Years ago someone calculated that Mary would have to listen to 46,296 petitions per second all year long. And that was just the rosary traffic. It was an attempt to reduce to absurdity the ancient practice of invoking the saints. Only God could hear so much at once, he argued. Therefore, Catholics must really think Mary and the other saints are deities.
In response, we should note first that Mary and the other saints, of course, are not omniscient deities. Nevertheless, they do share something with God: They are outside of time. Being outside of time, it takes no time for them to hear these prayers.
Furthermore, there are a finite number of people on the earth, and thus a finite number of prayers are being sent skyward. Omniscience is not required — just an expanded range of human abilities. This is, of course, what God has promised: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9).
Second, we should note that our oneness in Christ forms the medium of our communication with those in heaven. He is the vine; we are the branches in heaven and on earth. We are one body animated by Christ, who is the infinite, personal God in heaven and on earth. The eye communicates properly with the brain, and the hand communicates adequately with the itchy nose. This is part of the “communion of saints.”
Third, Scripture is clear that those in Heaven are somehow aware of the needs of those on the earth. The angels in heaven rejoice over the repentance of one sinner (Lk 15:7-10); the elders and angels in heaven offer up the prayers of the saints on earth (Rv 5:8; 8:3); those under the altar know that the time of their vindication has not yet come on the earth (Rv 6:10).
While I’m not sure how the divine prayer switchboard works, I do know that those in heaven are united with us in Christ and are not subject to the same limitations of space and time that we are. They have a way of networking we know not of.
Al Kresta is CEO of Ave Maria Communications and host of Kresta in the Afternoon. This column is reprinted with permission from his book “Why Do Catholics Genuflect?” (Servant Publications/St. Anthony Messenger Press 2001).