Hi, Margaret —

Thank you for your insightful question.

Yes, your neighbor is correct. The Church, from the very beginning, understood that once a Christian went to be with the Lord, (he/she) still remained a Christian. Therefore, as a part of the Church, (he/she) can intercede and be pray to by those Christians who remain behind.

This is the Doctrine of the Communion of Saints.

It is held by the oldest Christian Churches:

• the Roman Catholic
• Eastern Catholics (which are part of the Catholic Church as a whole, but somewhat independent)
• the Greek, Russian, and other Eastern Orthodox Churches, which left the Catholic Church in 1054 A.D.
• and some other Ancient Churches in the Middle East that left the Catholic fold around the year 400 A.D.

All of these Churches have maintained a constant teaching about the Sacraments and the nature of the Church as the Body of Christ.

As individual Christians, we are part of a Body and are therefore in Christ, as St. Paul puts it.
By virtue of being, In Him, we share in His ministry in many ways. Some of us preach the Gospel, others give a cup of cool water in His name.   All of us are called to pray and intercede for one another, but that intercession is heard on the basis of being In the Body of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior.

So we are not Christians in a vacuum. St. Paul wrote in Corinthians, that the eyes cannot say to the foot, I don't need you. (1 Corinthians 12:15)

Historically, the Church has always understood that this (mystical/spiritual) connection does not cease because of physical death. We are, after all, alive in Christ!

With the advent of Martin Luther and the Reformation, which occurred some 1,500 years later, some Protestants slowly began to drop or reject this understanding. At first, Luther and Calvin maintained some of this understanding. Later they and their followers, scandalized by what they perceived to be idolatry, began to preach against this doctrine. In doing so, they threw out the baby with the bath water.

You asked for Scriptural support so I will happily supply it.

In Hebrews chapter 11, the author writes about all the Old Testament saints who died before receiving the promise. It is often called the "faith hall of fame":

• " by faith Abel . . . "
• " by faith Enoch . . ."
• " by faith Abraham . . ."
•   and so on.

There is a long list of people that were dead at the time that Hebrews was written.

In the very next chapter in the first verse we see the following:

Notice we see the verse starts with the word therefore, now the first thing they taught me in Bible School is when you see the word therefore in a verse, you look at what it is there for. Well, the author is referring back to what he just wrote in Chapter 11. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.

• Well, who are these witness the author speaks of?

They are those who are no longer with us but with the Lord.

Notice that this is linked to verse 2, which joins them and us to Jesus Christ inseparably. We can't separate the head from the body.

So when we ask for prayers for any Christian living here on earth or with the Lord, we don't do it instead of asking the Lord directly. We do it because they are "in Christ" and the Bible tells us to share one another's burdens and pray for one another.

Jesus died for our sins and paid the price in full. He could have left it at that, however Christ, in becoming a man, linked Himself in an inseparable way to our humanity. He picked twelve apostles, then seventy-two disciples, and then others, and said: "Go tell them about Me." He said what so ever you do to the least of my brothers, you do to me. He makes no distinction between His head, His ankle, His wrist, or any other part of His Body. It's all the same; it is His action through the vessels He chooses. Jesus said whatever you do or pray for in my name, according to my will, will be done. That's a spiritual power of attorney. As long as He wills it, if a Christian prays for it, He will answer his prayer. That's a pretty tight connection.

• So why would physical death change things?

When this neighbor says her husband will guide her from Heaven, perhaps she may sound a bit idolatrous to you. She is not exactly telling you the whole story because, honestly, she may not be completely well versed in the teachings of the Church.

The principle, though, is certainly right. The husband was called in this life to minister to his family, but his physical death does not end his ministry. In fact, without his flesh, he is in a better position to know the will of God and pray for it, in regards to his family, than when he was alive.

Let's go back to the Bible and look at some other verses:

This spells it out. The author throughout Hebrews is dealing with Christian worship and prayer.
In this verse, he is saying when you pray and worship, look who is praying and worshiping with you, i.e. Angels and the spirits of just men made perfect!! Notice again, it is ultimately linked to Jesus, the Mediator. Our mediation, the mediation of a saint or a deceased loved one, does not stand alone. It is not a replacement for, but is the natural consequence of, being
"in Christ Jesus".

How about this text.

The scene is Heaven where they are having Church (to use a Pentecostal expression from my old days.)

• Well, what's going on?

We see twenty-four elders holding up incense which are the prayers of the saints.

If you read any of the early Church Fathers, they would tell you that the twenty-four elders represent the Old Testament and New Testament Church: the twelve tribes of Israel and twelve Apostles who all had followers and who all branched out to spread the Good News, etc.

• What are they doing?

They are offering the prayers of the saints. That is, they are offering us, to the Lamb, thus they don't just pray with us, but for us.

Let' s look at a verse from the Gospels.

The scene is after Herod had all male infants killed just after the birth of Christ.

As Matthew says, "Rachel, the Matriarch of Israel, was weeping over it." This did not just happen once because Matthew is quoting Jeremiah who said the same thing about another event centuries prior. Rachel, who was dead and buried, was concerned with living.

There is also an Old Testament verse which is even more explicit in the Second book of Maccabees. While Protestant Christians reject it, every other Ancient Christian Church has that book in their Bible. Luther ripped it out at the time of the Reformation because he did not like it. Luther also tried to remove the book of James calling it an "epistle of straw", because James stressed works in his epistle. (James 2:24)

At any rate, in Second Maccabees, Judas Maccabeus receives a vision of Jeremiah who had been dead for centuries. In this vision, Jeremiah was in tears interceding on Israel's behalf.

Interestingly enough, the Jews at the time of Jesus, and to this day believe, as Catholics and all other Ancient Christians do, that those in the presence of God can and do pray for us.

Interestingly enough, there is no text in the New Testament which corrects the Jews for this belief.  Not a word from Jesus, not a word from anyone else.

The typical verse that some Protestants try and use is this:

Well, that's interesting, because this verse has a context.  Let's look at verses preceding and succeeding this verse.

Verse one says: I exhort people to pray for everyone.

• Clearly, if Christ is the one mediator, why should anyone of us pray, isn't that supplanting the mediation of Christ?

Paul again stresses the same point: we all should pray, everywhere, no matter where we are.
This brings me back to my original point. "Everywhere" includes those in Heaven.

• Where does it say Christians should stop acting like Christians once they get to Heaven?
• Shouldn't they be required to act more like Christians?

Well, I hope this clears up what the Church teaches. I am perfectly delighted to continue this dialogue or answer any other question about the Catholic Church you may have. My desire is to foster understanding among Christians so we can focus on the one cause that matters the most, leading people to Christ.

Under His Mercy,

John DiMascio