Continuing our theme of the purgatory, one beautiful truth of our faith is the power of intercession, not only our power on behalf of the souls in purgatory, but also the power the saints in heaven for us. St. Thomas makes two wonderful points for us that deserves a couple moments of reflection. Here are 2 reasons why the saints pray for us:

1. The Saints Pray for us because of their Charity

To think that the Saint cannot pray for us is a serious mistake, one famously made by Vigilantius. Vigilantius argued that we could only pray for each other while alive “that after we are dead, none of our prayers for others can be heard, seeing that not even the martyrs’ prayers are granted when they pray for their blood to be avenged.”

That saints could not pray for the living, according to Vigilantius, was due to the fact that even the prayers of some of the holiest souls on earth, the martyrs, were not answered. If that is true, then why would we think that the prayers of the saints in heaven were any more efficacious?

However, this must be completely false. One reason is this: saints in heaven have the greatest charity possible.

Prayers offered for the sake of others is motivated by charity and “the greater the charity of the saints in heaven, the more they pray for wayfarers.” Precisely by having greater charity in heaven, all the more would the saints pray for us.

They pray for us, of course, because we need their prayers. We, as wayfarers, are in greatest need for their help.

St. Thomas argues that the prayers of saints are especially efficacious because they are closest to God: “the more closely they are united to God the more are their prayers efficacious.”

Why does closeness to God make prayers more efficacious?

Because in the divine order, the lower beings receive an overflow of excellence from the higher, as rain first reaches the mountain tops, then later the valleys.

God works through secondary causes. God especially begins His work through those human instruments closest to Him in order to reach others who are not. It is motivated by the fact that God, like any good father, wants His children to help each other as much as possible and so, in His wisdom, God gives the saints the opportunity to assist us.

Thus, it is no surprise that Jerome replies to Vigilantius by saying: “If the apostles and martyrs while yet in the body, and having to be solicitous for themselves, prayer for others, how much the more now that they have the crown of victory and triumph”

Given how much saints worked for our salvation on earth, how much more would they do so in heaven?

2. The Prayers of the Saints to God for us are always heard

One reason, according to St. Thomas, is their merit.

The merit of the saints not only gives glory to God but also stand as “suffrages and prayers for us.” Much like the way Christ’s blood merits pardon for us, so too the merits of the saints win pardon for us.

Furthermore, the saints are so closely united to God that their wills are perfectly united to His. And so “because the saints will only that which God wills, and they seek only that which God wills to happen”

Thus their merits will always profit us, not withstanding a defect on our part.

To conclude, the saints pray for us because 1) because of their immense charity for us who need their prayers 2) because their prayers are always heard due to their closeness to God!

Omnes sancti Dei, orate pro nobis!