A year ago I went to a funeral mass, one of many because in the past two years this has become a very common occurrence. It must be that I'm getting old. The funeral mass was for Father Willie's grandmother and he gave a beautiful homily from his heart. (Father Willie, for those of you that don't know him, is a Jesuit priest that is currently assigned to a school in the Dominican Republic). In the homily he shared that his grandmother had passed away while he was in Italy with his brother and family. He immediately made the arrangements to return to Miami the following day. This meant that he would have to miss his visit to Pope Francis scheduled for a few days later. His brother told him: "I'm going to pray to grandma so that she can intercede for you and you can see Pope Francis before you return." Father Willie's response was: "Grandma just got to heaven. I don't think she's going to have enough time to approach God with your request, especially since I'm leaving tomorrow." The following morning, before the taxi came to take him to the airport, Father Willie went with his family to have breakfast at a restaurant near the hotel. And guess who walked in while they were having breakfast? Pope Francis. What are the chances? Father Willie approached him, had a conversation with him and returned to Miami to officiate at his grandma's funeral, knowing without a doubt where she was.
After listening to this story, I started praying to my abuela for her intercession. But I had my doubts. How do I know that she's already in heaven? What if she's still in purgatory, can she hear me from there? If she's still in purgatory, then she can't take my petitions to God because she's not with him yet. Or does God visit purgatory occasionally? As you can see, I've been having quite an internal struggle. And in the midst of all this, I started seeing my abuela in my dreams for the first time since she passed away in 1998.
A lot of people I know don't believe in praying to anyone but God. I pray to God directly but I also pray to Mama Mary and the saints for their intercession. A few weeks ago, I lost my mobile phone at the tennis tournament in Key Biscayne. A lot of people thought I would not find it. I prayed to St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost items. I told him: "God has enough on his plate. There are a lot of people sick and with bigger problems than a lost phone. But if you could intercede on my behalf and help my phone fall on the hands of someone good, I will be very grateful." The following day, I received a phone call from the manager of Customer Relations that a good samaritan had turned in my phone. Thank you St. Anthony for your divine intercession.
In my mind, praying to Mama Mary and the saints is simple. I've been doing it all my life. I always compare it to when my kids want something and their father has the final word. But instead of going directly to Rafael, they come to me and ask me to intercede on their behalf. They know I can soften their father's heart and they will have a better chance to get to their father through me. It's the same with Mama Mary. There is nothing that her Son can deny her. Didn't he turn the water into wine at the wedding in Cana before he was ready to start his public ministry? But his Mama asked him and he couldn't say no. So I know that if I want something really big, all I need to do to get to Jesus is go through Mama Mary. And if I want something small then I can talk to the saints. They are in heaven with Jesus so the saints are a great connection. But our loved ones? That was totally mind boggling for me.
And when I say "praying to..." I don't mean the same type of prayer that I pray to God. When I pray to Mama Mary, the saints and now my loved ones, what I'm really doing is asking them to pray for me. I do not worship them, only God can be worshipped. But I ask them to unite their prayers with mine in praying for the sick, the unemployed, peace for our world, etc. In my previous example, I asked St. Anthony to pray for me so my phone could be found. And through his prayer and intercession, it was found.
During this personal struggle, I've been doing a lot of research and asking a lot of questions. The Cathecism of the Catholic Church is a wonderful tool that helped me to clarify a lot of doubts. In Paragraph 1053, I found this:
"We believe that the multitude of those gathered around Jesus and Mary in Paradise forms the Church of heaven, where in eternal blessedness they see God as he is and where they are also, to various degrees, associated with the holy angels in the divine governance exercised by Christ in glory, by interceding for us and helping our weakness by their fraternal concern" (Paul VI, CPG § 29).
I feel very blessed to know that our Church on earth is united with the Church in heaven and that when we pray, we can ask Mama Mary, the saints and those that have left before us to unite their prayers to ours in petition to God almighty. And in case I still had any doubts, the abuelas confirmed it when they showed up in my dream.
In my next post I will share the answers I have found regarding our loved ones in purgatory. Can they hear us? Can they pray for us like we pray for them?
In my next post I will share the answers I have found regarding our loved ones in purgatory. Can they hear us? Can they pray for us like we pray for them?
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