313. Are we being watched as we pray?
313. ARE WE BEING WATCHED AS WE PRAY?
Scripture says we are surrounded by a “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12:1). Does this mean the saints in Heaven are in the stands watching us on the playing field, cheering us on and helping us by their prayers as we fight, pray, and work in this world? Is that just comforting mythology or is that really true? Is there a Skype connection as far away as Heaven?
Whether the saints have knowledge of our prayers?
Apparently the chief obstacle to the souls of the saints being cognizant of our prayers and other happenings in our regard is that they are far removed from us. Since, then, distance does not prevent these things . . . the souls of the saints are cognizant of our prayers and of what happens here below.
Further, unless they were aware of what happens in our regard they would not pray for us, since they would be ignorant of our needs. . . .
Since the souls of the saints do not comprehend the divine essence, it does not follow that they know all that can be known by the divine essence . . . but each of the blessed must needs see in the divine essence as many other things as the perfection of his happiness requires. For the perfection of a man’s happiness requires him to have whatever he will, and to will nothing amiss; and each one wills with a right will to know what concerns himself . . . Now it pertains to their glory that they assist the needy for their salvation, for thus they become God’s co-operators. . . . Wherefore it is evident that the saints are cognizant of such things as are required for this purpose, and so it is manifest that they know in the Word the vows, devotions, and prayers of those who have recourse to their assistance. . . .
Although the saints, after this life, know what happens here below, we must not believe that they grieve through knowing the woes of those whom they loved in this world, for they are so filled with heavenly joy that sorrow finds no place in them (S72,1).
The Church assures us that our prayers to the saints are effective, when we ask them to intercede for us to God. St. Thomas argues, very simply, that this presupposes that they hear and understand our prayers; and this presupposes that they see us and understand our needs.
They see this not by their own human powers, but through God’s Mind (“in the Word”), through their partial vision of the divine essence, a kind of limited mental telepathy with God. Thus the saints are co-workers with God, co-operators in the work of the salvation and sanctification of human souls still “on the way” on earth. We will join them some day, hopefully, and so we had better practice this work now, by interceding for each other. It is a kind of dress rehearsal for our work in Heaven.
Just as we need to know other persons and their needs in order to pray for them here and now, so the saints in Heaven need to know us and our needs in order for them to pray for us there. St. Thomas Aquinas knows your mind, and probably knows it much better than you know his mind, since he has a direct divine assistance in knowing you, which you do not have in knowing him.
St. Thomas’ last point is that the saints’ knowledge of us is clearer than our knowledge of them and of each other because they are freed from grief, pain, and worry, since they stand in the presence of God and see all that they see in that light, including us and our lives. If you can know the whole story of some great drama, like The Divine Comedy or The Lord of the Rings, from the viewpoint of its author, and can see each event of its plot in light of its final end, you are confident and at peace as you read even the most painful and problematic passages, knowing that in the end all will be well.
We can share some of that Heavenly peace even now, though not by sight but by faith. For we see only “through a glass, darkly” (1 Cor 13:12) but we can believe and trust far beyond what we see, since our Author has told us about the drama that we are in, and has promised us that in it “all things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28).