Do Roman Catholics believe Saints are omnipresent?
Upvote:0
Short answer: No.
Long answer: Those who are beatified and those who have been canonized have physical bodies which are (mostly) on earth (Mary, Enoch, Elijah, and Moses being exceptions). They are also in heaven in spirit. This means that they are in a very specific spot (even though heaven is quite large).
God, on the other hand, is literally everywhere (cf. Psalm 139).
I think it might be a good idea to point out that the question seems to be conflating omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. Addressing omniscience and omnipresence:
Omniscience:
Saints are not all-knowing. While the Spirit perfects the communion of the Saints, it does not make it equal to God himself. A podcast I once listened to (featuring Fr. Euteneuer) suggested that a Saint's knowledge more-or-less ends at a person's private thoughts (which are reserved to God alone). They also do not know the full mind of God (to count his thoughts we must be eternal (also Psalm 139)).
Omnipotents:
They are not omnipotent. All power which they have are received from God. I would even wager that God denies some of their requests, but I don't have any source for that. I will say that at best Saints hold similar stature as Angels. I also seem to recall that Angels are far from omnipotent.
Bonus question (if a none-catholic christian asks them to pray for them do they hear that?):
Asking for the intercession of a Saint is not limited to any group of people or restricted from any group of people. Even if someone is not baptized, a Saint may still intercede on their behalf (or perhaps especially if they are unbaptized). All persons may pray to Saints, and it is possible that any person may be answered. Of course, there is the faith element. If someone does not have faith, then it is doubtful that they will ask for intercession.
Upvote:10
Are saints supposed to be omnipresent, or are you just rolling the dice that they are paying attention to you at that moment?
No they are not omnipresent (or omniscient for that matter), only God is. But they can hear our prayers by the power of God. Since we believe they are in heaven where they dwell in God, it is not strange that they can hear multiple 'messages' at the same time. Heaven is not present in "earth time." Heaven is outside of earth time, in-fact there is no time in heaven. Eternal now is that all is there. The saints live in the power and energy of the Divinity; So, They hear us through God.
The saints are aware of our prayers is that, because they have the beatific vision of God, they see in God all of the knowledge they need, all of the knowledge that is relevant to them, and so they see our prayers to them. On the standard account is thus by the omniscience of God that they become aware of our prayers, though they themselves are never omniscient and never take in the full scope of God’s knowledge, only those parts that are relevant to them.James Akin
We do not expect them to be listening to us at "that moment", because they are not "in that moment", but they are out of it.
They hear us through God, more specifically Holy Spirit. In the Holy Spirit, we have communication with all the Saints, because of this, it is the Holy Spirit that unites us, spiritually. Bible says that it is the Holy Spirit who prays on our behalf.Romans 8:26 So it not not a big deal for God to make this happen.
Bonus question, if a non-catholic Christian asks them to pray for them do they hear that?
Yes they do.
More post
- 📝 What does TULIP stand for?
- 📝 Why does the bible say that David kept all the commands of the Lord when he so clearly didn't?
- 📝 Why was no one able to recognize Jesus as Messiah using prophesy, yet we believe end times prophesy will be easier to clarify?
- 📝 Which "Church of God" believes in "God the Mother"?
- 📝 What would happen to the Catholic Church if all of the bishops get wiped out?
- 📝 Why are the functions for man clear in the Catholic Church leading and decisive hierarchy, but there is no corresponding function for women?
- 📝 How does LDS handle doctrine changes?
- 📝 How do Calvinists interpret 2 Peter 1:10?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for the belief that Jesus is Michael?
- 📝 What is Christ's role in salvation according to Arian theology?
- 📝 Is the Russian Orthodox Church pressing the government of Russia to ban Jehovah's Witnesses?
- 📝 Can you only have a sacramental marriage?
- 📝 Why is the date of the 2016 Passover a month late when compared to Easter?
- 📝 Can we separate justice from theology in Christianity? And if we do, is this right?
- 📝 Did Christians stop the practice of Berith (Brith, Bris?) immediately?
- 📝 Why the differences between the Maundy Thursday Mandatum and the Eucharist?
- 📝 When was the third heaven where God dwells created
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for the belief that Jesus' death made satisfaction for individual sins?
- 📝 Does the seal of confession extend to bystanders?
- 📝 Does Jesus/God understand uncertainty or sin?
- 📝 How did Pascal reconcile his wager with 2 Corinthians 9:7 and Psalms 50?
- 📝 Did Peter ever ask Jesus for forgiveness?
- 📝 What is the basis for saying "God bless you" when a person sneezes?
- 📝 What is the Lutheran view of he atonement of Christ on the cross?
- 📝 How did scripture get the name bible?
- 📝 What did St. John Chrysostom mean by saying there is no difference between what is demanded from the monastics and the laity?
- 📝 Could the Tetragrammaton YHWH be an onomatopoeia for the sound of breathing?
- 📝 Which Prison Epistles are considered to have been written from Rome?
- 📝 Did Pentecostalism lead to Cessationism in the modern Reformed churches?
- 📝 Election, Gods Sovereignty and Is Cain Saved?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Do Roman Catholics believe Saints are omnipresent?
- 📝 Do Catholics believe that they are actually eating the body of Christ? Does this make them cannibals?
- 📝 Why are the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary such a big deal that all Catholics must believe in them?
- 📝 Are Roman Catholics required at any time to bow down to statues or images?
- 📝 What biblical/traditional elements lead Catholics to believe that saints can hear our prayers?
- 📝 Are there any ecumenical movements among lay people working to unite Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians?
- 📝 How are Roman Catholics to receive the holy Eucharist at Mass?
- 📝 Are Catholics allowed to believe that the EF or OF is objectively more reverent than the other?
- 📝 Are Filipino Roman Catholics required to not have meat on all Fridays of Lent?
- 📝 In which other churches do Roman Catholics recognize apostolic succession?
- 📝 For Catholics who object to Vatican II, what are the key issues?
- 📝 Are any Greek or Roman gods mentioned by name in the Bible?
- 📝 Why do Catholics believe transubstantiated host may still affect the gluten sensitive?
- 📝 Do Protestants believe Jesus and Satan are brothers?
- 📝 Are Catholics allowed to read the NIV translation?
- 📝 Are there any statistics that show how many scientists are Christians or otherwise believe in a personal God?
- 📝 Do Calvinists believe they know whether they are saved?
- 📝 Among modern critics who believe in the attributed authorship of the Gospels, what are their arguments?
- 📝 What are the differences between Roman Catholic and Irish Catholic?
- 📝 If Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) don't believe in a Holy Trinity, then who do they believe is God?
- 📝 What are the consequences of suicide according to the Roman Catholic church?
- 📝 Which of Luther's 95 Theses are still potentially valid critiques of Roman Catholicism?
- 📝 Are today's Catholics encouraged to study the Bible at home?
- 📝 Do Catholics subscribe to the "once saved, always saved" doctrine that many evangelical Christians believe in?
- 📝 What is the Authoritative Catholic explanation of why the Magi get a pass, yet Catholics are to reject astrology?
- 📝 Are Catholics allowed to leave marriage in order to become a monk or nun?
- 📝 Are Catholics required to accept every article of Aquinas's «Summa Theologica»?
- 📝 Are there any Christian denominations that don't believe Jesus is the only way to salvation?
- 📝 What does "the saints are not keepers of the law, but legislators" mean?
- 📝 How are prayer and asking the saints to intercede distinguished?