How does Mary hear our prayers?

[tjmiller]

Those who have been transformed by grace partake in all of the attributes of God by participation.

 

[JSmitty2005]

“There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine virtuous persons who have no need of repentance.” (Lk 15:7)

If those in heaven know of our repentance, then why wouldn’t they know of our prayers?

 

[DeFide]

Constance:

What I don’t understand is how Mary or any other Saint could hear prayers. I know God is omnipresent and omnipotent, etc. I have no trouble believing He hears all prayers from everyone, everywhere, at all times…
Constance

Aside from what others have wrote on God allowing the saints to know our petitions for the sake of building our familial love, and also leaving aside the “mechanics” of heavenly knowledge, you may be interested in these verses:

Intercessory Prayer of Saints
Rom 15:30 - join me by your prayers to God on my behalf
Col 4:3, 1Thess 5:25 - pray for us
2Thess 1:11 - we always pray for you
2Thess 3:1 - finally, brothers, pray for us
Eph 6:18-19 - making supplication for all the saints & for me
Tob 12:12 - angel presents Tobit & Sarah’s prayer to God
Ps 148 - David calls upon angels
Zech 1:12 - angel intercedes for Jerusalem
Mk 12:25, Mt 22:30 - men in heaven are as the angels
Rev 5:8 - those in heaven offer prayers of the holy ones to God
Mk 12:26-27 - he is God of the living, not of the dead
Mk 9:4 - Jesus seen conversing with Elijah & Moses
Lk 9:31 - Elijah & Moses aware of earthly events
Rev 6:9-11 - martyrs under altar want earthly vindication
Heb 12:1 - we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses
Lk 16:19-30 - departed rich man intercedes for brothers
Rev 20:4 - saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
Wis 3:1-6 - the souls of the just are in the hand of God
2Macc 15:7-16 - the departed Onias & Jeremiah pray for the Jews
Jas 5:16 prayers of righteous man
1 Cor. 13:12 - I shall understand fully
1 John 4: 20-21 - whoever loves God must love his brother
1 Cor 12:21 - parts of Christ’s Body cannot say to other parts, “I do not need you”.

source: geocities.com/thecatholicconvert/biblecheatsheet.html

Notice that Moses & Elijah were aware of **future **earthly events in Lk 9:31. This seems to confirm that God allows them to have knowledge that surpasses the bounds of us puny mortals on earth. Eye has not seen what God has ready for those who love Him.

Any friend of God is a friend of mine.

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

Hi Constance, as a protestant, I do not believe that the saints can hear our prayers. But, it is possible that our guardian angels make side trips when visiting heaven to give reports to loved one’s in heaven. Also, it is possible that loved one’s in heaven gain information from those who have recently arrived in heaven.

 

[Zooey]

How does Mary hear??

It has been my observation, in well over a half century on this earth, that when the Lord calls a person to do something for Him, He has no trouble at all in equipping that person for that job.
Why should anyone imagine that He would do less for His own beloved mother???

God bless.

 

[encantada19]

"And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” (Rev. 19:10).
John wants to bow the knee and worship the angel. But the angel tells him not to do that because he is a fellow creature. If the angel says that he is a fellow creature like John, and that John is not to bow to him, then neither should anyone else bow to an angel, or any creature so as to offer worship. Worship includes prayer. Therefore, no one should pray to any created thing.

Biblically, prayer is always offered to God, and is a form of worship. All religions view prayer as an act of worship to their god(s) since they contain petitions, confession of sin, requests of intercession, etc., things which are received and answered by God, not by created things. Also, prayer is not the same thing as talking to someone face-to-face. Prayer is a humble petition to the Lord and not to a friend who’s in the same room with you or on the other end of the phone – or in heaven. Prayer is offered to God, never to any created thing. To do so is to offer worship that should only be directed to God, which is idolatry. Prayer should be offered only to God, and the Roman Catholic Church needs to repent of its false and idolatrous practice of praying to the saints.

