I was raised Catholic and I was taught to believe that God was actually three distinct persons in one, somehow, and this was nebulous. But I was also told that there were a lot of other heavenly characters up there. I don’t believe that prayer is communicating with any sentient being, but a lot of people do believe this.
It is interesting that whenever someone tells me that they prayed and that they received wisdom, all members of the Trinity, and Mary, and all the saints and cherubim all agree with each other on all topics. It’s not like people seeking prayer guidance come away with this result: God says take the new job, whereas Jesus says wait a month and think about it, whereas Mary says go back to school, whereas the chorus of angels sings that you should give it all up and join a commune. It seems like there is a lot of Groupthink going on up there . . .
And how is it possible the heavenly host and all assorted Holy entities agree on which team should win the Superbowl, World Series, NBA championship, etc? Players frequently thank God for their victory over the opposing team, and give God the glory and credit for the win. Player hits a triple and then looks skyward, blows a kiss and crosses himself (I assume saying “Thanks Dude!” to the guy in the sky), while at the same time the other team’s Manager or pitcher was praying for a strikeout. How does God pick sides? Does He watch all the games? I wonder if He has that picture-in-picture feature on his cable. Or does he get games via satellite? It’s so confusing. I will pray for clarity.