Prayers Initiated By the Deceased

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We hear all the time about praying to saints for their intercession. We also hear that all souls in heaven are saints, even if not canonized here on earth.

A thought crossed my mind the other day and I don’t know the answer. Does the Catholic Church teach anything about souls in heaven initiating prayers for loved ones still on earth? So for example, if my mother died and her soul was in heaven, does the Church teach it is possible that she is praying for me while she is heaven? Even if I don’t pray to her for her intercession to God?

I feel like I should know the answer to this but I don’t. I would love to hear CAFers thoughts on this. Thanks!
 
Great question…I may be wrong, but I think the prayers raised by the saints are the prayers taken to them by those asking for intercession, and then those prayers are lifted to God.
 
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I see this in the Catechism
1029 In the glory of heaven the blessed continue joyfully to fulfill God’s will in relation to other men and to all creation. Already they reign with Christ; with him "they shall reign for ever and ever."605

Following purification in purgatory they will be in heaven and so I may be wrong but the above seems to be saying that your hope may be sound.

Of course this applies to Catholics. There’s always hope Q. 🙂
 
Lee1 said:
Of course this applies to Catholics. There’s always hope Q.
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Thank you. That is very helpful.

For those who are wondering, we have a situation in our family where a few of the Catholics would be quite comforted by this possibility. I don’t want to put it out there to them if it goes against Church teaching, though.
 
I think the answer is that we don’t know.

What has been revealed to us is that they:
  1. Praise God
  2. Bring prayers to God
  3. Carry out tasks according to God’s will
 
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mrsdizzyd said:
I think the answer is that we don’t know.

What has been revealed to us is that they:
  1. Praise God
  2. Bring prayers to God
  3. Carry out tasks according to God’s will
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How about when people refer to their deceased loved one and say “So and so is watching over us”. I have heard Catholics say that before. Is that due to Church teaching, or is that just something they say because they believe it?
 
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Seems hopeful I think.
Personally I pray for my deceased relatives but since they weren’t Catholics I don’t know where they are. They were good people and I believe in a loving God.
 
Of course she prays for you, she is your mom. Why would you think she would not?

I am POSITIVE it was my mom that gave me the boot back to the Church after she passed, from Heaven. She really wanted me to go back to actively practicing. I was not even thinking about such a thing other than sporadically hitting up a Sunday Mass when it wasn’t too much of a hassle.

I honestly cannot imagine my mom ever leaving me in the lurch if I were in need of a prayer or anything else. And she would not wait for me to get around to asking. Knowing my mom, she would go straight to Jesus and demand that I be helped, or maybe to Mary or St. Therese or St. Joseph, all of whom she liked.
 
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My journey into Catholicism began in earnest after the death of MIL. It was at her funeral that I began to figure out that there was something to Catholicism. Her name was Lourdes and her birthday was on Our Lady’s feast day. It took me a while to figure it out, but I credit their prayers for bringing me home to the Catholic Church.
 
Yes.

Such a thing is reported in Scripture itself.

2 Maccabees 15:11-15

"When he had armed each of them, not so much with the security of shield and spear as with the encouragement of noble words, he cheered them all by relating a dream, a kind of waking vision, worthy of belief.

What he saw was this: Onias, the former high priest, a noble and good man, modest in bearing, gentle in manner, distinguished in speech, and trained from childhood in all that belongs to excellence, was praying with outstretched arms for the whole Jewish community.

Then in the same way another man appeared, distinguished by his white hair and dignity, and with an air of wondrous and majestic authority.
Onias then said of him, “This is a man who loves his fellow Jews and fervently prays for the people and the holy city—the prophet of God, Jeremiah.”

As can clearly be seen by these passages, Onias and Jeremiah are both fervently praying for the whole city of Jerusalem. And there is no mention of anybody asking them to intercede - they are simply praying for them because they love the People of God.
 
I see this in the Catechism
1029 In the glory of heaven the blessed continue joyfully to fulfill God’s will in relation to other men and to all creation. Already they reign with Christ; with him "they shall reign for ever and ever."605

My emphasis.
 
KevinK said:
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mrsdizzyd:
Carry out tasks according to God’s will
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I cannot think of a “task” they could do that makes any sense.
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I don’t think it’s necessary to come up with specific examples. Bottom line is that if God asks them to do certain things they will do it without question because they have already been perfected and have eternally said yes to God.

If you must have an example, look to the saints who are often credited with working miracles and otherwise appearing to people here on Earth. They would not do these things if God had not willed it.
 
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I think sometimes people don’t read other peoples posts as they might.
 
Speaking of… are you saying I misunderstand him or has he misunderstood me?
 
He has misunderstood you.
In addition I posted at the top here about what it says in the Catechism, I can understand not wanting to trawl back over a very long thread but this one isn’t that long yet.
Each to their own.
 
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