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 friends of  Job  to  ask  Him  for  His  intercession that their  sin  might  not  be  imputed  to  them  (Job xlii.  8). How, then,  can  it  be  wrong  or  superfluous  to  invoke  the  intercession  of  the  saints  in heaven? The saints  are  willing  to  invoke  God's bounty  in  our  favor,  for  they  love  us. They are able to  obtain  it  for  us,  because  God  always  accepts their  prayer  with  complacency. That they really hear  our  prayer  and  intercede  with  God for us  is  clearly  shown  by  many  examples  in  Holy Scripture. And if,  according  to  the  testimony  of St. James (v.  16),  the  prayer  of  the  just  man  here on earth  availeth  much  with  God,  how  much  more powerful, then,  must  be  the  prayer  of  the  saints, who are  united  with  God  in  heaven  in  perfect  love and are,  so  to  say,  partakers  of  His  infinite  goodness and  omnipotence?

A most  striking  proof  of  the  efficacy  of  the prayers of  the  saints  is  the  numerous  miracles wrought and  the  many  favors  obtained  at  all times through  their  intercession. Among these miracles are  a  great  number  whose  authenticity was declared  by  the  Church  after  the  most  scrupulous and  strict  investigation,  as  the  acts  of canonization  prove.

That the  invocation  of  the  saints  was  a  practice of the  early  Church  is  proved  by  the  numerous inscriptions on  the  tombs  of  the  Roman  catacombs preserved  to  this  day. We read  there,  for