Can praying to the saints really help?

Can burying a St. Joseph statue in my yard really help me sell my house? Or does St. Anthony really help me find my lost keys?

In short, yes. But the saints are not magic. People tend to invoke them in ways that are rather superstitious. If someone thinks, for example, that they are guaranteed to sell their home because they’ve buried a statue of St. Joseph upside down, facing the house, underneath the for-sale sign, they are mistaken.

Our belief in the communion of saints and the reality of heaven implies that we can continue to ask the most faithful of Christians to pray for us, even after death, from their places in heaven. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes, the saints “do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus. … So by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped” (CCC 956). Christians pray for one another all the time, and that doesn’t end when we die.

As St. James wrote, “the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful,” and the saints are certainly righteous, having been made so by God’s grace and their cooperation with it. Thus, their prayers are powerful. As an example, James cited Elijah, saying he was “a human being like us; yet he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain upon the land. Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit” (James 5:16-18). Revelation likewise describes many holy saints and angels in the Lord’s heavenly throne room, presenting the prayers of the holy ones still on earth, like incense, up to the Lord (Revelation 5:8; 8:3-4). This shows us that, according to Scripture, we can and should seek the help of saints through prayer.

In addition to this scriptural evidence, we have the witness of saints who came later. While he was dying, St. Dominic is reported to have said to his brothers, “Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death, and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life.” Saint Thérèse of Lisieux once said, “I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth,” and many Catholics report that prayers offered to St. Thérèse have, indeed, been answered in a clear manner.

So, yes, the saints can and do help us. But why ask St. Anthony for help with lost things? As the story goes, Anthony was teaching using a Book of the Psalms which he had copied by hand. The book contained his own commentary and was very important to him and his work. One of his pupils, however, stole the book and disappeared with it. Anthony turned to God in prayer, asking that the pupil would be found and have a change of heart, which is exactly what happened. This incident led to Anthony’s reputation as someone who could find a lost item. We can ask any saint for help in finding lost things, but this has become one of St. Anthony’s specialties.

But why ask Joseph for help in selling a home? During his earthly life, Joseph had the important task of providing a home for the Holy Family. As such, he seems like the natural one to turn to when we are trying to sell our homes. Many people do report success in selling and purchasing houses after their prayers to Joseph.
Just please, don’t bury his statue in the yard! And as we do with all of our prayers, we trust that God will provide for the best outcome.