as being similar to asking, "Can a person be a good family member by talking only to their parents, and never to their brothers and sisters?" Well...
Oh, that reminds me, I should send an e-mail to my brother. I do tend to neglect family sometimes, to tell you the truth. I'll get on that now. Thanks!