Well, I sure wouldn't invoke dead popes indiscriminately--you don't want some of those guys to know your name. Being a pope is no necessary guarantee of high personal character any more than being a president is any guarantee of his knowing his @nus from an excavation.
My point was (a) we know there were popes, (b) we know they're dead, and (c) there is a long-standing tradition in the Church of asking prayers of the holy dead, just as you would ask your neighbor or friend to pray for you, as well as a number of stories of the efficacy of such prayers. This was tried when a woman asked for the intercession of Pope Pius. The prayer which Pius (supposedly) made to God was (apparently) granted. So there is no need to complicate the matter by introducing exotic explanations involving fanciful and pop-cultural para- or supernatural entities in whom no one seriously believes, or (for that matter) previously undetected etheric emanations from your Lionel electric train set (wish I still had mine!) to effect the cure, unless there is some a priori reason that you want or need to refuse the offered explanation--meaning, as I had written, that the burden of proof is upon the objector.
So perhaps you didn't understand me correctly.
Please pray that I can be healed from my tongue being planted firmly in my cheek.
No need to pray for this cure when all that is needed to correct the problem is a pair of vise-grip pliers and a strong stomach! Or (less messily) a mind willing to entertain realities beyond those limited to your personal experience and the unreflective prejudices that we all pick up, like lint, throughout our lives and come to accept as bedrock verities.
RE: Praying ot the dead, you wrote:
“(E)ntertain realities beyond those limited to your personal experience and the unreflective prejudices that we all pick up, like lint, throughout our lives and come to accept as bedrock verities.”
Let’s give this a try.
Dear Dead Pope Peter:
I beg your indulgence (just a little pope humor to start things off).
Sorry to bother you. There are some Christians down here that say I should pray to dead people to intercede to Jesus for me. Sort of an intercessor to the intercessor. Anyway, you’re high up on the list being the first pope and all. Did you know you were a pope? I read your books and it doesn’t look like it.
Here’s what happened. Remember when you told Jesus he was the Christ the Son of the Living God. Yeah I thought you would. Well, when he said ‘upon this rock I will build my church these folks got the idea that Jesus meant you instead of him being the Christ and all.
Soooo, long story short- you became the Rock on which the church was built and the gates of Hell can not prevail against it because of you.
No. Really.
Anyway, I’m new to this praying to dead folks and all, having always come into the throne room of grace with boldness because I have been adopted as a son of God and heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. Oops. My bad.
Couple of questions if I could be as bold with you as Christ has let me be with him. (And I’m not so sure I can without really offending these folks down here). First, in 1 Peter 2, you said:
“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”[b]
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”[c]
8 and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”[d]
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. “
That looks a lot to me like you are saying that Christ is the cornerstone on which the church is built. As the first pope, and the rock on which the church is built, I would have expected you to know better.
On top of that, Papa Rock, if I read the next two verses, “9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
It looks here like you are calling God’s elect (1 Peter 1:1) priests. Were you not aware of the distinction of priests from laity, and that I apparently need a priest between God and me?
For a Pope and the Rock upon which the church is built, your writings don’t line up with tradition and canon law very well.
Why is that, Dead Pope Pete?
If you could ask Jesus to clear up my mind on these things, I’d appreciate it. Also, please don’t rely on my free will to choose this stuff- just in case those Calvinists are right.
Also, once we get past the formalities; there are a few questions I have about the Coredemtrix. . . .
Doesn’t ring a bell? Maybe you know her better as the Queen of Heaven. . .
Well, how about Mother of God. . .
Mary?
OK, Mary.
Aside from those titles, you won’t believe what some of these folks say about her. You’ll never look at the ark of the covenant in the same way again!
Well, I know you must be busy handling the dead pope prayers and being the rock and all.
Take care, look forward to seeing you soon. Keep those gates pearly and stuff.
Will. . . of God (If Agnes can do it so can I)
PS- for the sake of clarity, please DO NOT SHARE this request with the tooth fairy, easter Bunnies or six foot tall invisible rabbits named Harvey. Actually that last one seems unnecessarily specific. Please Preimier Pope refrain from sharing this request with ANY AND ALL invisible rabbits.
Amen
PS- Don’t blame me- I’m told on the best of authority that there is a long standing tradition of this.