Talking to Mary and the communion of the Saints were big hurdles for me. I have come to believe that they hear our requests, but as a former protestant pastor, I don’t understand how they can possess attributes normally ascribed to God alone, i.e., that He can be everywhere at once, hearing all of our prayers, spoken and unspoken. Help! Please put on your apologetics/theology thinking caps.
Intercessor 55
Since the moment of the departure of her soul from earth, Mary has been in possession of the beatific vision in the kingdom of heaven. Since the intensity and extent of this act of intelligence are in proportion to the measure of sanctity with which a soul leaves this world, and the holiness of Mary was so great that, in the words of Pope Pius IX, “under God, no greater can be conceived,” Our Lady beholds the majesty and the beauty of the Triune God more clearly and more profoundly than all other creatures, both angels and men, being surpassed only by her divine Son.
In the light of the beatific vision the soul beholds also many created objects, including those happenings on earth which have a special interest for this particular soul. Thus, a saint who has established a religious order during his period on earth will behold in the vision of God the successes and failures of his institute, and will thus be enabled to direct his prayers for his spiritual children in a definite form to the Almighty. Applying this norm for Our Lady, we conclude that her knowledge in the beatific vision of earthly events surpasses by far that of any other blessed soul (save the soul of Christ) because, as Coredemptrix and Dispenser of all grace and the spiritual Mother of all mankind, she has an interest in every human being and in all the events that take place or will take place on earth. The predictions of the Blessed Virgin in the apparitions at Fatima confirm this opinion as to the extent of her knowledge of the fututre.
However, it would not necessarily follow from this fact that Mary knows the ultimate fate of every human being - who will be saved, who will be lost. On this question we can only have conjectural knowledge. Yet, the great theologian Suarez did not hesitate to express the opinion that Mary’s perception of created objects in the beatific vision embraces all things actual - past, present, future - except those that are proper to her Son. Such extensive knowledge might include the discernment of the saved and the lost, past, present, future.
To some it might seem unsuitable to inquire in so detailed a fashion about the nature and extent of Mary’s knowledge, particularly since we have so little explicit information on this point in the Bible. But it must not be forgotten that in the tradition of the Church there are definite indications that the woman whom God chose to be the Mother of His Son was the recipient of many extraordinary privileges, and these would naturally include great perfection of the intellect, the noblest human faculty. And so, it is not unprofitable to seek some definite ideas on Mary’s knowledge, since a study of this kind helps us to understand the sublime dignity of the Mother of God, and inspires us to be more ready to seek through her intercession the wisdom and the understanding that we need in the journey of life.
