My latest article on prayer, Prayer to Mary and the Saints, is available at SimplyCatholic.com.

A few highlights:

The saints and Mary cannot answer our prayers; only God can do that. But they can, and we believe they do, hear our prayers and pray for us, acting as intercessors on our behalf with God.

Our holy helpers, the saints, are the “cloud of witnesses” mentioned in the Letter to the Hebrews who surround us, helping us “persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith” (12:1-2).

By uniting our prayers with those of Mary and the saints and learning more about their lives and their example, we can draw closer to God.

Read it all at SimplyCatholic.com.

This is the sixth in a series of eight articles on prayer. A new one will be published each Tuesday at SimplyCatholic.com.