CONSTANCE,
THE VERSE IN REVELATION IS BEING INTERPRETED WRONGLY. SEE THIS LINK TO VIEW FULL ANALYSIS OF THOSE VERSES. IT COULD BE THAT ITS THEIR OWN PERSONAL PRAYERS (FOR US) THAT THEY PRESENT TO THE LORD.

carm.org/praying-saints-biblical

PRAYING TO SAINTS AND MARY IS IDOLATRY.
PRAYING IS AN ACT OF WORSHIP!
TO PRAY TO CREATED THINGS EITHER PEOPLE, ANIMALS, CARVED FIGURES IS WORSHIPPING THEM. LIKE HAVING A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM.

THIS VIOLATES THE FIRST COMMANDMENT!!!

MAY THIS ENLIGHTEN US ALL.

 

[UnityofTrinity]

"And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” (Rev. 19:10).
John wants to bow the knee and worship the angel. But the angel tells him not to do that because he is a fellow creature. If the angel says that he is a fellow creature like John, and that John is not to bow to him, then neither should anyone else bow to an angel, or any creature so as to offer worship. Worship includes prayer. Therefore, no one should pray to any created thing.

Biblically, prayer is always offered to God, and is a form of worship. All religions view prayer as an act of worship to their god(s) since they contain petitions, confession of sin, requests of intercession, etc., things which are received and answered by God, not by created things. Also, prayer is not the same thing as talking to someone face-to-face. Prayer is a humble petition to the Lord d only be directed to God, which is idolatry. Prayer should be offered only to God, and the Roman Catholic Church needs to repent of its false and idolatrous practice of praying to the saints.
and not to a friend who’s in the same room with you or on the other end of the phone – or in heaven. Prayer is offered to God, never to any created thing. To do so is to offer worship that shoul
CONSTANCE,
THE VERSE IN REVELATION IS BEING INTERPRETED WRONGLY. SEE THIS LINK TO VIEW FULL ANALYSIS OF THOSE VERSES. IT COULD BE THAT ITS THEIR OWN PERSONAL PRAYERS (FOR US) THAT THEY PRESENT TO THE LORD.

carm.org/praying-saints-biblical

PRAYING TO SAINTS AND MARY IS IDOLATRY.
PRAYING IS AN ACT OF WORSHIP!
TO PRAY TO CREATED THINGS EITHER PEOPLE, ANIMALS, CARVED FIGURES IS WORSHIPPING THEM. LIKE HAVING A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM.

THIS VIOLATES THE FIRST COMMANDMENT!!!

MAY THIS ENLIGHTEN US ALL.

I always curious with the Protestant “traditions”. Since Protestants believe in Sola Scriptura and “Liberation of Christians”, that mean that each Christians should be able to read and decide for him/herself, yet why would any Protestants still say which interpretations is right or wrong? If each Christians could really rely ONLY in the Bible without the guideline of the Church, then that mean Protestants should not whatsoever say what is right or wrong, and that also mean that Protestants have no authority whatsoever to say dictate what interpretation is right or wrong. So when a Protestant say “Biblically”, what does it mean? It will weigh nothing against the Catholic Church because that “Biblically” only mean YOUR view of it and your interpretation. A Methodist talk to a Baptist, both are Protestant and they believe in different aspects of Baptism, yet they will both claim their view “Biblical”, but does it weigh anything?

Saint Paul said: “Be followers of me, as I am Christ”, yet does that mean Paul was referring himself as Christ? In the case of St.John, the angle was right, don’t worship angels, but we Catholics don’t worship saints, we don’t worship Mary, so what is your point? “We honor the saint, but we adore God”, this is what Catholics do. Though our customs and ways of veneration sometimes might seem foreign and strange to some Protestants, but by studying the Catechism carefully, you’ll eventually understand it.

