Q : 
Father Ching, I pray to God, ask intercessions from Mother Mary and St. Joseph. I also pray to 6 other Saints for their intercessions according to different needs. Am I wrong in doing that? I feel that I am not having enough faith in God and not having enough trust on Mother Mary and St. Joseph’s intercessions. I know the Saints pray for us and they received permission from God to perform miracles. So I’m actually a bit confused. I’m desperate about my family’s various situations.
【 Question from 】 Australia 澳洲

Fr. Francis : 

The main issue here is trust.

There is nothing wrong with praying with many different saints besides praying directly to God. As Catholics, we believe that saints are our family. They are friends of God. They are powerful intercessors. And they love us and are cheering us to succeed more than we can imagine. And God loves to see us befriending them His family of good friends as we learn to fight the good fight on earth.

However, what I am hearing you say is that instead of going to the saints because you trust that God is working through them, part of you is doing that because you don’t trust God or one or the other saint is sufficiently able to help you. I understand that, because you are feeling desperate for your family. You have dire need.

So here is what I would like to encourage you to do.

1. Keep going to God and the saints, but with trust. Jesus in the parable of the widow and the unjust judge taught us never to give up on asking God even when nothing seems to be happening. But at the same time, we must believe, as Jesus pointed out in the same parable, that God is listening and is already unraveling His plan, even though we don’t see it and don’t feel it. We must persevere.

2. Each day, when you go into prayer, do your best to beg God all you want. When you are done, entrust everything to God. Declare that you believe God is in control and will take care of it. After all, He is more desperate in saving His children than you could never be, and He loves them way more than you do. And He is God and you are not. So as you entrust everything to God, say with Jesus: “Not my will, but Your will be done.” And then let go of your desperate needs. They are not yours anymore but God’s. You have entrusted them to God. Come back to it only the next time you come back to prayer.

3. Then, focus back on things that you can do, that you can do well and that bear fruit. Do them with great love and effectiveness. Do not waste time on things you cannot change, while leaving undone or done poorly things we can still do and do so with great benefits to others. Leave those things that are beyond our control and power to God, and keep our focus on blessing and helping those we are called to today. That’s God’s Will for us. Let God do what He is good at; and let us do what we are called to do.