Can Saints (especially Mary) hear prayers?

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Have you ever contemplated a loved one who was some distance away from you? Did you get the sense you were indeed together? Did you ever think the object of your affections felt your contemplation and transmission of love? Have you felt it your self either from a loved one or from an unknown source while in prayer? If you, a mere human, can hear prayers in a special way would it not be possible for the saints to hear?
 
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adstrinity:
Now, admittingly, praying the Rosary has always worked for me, but, I mean, there IS part of me that is skeptical. While the faith was being attacked on another site, an ex-Catholic said that Mary & saints cannot hear prayers & another said that “You don’t need her.” I was shocked, angered, & saddened by this. For my own knowledge (I just want to have proof for myself), can saints and Mary hear prayers? Biblical sources would be helpful, early Church writtings would be good, too. …Anybody have any personal experiences here?

ALSO, can the devil hear the prayers of the faithful?
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Let’s take a simple step back… Can the dead hear the living? George Washington died over 200 years ago, and he is still dead… “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5.

Mary cannot hear prayers either. This is what the Lord says about serving the Queen of Heaven, Jeremiah 7:17-18
“Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the QUEEN OF HEAVEN, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.”
 
18 “Queen of heaven”… That is, the moon, which they worshipped under that name.
 
big_guy144 said:
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5.
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It doesn’t say anything about mediators between men and Jesus. If you ask someone to pray for you, they are a mediator between you and Jesus. You could even say they are a mediator of the graces you will receive as a result of that prayer.
 
Adstrinity: TNT hit my two points. Angels and Catacombs. I am left in wonder and joy, when I think that the apostles themselves taught their followers to pray and ask for intercession from the dead. These people lived with, learned from and spoke to the great apostles, who received their education and commission directly from Christ. This legacy is ALL OVER the catacombs. Peter pray for us, Mary pray for us, Paul pray for us! Protestant’s, 2000 years later, NEVER learned from or spoke to the great apostles directly. Yet, now they want to attack those who did.

I would love to see a debate, where some Baptist Minister goes back in time and tells the Roman Church in the Catacombs, that prayers to and for the dead aren’t biblical!!! Think about it? There was no bible at that time, only the infallible teachings of the Church from Peter and Paul, who clearly believed in the practice. The Baptist minister would look utterly ridiculous.
 
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Curious:
I’ve wondered that too. I’ve recently begun asking for the prayers of both St. Peter and St. Paul…and I’ve begun muttering the Hail Mary sometimes. I just…do.

Sometimes it feels weird. It’s certainly not a Protestant thing to do…I saints in heaven haven’t gone deaf. I know Jesus can hear us because He is God. But somehow I image some great spiritual divide between us on earth and them in heaven. I’m not certain if this “divide” i envision is biblical at all, or if it’s just a result of teaching I’ve gotten or something.

But yeah…it’s been a question of mine too.
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Interesting! My baptist friend has recently begun to say the “Hail Mary” prayer. His whole church thinks he flipped!
 
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bstricklin:
I am a new Catholic but the use of 1 Kings 2:19-20 bothers me a little bit. If you keep reading, you will see that Solomon did refuse Bathseba’s request:
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ah ha, And Christ is the 2nd Adam who was the first sinner. And Jesus is “SON OF DAVID” who was a blatant murderer and adulterer.
At Cana who overrode Jesus’ assertion that “MY TIME HAS NOT YET COME”?
The 1 Kings you bring up does prove that the KING’S MOTHER IS THE QUEEN, not his many wives. It also shows that the queen’s requests are especially considered as always being at the full attention of the SON KING. The fact that she was requesting something less than honorable is of no consequence. (Jesus son of David, a Murderer)?
But, let’s say she asked for something most honorable. Every indication in that passage would say that he would have accomplished it without hesitation.
I could show many other places where the TYPE figure in the OT was something quite less than the ANTITYPE fulfillment in the NT.
,
 
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big_guy144:
Let’s take a simple step back… Can the dead hear the living? George Washington died over 200 years ago, and he is still dead… “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5.

It seems that wwe are moving in circles here. Do you ask family members to pray for you? If so you are using mediators. This point has been made before, I think in this very thread.

Mary cannot hear prayers either. This is what the Lord says about serving the Queen of Heaven,Jeremiah 7:17-18
“Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the QUEEN OF HEAVEN, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.”
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This is offensive because it appears that you are knowingly taking a verse out of context and applying it to a situation that has nothing to do with the verse.
 
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bstricklin:
I am a new Catholic but the use of 1 Kings 2:19-20 bothers me a little bit. If you keep reading, you will see that Solomon did refuse Bathseba’s request:

So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunamite be given to your brother Adonijah for his wife.” 22 “And why do you ask Abishag the Shunamite for Adonijah?” King Solomon answered his mother. “Ask the kingdom for him as well, for he is my elder brother and has with him Abiathar the priest and Joab, son of Zeruiah.” 23 And King Solomon swore by the LORD: “May God do thus and so to me, and more besides, if Adonijah has not proposed this at the cost of his life. 24 And now, as the LORD lives, who has seated me firmly on the throne of my father David and made of me a dynasty as he promised, this day shall Adonijah be put to death.” 25 Then King Solomon sent Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, who struck him dead.