Never to generalize things, that’s what I would recommend for you. Prayers are not just an act of worship, true if prayer is an act of worship, then by no mean Christians should pray to saints or Mary. Yet what does prayer mean? It depends. If I was gonna ask you for something, I would say: “I pray thee, kind sir”, does that mean I’m worshipping you? Darn, then those English are all in hell right now, burning because they were “idolterous”. Prayers to saints and prayer to God is different, they’re meant differently and for different purpose, the same with the word Pray when you ask a person and the word Pray when you talk to God.

I would not recommend Carm, that website is like so many other websites, they’re hostiled and their arguments also have no weigh, any priest could debunk it at anytimes.

The use of images in church and place of worship had been used by not only Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans, but also had been used by the early Christians in the 1st and 2nd centuries, so why should I believe in the fundamentalists instead of the reliable early Christians?

 

[VociMike]

Question for the Protestants here who don’t believe the saints hear our prayers: If God wanted the saints in heaven to hear our prayers, could he cause this to happen, or would he not be able to make this happen?

I’ll also second the reference to Rev. 5:13, where the writer (not even a saint in heaven yet) heard every creature in heaven, on earth and under the sea. Compared to that, hearing the prayers of just some of those creatures is kiddie play.

 

[jellybeans]

In the words of my teens, “This is too cool.” Thanks for such quick and understandable responses! God Bless you all!
Constance

gotquestions.org/prayer-saints-Mary.html

Look at this link! You are really just dumbing down the sovereignty of Almighty God. Is He not sufficient enough for you? Are you nervous he will one day not listen to your prayers? The Bible never implies that we should pray to the saints. Jesus Christ is our mediator, and that is sufficient enough for me. I have no doubt that the Lord will hear and acknowledge every one of my prayers.
It is so important to realize that we must base everything we believe off the perfect scriptures. If the scriptures do not say to pray to the saints and Mary, then why should we do it?

 

[UnityofTrinity]

gotquestions.org/prayer-saints-Mary.html

Look at this link! You are really just dumbing down the sovereignty of Almighty God. Is He not sufficient enough for you? Are you nervous he will one day not listen to your prayers? The Bible never implies that we should pray to the saints. Jesus Christ is our mediator, and that is sufficient enough for me. I have no doubt that the Lord will hear and acknowledge every one of my prayers.
It is so important to realize that we must base everything we believe off the perfect scriptures. If the scriptures do not say to pray to the saints and Mary, then why should we do it?

So when I ask one of my fellow church member to pray for me, I should think: “That is an action that dumbing down the sovereignty of Almighty God”? If God is sufficient enough why do Catholics aand Protestants ask people to pray for them so often in church or at home?

If the Scripture doesn’t say the Bible is our ONLY authority or the teaching of Sola Scriptura, why should we do it? Shouldn’t we base them all on the perfect of Scripture?

 

[jellybeans]

So when I ask one of my fellow church member to pray for me, I should think: “That is an action that dumbing down the sovereignty of Almighty God”? If God is sufficient enough why do Catholics aand Protestants ask people to pray for them so often in church or at home?

If the Scripture doesn’t say the Bible is our ONLY authority or the teaching of Sola Scriptura, why should we do it? Shouldn’t we base them all on the perfect of Scripture?

That is not at all what I was referring to. As Catholics, you believe, that you can pray TO the saints in heaven(correct me if I’m wrong, please). You actually pray to Mary, Peter, Paul etc. and hope that they hear your prayers.This is where I am confused. They are all sinners- how can you be sure that they even hear your prayers or can answer them?! Where does the Lord assure you that “make your requests known to the saints before you and they will answer your prayers”.

However, fellow church members praying for oneanother is a totally different story! We are not praying TO one another, hoping that you will answer my prayer for me. We are praying FOR one another. And our prayers are to our Father in heaven, and he assured us that he DOES hear our prayers. But fellow christians praying for eachother is completely biblicial, and the Lord even commands us to do that.

Pray for one another, that you may be healed. Jam 5.16b This verse says pray FOR one another, not TO one another.

