**To some degree we must conclude that the saints in heaven know only what God permits them to know and see.**
Monsignor Pope Ping for OSV column.
The inexorable logic of this is that prayers to saints in heaven are ineffective—as we do not know what God allows them to hear or not....
Besides, if you have to go through God, for the saints to hear (since they are not all-knowing) why would you then ask God to ask the saints to ask God about you, when of course, through God the Son, you can ask God directly
?
Arch pope really doesn’t undersand the Scriptures... sigh.
Each appeared to me in a vision only once, but each has continued to guide me.
Each communicated to me extraverbally--I think; at least, I did not hear words as sounds.
Each appeared to me, suddenly and unexpectedly, in a dream--but what a vivid, brilliantly illuminated, realistic dream, more realistic, in fact, than awake reality and the senses of vision, hearing, touch, etc.
Each time, I knew immediately that this was not an ordinary dream and that each was a highly evolved, saintly being who was contacting me because of love, admiration, and respect for me, for my guidance and reassurance, and, to be honest, I was surprised to learn that any one of them was saintly.
One of the great lessons is that I do not--and perhaps we do not-- know who among us is a saint. These three were certainly unrecognized in this life.
1. The first was my great grandmother, whom I never knew. She died about 40 years before I was born.These experiences have taught me that saintly beings can and do know what's going on with us, in part anyway; that they can see what's in our hearts; that their ability to come to us, speak to us, and guide us depends mostly on our ability to open our hearts to truth, love, and acceptance; that the afterlife is far more vivid, alive, and full of joy, love, and fascination that the world of the senses; and much more.She told me that she had always loved me and that, in many ways, I was very much like her.
I felt her presence for an entire day and also thereafter.
2. The second was a girl I knew, though not well, in high school and junior high.
3. The third was a relative whom I intensely disliked before she died, probably of a drug overdose.
As she appeared to me, I felt a sense of dread at seeing her again.
However, when I looked at her and spoke her name, I cupped her face in my hands and could only say: "You are beautiful." She was.
Her presence was powerful.
She has stayed with me the longest and most vividly.
She told me that when she was in this life, her problems overwhelmed her. I already knew that, but I could remember glimpses of her saintliness.
She told me that she had completely misjudged me and that it was only when she reached the high realms and could see me as I really am that she realized my enormous worth, how full of love and goodness I am, how I wanted to love and help her and be a loving friend to her when she was in this life, and how she loves, admires, and respects me now.
She gave me much to look forward to, in this life and the next.
She has guided me and helped me.
I love her.
I adore her.
From “The Presence” by Lutheran Pastor Berthold Von Schenk:
“We must come to a sense of the continuing presence of our loved ones, and we can do this if we realize the presence of our Living Lord. As we seek and find our Risen Lord we shall find our dear departed. They are with Him, and we find the reality of their continued life through Him.
The saints are part of the Church. We worship with them. They worship the Risen Christ face to face, which we worship the same Risen Christ under the veil of bread and wine at the Altar.
At the Communion we are linked with Heaven, with the Communion of Saints, with our loved ones. Here at the Altar, focused to a point, we find our communion with the dead; for the Altar is the closest meeting place between us and our Lord. That place must be the place of closest meeting with our dead who are in His keeping…”