Why do Catholics have a devotion to saints?

Imagine you know one of the advisors for the President.  (ok, imagine the president is pro-life).  This advisor has studied the president, tried to live a life similar to the president, loves the president and truly wants to please the president. The advisor has even thrown himself in front of a bullet to protect the president. The advisor loves the president so much that he has committed his life to being an example of how the president lives his life.

Imagine that advisor is someone you could totally relate and look up to.  He is just an ordinary man like you or I but for some reason has gone beyond the call of duty to make great choices in life.

That is how Catholics look at saints.  They are people, like us, that have lived a life pleasing to God.  They have done amazing and brave things to truly live Catholic lives.  They have exceeded our worldly expectations and serve as an example to us of how to act so that we too can be pleasing to God.  They have kept themselves pure and devoted to the Lord. 

Catholics do not worship saints or hold them higher than God.  Catholics don't worship or pray to the statues.  We do pray that the saint who we know is in Heaven will pray on our behalf.  It's like knowing that God is super happy with that saint and will listen closely when the saint brings our intentions to Him.

Saints are only windows to God.  We look through them to see the beauty of the Father.  We know that by following their example we have seen a way to seek sanctity.  Saints pattern their lives off of Jesus Christ never to exceed the Son of God but ONLY to glorify Him. 

Some of my favorite saints:

St. Terese the Little Flower
St. Gerard
St. Clare
St. Francis
St. Philomena