I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ And the
Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his
people” (Exod. 32:11-14).
Christ Himself recommended that Christians should pray and intercede for
others: “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you” (St. Matt. 5:44). St. Paul continually recommended himself
to the prayers of his brethren (Rom. 15:30; Heb. 13:18). St. James declared
that the prayer of “the righteous man has great power” (St. Jas. 5:16), and
Simon Magus sought the intercession of St. Peter to save him from the
wrath of God (Acts 8:24). Finally, angels likewise act as intercessors:
“Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was
given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints
on the golden altar that is before the throne. And the smoke of the incense,
with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel”
(Rev. 8:3-4).
Fourth objection: “The dead are dead. They cannot hear our
prayers.”
The assertion that dead saints cannot hear our invocations rests on Ps. 115
[113]:17: “The dead do not praise the Lord...” It should be noted that this
psalm was written at a time when Jewish understanding of the after-life was
not yet fully developed. By the second century BC the Jews would have a
better understanding of both the after-life and the intercessory role of the
dead. So it was that Onias saw the deceased prophet Jeremiah praying for
Israel:
“What he saw was this: Onias, who had been high priest, a noble and good
man, of modest bearing and gentle manner, one who spoke fittingly and
had been trained from childhood in all that belongs to excellence, was
praying with outstretched hands for the whole body of the Jews. Then in the
same fashion another appeared, distinguished by his gray hair and dignity,
and of marvelous majesty and authority. And Onias spoke, saying, This is a
man who loves the family of Israel and prays much for the people and the
holy city––Jeremiah, the prophet of God. Jeremiah stretched out his right
hand and gave to Judas a golden sword, and as he gave it he addressed
him thus: Take this holy sword, a gift from God, with which you will strike
down your adversaries” (2 Macc. 15:12-16).
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