Can you help me understand?
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Scott Hahn goes into a great deal of analysis on this topic. The context of this passage is dynastic succession. Solomon can discern the trick here, while his Mother is clueless. If this is all the Bapitst has…he ain’t got anyting.
 
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big_guy144:
Mary cannot hear prayers either.
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Your erroneous statements illustrates gaps in your
reasoning and flaws in your logic.
  1. Jesus (who is God) went through the Blessed* Virgin Mary
    to reach us. True or False?
  2. Jeses loved and honored his Mother perfectly because to
    do otherwise would be a violation of the 4th Commandment.
    True or False?
  3. Whatever God did is correct. True or False?
  4. Whatever God did is also a correct example to follow.
    True or False?
If 1 through 4 are True, I believe that I should not only love
the Blessed Mother as Jesus did, but also go through her
as Jeses did.

Jeff

==========
  • As you know from cf. Luke 1:48, Mary is correctly
    referred to as *Blessed. *Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli
    correctly recognized this.
 
big_guy144 said:
Let’s take a simple step back… Can the dead hear the living? George Washington died over 200 years ago, and he is still dead… “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5.

Mary cannot hear prayers either. This is what the Lord says about serving the Queen of Heaven,Jeremiah 7:17-18
“Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the QUEEN OF HEAVEN, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.”
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“**Let’s take a simple step back”
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5."
****You need to take your own advice!
Step here:
**Acts Of Apostles 8 :24 Then Simon answering, said: Pray you for me to the Lord, that none of these things which you have spoken may come upon me.
Step here:
Romans 15 :30 I beseech you therefore, brethren, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the charity of the Holy Ghost, that you help me in your prayers for me to God,
WOOOPS! They went and skipped “the man Jesus Christ” !
Step here:
Matthew 6:6 But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee.
WOOOPS! Now Jesus went and skipped “the man Jesus Christ” !

Now, I ask you to no longer make a bigot fool of yourself. There are countless “mediators” among us, and you should know that. If not, well now you do! So, you are no longer excused, and I no longer have to be diplomatic with your culpable IGNORANCE.
 
“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor Davie; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel. ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ and angel answered’ and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will e called Son of God. Know this too; your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary’ let what you have said be done to me.’”
A couple of things here: GASP! :bigyikes:Mary, talking with an angel? Was she worshiping the angel because she was “talking” with Gabriel? GASP! :bigyikes:Should Mary have ignored the angel and talk directly to God. All of heaven is constantly praising God. GASP! :bigyikes:Was Gabriel not praising God at the moment he was talking with Mary?

We have to remember that Heaven is out of the realm of time and space. The law of physics does not apply. Time means something here on earth only. In the spirit world there is no such thing as time. Angel meaning, “messenger” can be in heaven and on earth at the same time.
Code: 
Those in heaven are not dead.  They are more alive than we are.
In Romans 12 speaks that we are all one body. We are the Body of Christ; the saints in heaven surely are part of the Body. So if we cannot ask the saints in heaven because they cannot hear us, are we not in effect saying that part of Christ’s body is paralyzed? I know many Protestants that pray the creed and recite the part that mentions the “communion of saints”. So how do they that interpret that part?

Do we have to ask the saints in heaven for intercession? I would say no, we do not. However, since we are all part of the family of God, I’m sure it pleases Him for us to help each other and surely you have to admit that those in heaven are glorified simply by the fact that they are with God. We know that only God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, and whatever glory the saints have is due to God. Being out of the realm of time would present no problem for Mary to hear a gazillion prayers coming from us. Remember, even when WE pray to God to grant us something, we do not order Him. The saints may pray to God for some of our requests, but it’s up to God to grant them, say no, or tell us to wait.
This site scripturecatholic.com/saints.html#tradition-I explains what the early church taught regarding prayers to the saints. This was a teaching held for 1500 years until some dudes decided to be their own popes and interpret scripture according to their own whimsies.
 
Mary could simply pray: “Father, please grant the petitions of all those offering prayer to you through me.” Note that this does not require omniscience, or even actual hearing of any prayer to work.

Now I happen to believe intercession works in a more fascinating way that we can’t comprehend, but there ya go for nice, pedestrian answer. 😉

Scott
 
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Curious:
I’ve wondered that too. I’ve recently begun asking for the prayers of both St. Peter and St. Paul…and I’ve begun muttering the Hail Mary sometimes. I just…do.