Look at this verse:
But you, when you pray, enter into your room. And shutting your door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly. Mat 6:6

This verse does not say, “And shutting your door, pray to your heavenly saints in secret” - this is just one example, but I can post numerous verses on prayer, and not ONE will say pray to the saints. Why? Because the Lord knew that he was sufficient enough to answer our prayers. If the Lord wanted us to pray to the passed saints, he would have told us to do so.
God bless

 

[BlackBeard54]

That is not at all what I was referring to. As Catholics, you believe, that you can pray TO the saints in heaven(correct me if I’m wrong, please). You actually pray to Mary, Peter, Paul etc. and hope that they hear your prayers.This is where I am confused. They are all sinners- how can you be sure that they even hear your prayers or can answer them?! Where does the Lord assure you that “make your requests known to the saints before you and they will answer your prayers”.

However, fellow church members praying for oneanother is a totally different story! We are not praying TO one another, hoping that you will answer my prayer for me. We are praying FOR one another. And our prayers are to our Father in heaven, and he assured us that he DOES hear our prayers. But fellow christians praying for eachother is completely biblicial, and the Lord even commands us to do that.

Pray for one another, that you may be healed. Jam 5.16b This verse says pray FOR one another, not TO one another.

Look at this verse:
But you, when you pray, enter into your room. And shutting your door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly. Mat 6:6

This verse does not say, “And shutting your door, pray to your heavenly saints in secret” - this is just one example, but I can post numerous verses on prayer, and not ONE will say pray to the saints. Why? Because the Lord knew that he was sufficient enough to answer our prayers. If the Lord wanted us to pray to the passed saints, he would have told us to do so.
God bless

You are misinterpreting a number of things, but here are the 2 greatest that jumped out at me:

1. “You actually pray to Mary, Peter, Paul etc. … They are all sinners” No, they are not. Mary especially, born without sin, and never gave in to sin, does not fall into the same category as the rest of us. And Peter, Paul, and the other Saints are not sinners any longer. They, by the very defintion of being Saints, have passed beyond that, have been purified and sanctified, and are no longer sinners. Or do you think that sin is possible in Heaven?
2. “We are not praying TO one another, hoping that you will answer my prayer for me. We are praying FOR one another.” If you prefer to think of it as asking them to pray FOR us feel free. That IS what is really going on. Mary, and the rest of the Saints, do not answer our prayers directly. They intercede for us, they join their prayers to ours, they do NOTHING that is not willed by God.

Hail Mary… Pray for us sinners…
…obtain for us from your Most Holy Son…

So, they are not sinners (and in the case of Mary never was one), and if you object to asking them to pray for us them I suggest that you stop asking others on earth to pray for you. In that case you really ARE asking sinners to pray for you.

God Bless you.

 

[Randy_Carson]

That is not at all what I was referring to. As Catholics, you believe, that you can pray TO the saints in heaven(correct me if I’m wrong, please). You actually pray to Mary, Peter, Paul etc. and hope that they hear your prayers.This is where I am confused. They are all sinners- how can you be sure that they even hear your prayers or can answer them?! Where does the Lord assure you that “make your requests known to the saints before you and they will answer your prayers”.

First, a statement of the obvious: There aren’t any sinners in heaven.

Second, the Bible teaches that the saints can hear our prayers as I shall now demonstrate.

The Saints Can Hear Our Prayers Proved From Scripture

1. Jesus teaches from the Old Testament

“Have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!” (Mark 12:26-27)

In this teaching, Jesus tells us plainly that the Father is the God of the living.

2. Speaking with the “Dead” - Jesus teaches by parable

"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”(Luke 16:19-31)

In this parable, Jesus has two of the “dead” characters in his story talking with one another, and one of the “dead” men intercedes on behalf of his living relatives.

3. Speaking with the “Dead” - Jesus teaches by personal example

“After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.” (Matthew 17:1-3)

At the transfiguration, Jesus was talking with two “dead” people, Moses and Elijah. They’re actually alive, though.

