Do saints ever refuse to intercede?

[x1980x]

Please forgive my question. While I believe that I understand the basic concept of the intercession of saints, I don’t really have an in-depth knowledge, so please forgive me if my question has an obvious answer.

Do Saints (that are authorized for veneration by the CC) ever refuse to intercede for a person? Could they refuse to intercede for a non-Catholic, or could they refuse to intercede because they personally dislike the living person making the request, because the person praying is in mortal sin or has too many venial sins, because the specific sins on the soul of the person praying are especially disgusting to the saint, because they do not consider themselves (or have not been ruled by the CC to be) a patron of any class to which the person praying belongs (e.g. a person in perfect health praying to Father Damien), because of prejudice, such as because the saint was persecuted by an ethnic group to which the person praying to the saint belongs (e.g. if an ethnic Swede were to attempt to pray to an Irish saint who was murdered by Viking pirates)?

I’m guessing that sainthood kind of implies that the person has moved, or is moving, beyond hatred and prejudice, so the thought that a Saint would hate someone might be a contradiction.

 

[x1980x]

Or, could they selectively refuse based on the subject matter of the prayer? E.g. if I wanted to pray for Safe Travel, might some saints (other than St. Christopher) refuse to intercede because they feel that travel is unimportant or because “That is not my department”?

I assume that praying to a saint and asking for intercession for something that is sinful in and of itself is futile, such as praying to a saint and asking for enough emotional strength to commit willful murder and not pass out before pulling the trigger.

 

[Dorothy]

In the last sentence of your post you have the answer!

It would be uncharitable and petty for a saint to have an attitude of not interceding for someone for any particular reason. And, the fact that they are in the presence of the Lord, seeing Him face to face, no temptations, so no uncharitable thoughts come to them. They will be in His grace forever! They have only one desire in heaven, to praise and glorify the Lord forever, and they desire to help others obtain graces.

 

[Dorothy]

Or, could they selectively refuse based on the subject matter of the prayer? E.g. if I wanted to pray for Safe Travel, might some saints (other than St. Christopher) refuse to intercede because they feel that travel is unimportant or because “That is not my department”?

I assume that praying to a saint and asking for intercession for something that is sinful in and of itself is futile, such as praying to a saint and asking for enough emotional strength to commit willful murder and not pass out before pulling the trigger.

I couldn’t help but smile at your thought that a saint might refuse to intercede for someone because “that is not my department.”

Of course, if a person was praying wrongfully to be able to commit sin, no saint would respond to that. The saints only do God’s will.

 

[mdgspencer]

If someone is filled with hatred and prejudice, they could not approach God or see God in heaven. That is why there is a pugatory, when the souls of those who are saved are purified from any such thing, and so that they can approach and live with God. So none of the saints have such feelings.
I would think they would respond to the pleas of those in mortal sin, because they need help more than any other people.
I never came across the idea that a saint would not pray for a non-Catholic or some other group. This is an alien idea when it comes to Catholicism. The prayers of the saints are like their prayers when they were alive. That is one reason why I believe that if we can ask for someone’s prayers when they are alive, we can also ask them for their prayers when they have died. Someone like Padre Pio for example prayed for sinners and many non-Catholics. I don’t know why he won’t do the same now.
It seems likely that the saints would not respond to some prayers if they know what the person wants is not good for them, and in fact they can see God and could well know what He wants, I would think, in such cases.

 

[NFrancis]

I would like to add that all prayers are useful. If you pray that you could have the strength to kill someone, I believe that the saint would instead pray for your misery to go away or whatever is causing you to want to kill this person and for you to find a true sense of humility. I have personally experienced this kind of thing happen. I prayed for something that wasn’t really the right thing to pray for and it helped in a different and better way.