Saintly intercession and prayers from y'all

Are you praying to saints?
Have you heard about Our Lady of La Leche? I had never heard of this title for the Blessed Mother until my husband and I recently found out that we are expecting!
As young Catholics, this is a crazy, exciting and miraculous thing—but I don’t think it is possible to welcome the creation of life without worries. Upon learning that I was expecting I began googling different saints so I could begin praying to them. 
For me, it was shocking to come from an Episcopalian background where the closest thing we had to saintly intercession was the name of our parishes: St. Christopher Parish, St. Francis of Assisi Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish. In the liturgy, there is no mention of saintly intercession, no St. Michael prayer at the end of the service and no real emphasis on the Blessed Mother. 
When I came into the Church, praying to saints was one of my biggest questions. I wanted to know why we didn’t pray to Christ alone—I wanted to know what the point was! I think this is a great question to ask for those of us newly coming into the Church or those of us who are Catholic but possibly need a refresher. 
I asked my priest at the time and was directed to the biblical passage of the Wedding Feast at Cana. Christ did not want to act at first, telling His mother, “My hour has not yet come” (Jn 2:4), but at the same time, Christ is both fully man and fully divine. When His Blessed Mother had come to Him, interceding on behalf of the bride and groom and told Him that the wine had run out, He acted by way of His human nature—following the commandment to honor thy mother and father, in which case, Jesus turned the water into wine. 
It is important to realize that saintly intercession is not required by the Church to classify us as “practicing” or “non-practicing” Catholics, but do we not ask our friends to pray for us? I think it is common for us, especially as southerners, to half-jokingly say, “y’all pray for me,” but we mean it seriously! “Y’all pray for me” can easily turn into a quiet moment of reflection where we ask ourselves, do we really need the prayers of others to help us? 
If the answer is yes, this is where the Church encourages saintly intercession! Of course, keep asking your friends, family and loved ones for their prayers, but as Catholics we have an amazing opportunity. The Church teaches that all those who are in heaven are saints, with some having led particularly virtuous and holy lives. These saints have specific patronages and the Church advocates for us to ask these holy people for their intercession!
We may ask ourselves, what is the point, can I not go straight to Jesus? Of course we can, but again, if you ask your friends and family to pray for you, why would you not ask the holy people who reside in heaven with our Lord to pray for us? 
Since finding out that we were expecting, I wanted to research and look at different saints whose patronage had to do with motherhood—the health of unborn babies, safe births—really anything that you can think of when it comes to welcoming a new life into the world. 
In my search, I found Nuestra Señora de La Leche y Buen Parto—Our Lady of the Milk and Happy Delivery, or more simply, Our Lady of La Leche, who comes to us from the 1620s when Spanish settlers built a small chapel in St. Augustine, Fla. They dedicated it to Our Lady under that specific title, placing a statue of Mary nursing the Infant Christ. It was in this compassionate image of an intimate moment between the Blessed Mother and her Son, that many women and families have found solace, asking for her most powerful intercession. I too, in this joyous time, have found peace and comfort in asking for her intercession. Maybe you are in this same season of life, maybe you know someone who is or who is struggling to be. Offer up your prayers for that person to Our Lady of La Leche and don’t forget the power of a saint’s intercession.
At times, especially when we are dealing with something difficult, finding someone holy who has gone through similar trials can help us feel connected in prayer and understood. These holy people lived their lives devoted to Christ, often offering up their suffering to be united to His sufferings on the cross. Let us ask the saints to help us better unite our own trials to those of Jesus and come closer to His Most Sacred Heart.
As Catholics, we have no need to do anything alone! Thousands of saints desire to help our prayers reach the Lord, with so many having patronages that may exactly fit your own prayer intentions! Asking them for their help will never hurt and oftentimes, it can help us here on earth to know that someone in heaven is praying for us. So why not? We all seek to be holier than we were the day before, let these holy people help us accomplish this.
Our Lady of La Leche, pray for us! May we find comfort in your consolation and a deeper devotion to your Son.
Ad Jesum per Mariam—to Jesus through Mary.
— Claudia Delmas of "The Catholic Week" entered the Church in 2022 and is a 2023 graduate of Auburn University. Email her at [email protected].