4. Speaking to the dead – Peter teaches by example

“Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive.” (Acts 9:40-41)

5. Those in Heaven Hear Our Prayers - John teaches through prophetic revelation

“He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” (Revelation 5:7-8)

The 24 elders in heaven are men, and notice that they each have a golden bowl full of the prayers of the saints. That’s us since we’re all saints! So, how did they get hold of our prayers in order to offer them to God?

“Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.” (Revelation 8:3)

Here, an angel also offers our prayers along with incense.

 

[Prayer_Warrior]

Mary hears our prayers by the grace of God. She has no power to hear prayers on her own and she certainly has no power to answer the prayer. As a victor, she is given the right to sit with Jesus on throne of God (Rev3:21) Wow! Praise the Lord for His steadfast love and His most gracious generosity!

In essence, intercessory prayer is truly a prayer to God but we ask it to be presented through the righteous hands of a saint in heaven. James states that the prayers of the righteous one avails much (Jas 5:16). So, we ask a righteous saint to take our petition and present it to the Lord. This is not to say that we don’t have the right to enter His throne room for mercy and grace. We most certainly can and do pray directly to God–particularly prayers of praise, thanksgiving and repentance.

The thinking that there are sinners in heaven is contrary to scripture which states that nothing unclean shall enter heaven (Rev 21:27). If they are in heaven, they are washed clean in the blood of the Lamb and fully purified. It matters not what they did on earth, by the time they get to heaven they are fully dwelling in God’s grace. This is just like the angels that have dwelled in heaven with God. We know from Scripture that men will be made as angels (Mt22:30). Speaking of angels, the biblical example of intercessory prayer is found in Tobit chapter 12. This is where the angel Raphael tells Tobit “I can now tell you that when you, Tobit, and Sarah prayed, it was I who presented and read the record of your prayer before the Glory of the Lord;”. The angel heard their prayers and presented them to the Lord. Sadly, this book has been removed from the protestant Bible based on Martin Luther’s self given authority. But Catholics continue to honor this book as the divinely inspired Word of God.

I realize that protestants do not recognize Tobit as divinely inspired, but since Catholics do recognize it, you can at least see where we are coming from (though, to be clear, Catholics do not solely rely on Scripture as their authority.)

 

[Michele_Boyer]

If someone else pointed this out, I apologize for having missed it. My understanding is that we are NOT praying TO Mary or the Saints. We are asking them to PRAY for our intentions. It goes without saying that it is not different than asking friends to pray for our intentions. It goes along with the statement that wherever two or more are gathered in His name He will be among us. Catholics seem to be the only ones who appreciate that we have those living in the Church Triumphant ready and eager to pray with us.

There was a day when I was trying to explain this to someone at my home. My husband had sent our two daughters to their room to calm down because they’d been a bit too rowdy. With the girls out of earshot, I explained to my guest that Mary not only hears us, but if she agrees to pray for us she has a lot of influence on Jesus, just as She did at Cana. I went on to explain how kids will do that if Dad issues a punishment, they’ll often ask Mom to let them out of it, thinking she has influence on Dad.

Just then, one of the girls yelled, “Mom, can we come out, now?” Sometimes I wonder if that exact timing wasn’t heaven inspired to make the point personally clear.

 

[jlhargus]

I can understand how praying to Mary could be effective and that honoring her is appropriate. What I don’t understand is how Mary or any other Saint could hear prayers. I know God is omnipresent and omnipotent, etc. I have no trouble believing He hears all prayers from everyone, everywhere, at all times. But the Saints or Mary don’t have those same attributes do they?
Constance

I’m not getting into the metaphysical, so long story short and simple answer. Through the same omnipotent power by which finite men raised the dead, walked on water, healed the lame, knew the future etc., etc… God shares his attributes with his people.

We see in scripture angels and elders in heaven, as go betweens, offering up the prayers of saints on earth. Some prayers from saints on earth go between the saints and angels in heaven to God. God knows what we want even before we pray. Yet he wants his people on earth and in heaven to share in helping one another permitting the saints in heaven to present these prayers.

[Rv5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. 7 … 8 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and **the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.]

[Rv 8:3 And **another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should Offer it with the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s Hand.]