Is this a new post-Reformation interpreation of

[rien]

A friend challenged this interpreation from her brother of Rev 5:8:

“I believe those in Heaven are more alive than we are. As Scripture indicates, those in heaven are aware of the prayers of those on earth. This can be seen, for example, in Revelation 5:8, where John depicts the saints in heaven offering our prayers to God under the form of “golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” If the saints in heaven are offering our prayers to God, then they must be aware of our prayers. They are aware of our petitions and present them to God by interceding for us.”

She said she really doesn’t understand the verse but her pastor disagrees with her brother’s comments above (the only sibling of 5 in the family still Catholic).

Did the Catholic church add this interpreation after the Reformation to justify praying to Saints?

I really don’t understand

 

[epostle]

No. A Prayer to St. Joseph dates back to 65 A.D.
Prayers to saints can still be seen on the walls of the Roman Catacombs dating from the 1st to the 3rd century.
Prayers to saints has always been a normal part of Christianity.

Here is a suggestion: Find any prayer to any saint and ask how God is not glorified. Protestants will rant about intercession all day but have never taken an honest look at a prayer!

*As a matter of fact, this practice came from a long-standing tradition in the Jewish faith of honoring prophets and holy people with shrines. The first saints were martyrs, people who had given up their lives for the Faith in the persecution of Christians.
We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses (Heb 12:1),erfected in spirit (Heb 12:23, Rev 21:27). This assembly (Heb 12:23), united to the family of God (1 Tim 3:15, Eph 2:20, 3:15) on earth as one body (Rom 12:5, 1 Cor 12:12f.), in their heavenly worship participate in the prayers of the saints (Rev 5:8, 8:3) and continue to beseech God (Rev 6:10). Since they have been faithful, in the joy of their master they receive an exalted service to the Body (Mt 25:21).

The inner logic of the doctrine focuses on the concept that we are fully incorporated into the Sonship of Christ through grace, participating in the life and love of the Trinity on earth when we embody supernatural charity (1 Cor 13:13, Gal 2:20, 2 Pt 1:4). God desires to share his life with his adopted children through grace, being glorified in them ( Jn 17:10, 2 Thes 1:10).
cin.org/users/james/files/praying.htm*

It’s really sad that reformism separates God’s family into heaven and earth departments, and making the saints in heaven deaf, dumb, and blind to the affairs of the earth!