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Catholic Answers Live

#12215 Do the Saints Hear Us? A Biblical Defense of Intercessory Prayer - Karlo Broussard

Catholic Answers Live

Catholic Answers

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.82.1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of Catholic Answers Live, Karlo Broussard tackles one of the most common objections to Catholic teaching: If Jesus is the “one mediator” between God and man, why ask Mary and the saints to intercede for us? Drawing from 1 Timothy 2:5, Ecclesiastes 9:5, and Revelation 5:8, Karlo addresses Protestant concerns about the awareness and intercessory role of the saints in heaven. He explains what the Bible really says about heavenly mediation, the beatific vision, and whether the saints are aware of and respond to our prayers. Along the way, he refutes key counterarguments and clarifies Catholic teaching with clarity and Scripture. Please support our mission by donating! Catholicanswersradio.com Join The CA Live Club Newsletter: Click Here Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit Catholicanswersspeakers.com Questions Covered: 13:50 – You ask Mary and the saints to intercede for you. But doesn’t Paul say in 1 Timothy 2:5 that Jesus is our one mediator?   19:20 – If Paul isn’t denying mutual Christian intercession (whether that’s between us here on earth or the saints in heaven and us), then what does he mean by “one mediator”?   21:57 – It’s true that the Bible says we can pray for each other. But the Christians in heaven have died. They aren’t aware of what’s going on here on earth. Ecclesiastes 9:5 says, ‘the dead know nothing.’ So, your requests are futile.   33:23 – Okay, you say that it’s at least possible the saints in heaven could know what’s going on here on earth in virtue of the beatific vision, which the saints in the afterlife before Christ’s ascension didn’t have. But is there any biblical evidence that the saints in heaven in fact are aware of what’s going on here on earth?   36:00 – Okay, so you’ve shown that the saints in heaven can at least be aware of the affairs of men here one earth. But what about their intercessory prayer? Is there any biblical evidence that the saints in heaven in fact pray for us?   “But Karlo, you’re assuming that the 24 elders are human souls. You’re also assuming that the “prayers of the saints” refers to petitions made by Christians on earth. How do you know these assumptions are true?   46:07 – I’ll concede that Revelation 5:8 shows the 24 elders interceding for Christians on earth in a general way. But I don’t think this text gives the Catholic what he’s after—namely, intercessory prayers for specific requests.

Transcript

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0:00.0

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When Real Estate for Life receives a referral fee, they donate 65% to Catholic Answers.

0:11.5

Learn more at realestateforlife.org. Hello, welcome to Catholic Answers live. I'm Sykelet, your host. Very happy to be here with you on this Wednesday afternoon, maybe Wednesday evening where you are. And now I sometimes say, or maybe it's a Thursday morning where you are, because people on the

0:42.3

other side of the Dateline listening, it is Thursday morning.

0:44.5

And that's actually relevant today.

0:47.2

Usually it's just one of my many irrelevancies, but it's actually relevant today because

0:50.8

if it's Thursday where you are, it is one of the major feasts of the Catholic Church. And if it's Wednesday where you are, it is one of the major feasts of the

0:55.6

Catholic Church. And if it's Wednesday where you are, tomorrow is one of the major feasts

0:59.2

of the Catholic Church. Ascension Thursday. And so happy Ascension Thursday to those of you in Australia

1:06.2

or the Philippines or New Zealand. Now that I started listing them, I don't have to do them all.

1:12.6

I can't do all of the countries that are in Thursday right now.

1:17.6

But then there's this other thing in the United States.

1:21.6

We have, well, I'll just read it to you.

1:23.6

I asked Google's AI, when do U.S. Catholics celebrate the ascension?

1:28.2

And Google's AI nailed it.

1:30.0

In most dioceses of the United States, Catholics celebrate the ascension of the Lord on

1:33.4

the seventh Sunday of Easter, which is often referred to as Ascension Sunday.

1:37.9

However, some diocese still celebrated on Thursday, which is 40 days after Easter.

1:44.0

So, depending on where you are in the United States, you might be celebrating Ascension

1:49.8

Thursday tomorrow, which we—this is—Christ Jack, our boss always makes this point.

1:54.3

This is like one of those ones we know what day you're supposed to celebrate it on exactly.

1:58.7

It's not like Christmas where, you know, that's the date the church assigns to celebrate the birth of the Lord.

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