You might have heard some people say that Catholics worship the Blessed Virgin Mary. I know many people don't believe the claim, because worship belongs to God alone. They also ask, how can Mary and the saints process millions of requests, in different languages, in real time and present them to God? Are Catholics not attributing God’s power to the Saints?
What Catholics do is honour Mary as the mother of the Redeemer, and pray to her to intercede for them before her son, Jesus the Christ. The same applies to the Saints, people who have fought the good fight and are now with God in paradise.
That raises the questions;
■ Can people who have died hear us?
■ Can they see us, do they know what is happening on earth?
■ Can they actually plead our course before God?
To answer these questions correctly, we must first of all know what happens to a person who has died, and is in God’s presence in heaven.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. (Romans 14:8 RSV) This core verse reflects the Christian belief in divine ownership and eternal connection in both life and death.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. 1Corinthians 13:12 RSV
But, as it is written, What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him,”1Corinthians 2:9 RSV
And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise-whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows- and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 2 Corinthians 12:3-4 RSV
The Apostle Paul was "caught up into Paradise" and "heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter" (2 Corinthians 12:3-4). Saints in heaven "shall understand fully" (1 Corinthians 13:12), and possess "knowledge" that Paul describes as "perfect" (1 Corinthians 13:9-10), and "an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Corinthians 17), "the glory that is to be revealed" (Romans 8:18).
God said, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9).
We will be "equal to" angels after death (Luke 20:36), and "like angels" (Matthew 22:30; Mark 12:25). More than that, the saved will be "like" Jesus (1 John 3:2), "filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19) and "the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13), "one spirit with him" (1 Corinthians 6:17), "changed into his likeness" (2 Corinthians 3:18), indeed, will fully be "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4).
as it is my eager expectation and hope that I shall not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:20-21 RSV
James 5:16 asserts: "The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects." God told Job's "friends" that "my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer" (Job 42:8). God told Abimelech that Abraham would pray for him, so he could live, "for" Abraham was "a prophet" (Gen 20:6-7). And Abraham in effect "bargained" with God and asked Him to spare Sodom if ten righteous people were found in it (Genesis 18:22-32). God would have complied, but there were not ten righteous.
Luke 16:19-31 - Abraham hears prayers. The rich man and Lazarus
The Saints and Angels in heaven present our prayers to God, so they must be able to hear them.
And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints; Rev. 5:8 RSV
And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God. Rev. 8:3-4 RSV
And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all therein, saying, “To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever! Rev. 5:13 RSV
So, can Mary and the other saints see us, and do they know what is happening on earth, and are able to deal with millions of prayers outside of time? From the foregoing, it is clear that a person in heaven has been raised by God with such extraordinary qualities. Jesus said, "with God all things are possible" (Mt 19:26).