156 The Faith of Our Fathers the dead, and didst leave thy dinner, I offered thy prayer to the Lord."194 How could the angel, if he were ignorant of these petitions, have presented to God the prayers of Tobias? To pass from the Old to the New Testament, our Savior declares that "there shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance."195 Then the angels are glad whenever you repent of your sins. Now, what is repentance? It is a change of heart. It is an interior operation of the will. The saints, therefore, are acquainted — we know not how — not only with your actions and words, but even with your very thoughts. And when St. Paul says that "we are made a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men,"196 what does he mean, unless that as our actions are seen by men even so they are visible to the angels in heaven? The examples I have quoted refer, it is true, to the angels. But our Lord declares that the saints in heaven shall be like the angelic spirits, by possessing the same knowledge, enjoying the [156] same happiness.1 We read in the Gospel that Dives, while suffering in the place of the reprobates, earnestly besought Abraham to cool his burning thirst. And Abraham, in his abode of rest after death, was able to listen and reply to him. Now, if communication could exist between the souls of the just and of the reprobate, how much easier is it to suppose that interchange of thought can exist between the saints in heaven and their brethren on earth? These few instances are sufficient to convince you that the spirits in heaven hear our prayers. Second — We have, also, abundant testimony from Scripture to show that the saints assist us by their prayers. Almighty God threatened the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha with Tobias xii. 12. ' Luke xv. 10.