A lot of people think of "prayer" and "worship" as pretty much interchangeable. Modern usage pretty much restricts the word prayer to an appeal to the Deity, but in the past this was hardly so. In olden times, the word might be used in the context of a son making a plea to his father, a serf making a plea to his feudal lord, even a man making a plea to his neighbor. Really prayer is nothing but an appeal, a plea for help. To our modern ears, it has become inextricably linked with the idea of "worship," perhaps. But perhaps this is because in our day and age, we are too proud to beg any power on earth for anything - not when we feel so entitled to so much already.
A prayer is a plea for help.
What is a "saint"? A saint isn't somebody with the papers on earth, who has been investigated by the pope squad and knighted as a saint by worldly powers, and that's what makes them a saint. Naw. A saint is anybody who is right now in heaven with God. Every one of those people is a saint! Even the angels, like St. Michael. The rubber-stamp from the pope squad is pure publicity for down here. They go around getting the goods on only the highest-profile ones, they investigate, they bring in the devil's advocate, and then when they think they've found one who is the real deal, they say "I dub thee St. Thisenthat!" and hold 'em out as examples. But that person was already a saint, before they got the rubber stamp. They were a saint by virtue of the fact that when they died, they went straight to heaven.
People do need examples. People need to believe it's possible to live a godly life in this morass of bilge and filth which I at least find so wonderfully compelling and beautiful to live in (seriously - life's pretty awesome, but then, I'm not living in the middle ages either).
So, a prayer is a plea for help. A saint is anyone now living in heaven, in communion with God. Mostly, we're talking human souls who died and went straight to heaven. But we also are in communion with God. More on that in a moment.
In humbler times, when we'd pray to our neighbors, our relatives, our rulers - not as worship, just as plea for help (and I should note that even the word "worship" then was not restricted to the Deity as it is now! It indicated a more general sort of homage) - it was considered the most natural thing on earth that those of us who'd gone on, humans who were kind and gentle and loving, whose lives inspired us, would look back kindly on us and want to help as well.
And people believed in the power of prayer. They weren't shy about it. If they had something they needed supernatural assistance for, they would get all their relatives praying, too! "Please pray to God, on my behalf, for the sake of little Timmy's knee!" And really, to those of simple faith, humble faith - what could be more natural than to ask those who have gone on, who have shown us ways to be good, who have sought God and found God and who call to us look back upon us kindly - ask them, too! "St. Kneesius, please ask God on my behalf, for help with little Timmy's knee."
It's quite lovely, really. There is one problem with it. The same problem there is with scripture or with law: 1. Where God is concerned, people love intermediaries. They are fearful of dealing direct with God. They are uncomfortable with God, so they build up barriers between them and God. People feel easier about interacting with law, or with scripture*, or with other intermediaries, rather than addressing themselves directly to God. This is a universal weakness. It is just more comfortable for most people to deal with something they feel they can get a handle on. The saints were misused for this purpose, just as law and scripture have been misused: as a comfort barrier, as something to interpose between. Not as a means to God, but as an end to interact with, instead of God.
As I said, it is a misuse. All good tools can be misused, but that does not mean they are bad tools. Basically anyone who believes in heaven but denies the communion of saints is doing one or a combination of the following things:
1. They assert that there are no humans who have gone to heaven, or
2. They deny that those now in heaven can care for our plight, or
3. They deny the power of prayer.
Point 1, I concede is theoretically possible. Maybe everyone waits for judgment day. But it doesn't seem like most of those people who'd argue against the communion of saints would advance that argument, necessarily. Without that argument, they just come off looking like a dick if they rely on points 2 or 3.
I say that properly understood, the communion of saints is a beautiful and true concept that holds out such hope for us all, such reassurance. The dead are not dead, but alive in God's light - such as we hope to be, when we pass on. The dead are not apart from us, but rather are part of our living communion with each other. The communion of saints is nothing but the continuation of the one Body of Christ that we are all a part of, right here on earth.
All you atheists excluded, of course. Only insofar as you wish to be. That's not really my call - no offense.
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