Although the bodies of the saints are “dead” until the resurrection, they are quite alive in Heaven. At least that is the Catholic belief. Indeed, Mary has been assumed body and soul into Heaven - that is Catholic belief.
Some folks complain that the saints can’t hear our prayers. Of course, that is nowhere stated in the scriptures. The reference in Revelation suggests otherwise, though it is not a lock.
Some will say, only God could hear everyone. That’s not in the Bible. Frankly, that we hear at all is in one way simply a gift from God. Why can’t He grant the saints a greater and more glorious hearing?
Also, it’s the clear practice of the Church from the earliest days and carried through to this day in the oldest forms of Christianity: Catholicism and Orthodoxy including the Non-Chacedonian eastern churches.
Finally, some will claim it’s counter-intuitive or impossible and the dead are dead. Maybe, but that is not the faith of the Church. Further, so much of the faith would fall into that trough that you might as well reject the Faith wholesale if that is the concern. I mean: Virgin Birth? God made man? Rising from the dead? Miracles?
The Faith tells us there is something greater and more wonderful than this world and its limitations. It tells us we are loved; we are individuals; we shall live forever in peace and beauty. Maybe it’s all fantasy and wishful thinking. But, even if it is, I’d prefer it to the absurd banality of a bunch if chemical reactions that mean nothing in any real or lasting sense.
