Prayer Versus Worship

I prayed: “Adan, please pray to God for me to get through this ….” Adan was my godson. He died, as an 18-year-old, only three months before graduating from high school. He had cancer. Adan was a faithful teenager who loved Jesus. Yes, I pray to Adan. I pray to and for my deceased parents. I ask friends to pray for me. I pray to Jesus; him I worship.

Catholics pray to Jesus, Mary, and the saints, but it’s important to understand what we mean by prayer and worship, because they are NOT the same.

Prayer is simply communication with God: speaking, listening, thanking, asking, and praising. It also includes asking others to pray for us. Just as we might ask a friend or family member to keep us in their prayers, Catholics ask Mary and the saints, who are alive in Christ, to intercede for us. This is prayer as relationship.

Worship, however, is something far greater and more specific. Worship is the total offering of ourselves to God alone: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is the adoration and sacrifice that belongs to God and God alone, most perfectly expressed in the Mass.

So while Catholics pray to Mary and the saints, we do not worship them. Worship is given only to God. The saints are honored as holy men and women who point us to Christ, and who join us in prayer before Him. For me, Adan is such a saint, godson-saint.