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Charlie Traffas
Charlie Traffas has been involved in marketing, media, publishing and insurance for more than 40 years. In addition to being a fully-licensed life, health, property and casualty agent, he is also President and Owner of Chart Marketing, Inc. (CMI). CMI operates and markets several different products and services that help B2B and B2C businesses throughout the country create customers...profitably. You may contact Charlie by phone at (316) 721-9200, by e-mail at ctraffas@chartmarketing.com, or you may visit at www.chartmarketing.com.
Religion
2011-02-01 14:24:00
To whom should we pray?
Answer: The primary and fundamental doctrine of the Christian religion is belief in only ONE God, and that somehow in that One God there are three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We call this doctrine: the Blessed Trinity. At a time determined by God, the second person in the Trinity (God the Son) assumed a human nature in addition to his divine nature. He appeared on earth as Jesus, also known as the Christ (the anointed One of God and the Messiah). He was sent on earth by God the Father to teach human beings the Will of God, and also to repair the outrages of sin against God, committed by the entire human race. Jesus completed this latter satisfaction by his sufferings and death, as might be seen in Mel Gibson’s dramatic film The Passion. After rising from the dead, Jesus ascended into heaven and sent to His disciples: the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity: to guide God’s people until the end of time. The Holy Trinity is a mystery, something that cannot be grasped or explained by human reason, a fact known only through faith in Jesus, Who revealed it. The one God is eternal and knows all things: past, present and future. Nevertheless He has taught His human creatures to pray. We may pray to each person of the Trinity. In the Church, most prayers are directed to God the Father, according as Jesus taught by His example and prayer: “Our Father, Who art in heaven . . .” Also we pray in the Name of Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit. God wants us to pray, even though He is aware -- better than we are -- of our needs and concerns: in order that we maintain with Him the communication of love and service, for which He created us. It is legitimate to address prayers also to the saints, i.e. to the human friends of God, who have achieved their salvation and are already enjoying eternal happiness in heaven, the reward for their lives on earth, which were pleasing to God. In praying to the saints, we give honor to God, whose holiness is reflected in their lives. A familiar example might help explain this idea of praying to the saints. As children, we were subject to our parents or guardians and teachers. We knew which parent or guardian was most likely to be disposed to favor our requests. So, when we really wanted something, we would ask that parent or guardian or their friend to put in a good word for us with the person who could give us what we wanted, i.e. to intercede for us. In a family of three boys and three girls, I was a normal boy, and at times would do something to annoy my sisters. Our dad tended to favor his girls. When I was in trouble for having pulled my sister’s hair (her pigtails), I knew my dad would spank me. So I went to mother, asking her to please intercede for me with dad: to spare me from being punished. Likewise, when I wanted a new bicycle, I asked Mother to ask Dad for such a present. In similar fashion, God has disposed to bestow certain of his gifts and favors through the intercession of various saints. The saints in heaven see God and can put-in a good word for us with the Almighty. We believe that this intercession of God’s friends lends support to our prayers directed to God. God loves each of us, and He is pleased that we invoke the saints, and be friends with them and imitate their virtues, which really are expressions of God’s own life.
 
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