Sometimes it feels weird. It’s certainly not a Protestant thing to do.
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THAT is very cool. The Holy Spirit is working even if you are in the closet or not! 😃
 
Intercession while living on earth depends on being in Christ, in a state of grace which sanctifies the soul, thus allowing the person to ask God something for someone else. But in Heaven, the person has the Beatific Vision of God and is united to Him “face to face” and “knows as he is known” and in a greater position to ask for someone else (since he does not need anything for himself). Therefore, to ask in Christ one of the Blessed to intercede for us is simply communicated to that someone by Christ since there is no other way that person could know what is going on down here except by being shown by Christ.

So in the Beatific Vision Christ, within Whom the Blessed are more - not less - in union, shows the Blessed the petitions of the brethren on earth, as in God all things are seen since God is All in all. This is not difficult for God to do. Thus we can know with absolute certainty that the Saints know the petitions addressed to them in Christ, *a fortiori * the Blessed Mother, who is the Mother of the whole Christ, the Head, and spiritually of the Body of the Faithful. We know this from the activity of the Church asking the Holy Mother constantly to intercede.

I think one of the difficulties we have in attempting to share our appreciation of the Blessed Mother as our Mother (and of other doctrines of the Faith - in particular the Real Presence of Our Eucharistic Lord), is that we of necessity have to speak (and write) of things according to our linear-time understanding while trying to bring something of our spiritual understanding of the eternity of God’s Presence (living in the Eternal NOW). So all the talk of Mary approaching God in supplication at once puts some time-frame separation between God and Mary (and all who live now fully in His Presence). When, to the contrary, such is her union of intimacy with the Divine Trinity that there is no “space” between her imprecation for us and God’s “awareness” of this.

Further, just as the woman still in “our” world who has been drawn by the Spirit to contemplation does not enter into God’s presence alone, so neither does Mary “enter” God’s Presence alone. She draws with her all who have entwined themselves in her heart. She “comes before” the Holy Trinity emptied of self, but yet her truest self and receptive to God’s own desire for her and for the souls of her care. She is singled-hearted in her love of God, but knows that the heights of prayer exude a fragrance that surrounds all who have touched her life (and in Mary’s “case” that means all of us).
 
Thank you TNT couldn’t have said it better myself!! The OT must be read in terms of types Once a non-catholic understands the meaning and importance of OT types, they will discover(yes discover!!) that all catholic beliefs about Mary are found in the bible.

I shall be a defender of Mary
 
Sir Knight:
There are only 86,400 seconds in a day.
How can Mary hear all of these prayers if she wasn’t Omniscious – which the church tells us she ins’t nor are any of the other saints.
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How can you be so ignorant which you will say you are not.
  1. Mary has a secretary and keeps the prayers in order, first come first served, on sticky notes.
  2. Mary is a speed reader in 500 languages. She learned them in only 180 years.
  3. Jesus gave her a Rolex Watch to keep time and appointments.
    alas,
    Unfortunately time DOESN’T EXIST IN ETERNITY, THAT’S WHY IT’S CALLED ETERNITY!
    I GUESS YOU THINK THERE WAS A “LAST NITE” IN ETERNITY? YEP, YOU DO. AND TOMOROW AFTERNOON ALSO. YEP, YOU DO.
    Maybe you could invent a new Prot word to describe your idea of time-clocks in eternity…how about ETERNITIME.
 
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TNT:
How can you be so ignorant which you will say you are not.
  1. Mary has a secretary and keeps the prayers in order, first come first served, on sticky notes.
  2. Mary is a speed reader in 500 languages. She learned them in only 180 years.
  3. Jesus gave her a Rolex Watch to keep time and appointments.
    alas,
    Unfortunately time DOESN’T EXIST IN ETERNITY, THAT’S WHY IT’S CALLED ETERNITY!
    I GUESS YOU THINK THERE WAS A “LAST NITE” IN ETERNITY? YEP, YOU DO. AND TOMOROW AFTERNOON ALSO. YEP, YOU DO.
    Maybe you could invent a new Prot word to describe your idea of time-clocks in eternity…how about ETERNITIME.
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😃 ROTFL!!! :rotfl: Excellent!!

Thank you all for ALL your help. I appreciate it on a level you do not know!! Thank you thank you thank you.

And, to the person who used George Washington as an example…even I could see the obvious flaw in that (at least, for my reasoning: He is not Catholic & declared a Saint in the Catholic Church, so, he’s of no concern to me. I’ve never prayed to him.)

God bless you & Mary keep you!!!
 
Adstrinity,
As to the second part of your question,

Demons can likely hear some prayers but not others.
For some reason, the Devil is unable to see the future.
(Is he presently not eternal, or is he just down here with us?)

For the concept, look at the book of Job. The Devil is constantly accusing him of things, but is never quite able to get it right – God already knows the outcome.

The ability to predict the future belongs to God.
The dividing line appears to be that the Devil cannot read minds. (If you pray silently, you are not overheard by the Devil at least.)

As to the rest of the demons, I don’t know! but I assume the same.
 
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