Blessing or Praying Over Another While in Mortal Sin

[seeker_of_God]

Hello,

I am in the process of coming back to the Church. I need to go to confession this week to confess everything for the last three years.

But my wife and I have a practice of blessing and praying over each other nightly. I’ve also been doing this for my mother most nights, since she seems to get a lot out of it.

Is this OK if I am clearly not in a state of grace due to the things I have done? My wife’s aunt says she would not accept prayer if the person were not in a state of grace, so I want to check.

Thanks for the help.

 

[AlanFromWichita]

I accept prayers from anybody; I’m not concerned about their state of grace.

I like the idea of what you and your wife are doing.

Alan

 

[mariacamille]

I also accept prayers…their personal State of Grace has nothing to do with their prayers for you.

I LOVE what you do…maybe one day my hubby will be open to that! It’s beautiful.

 

[Catholic_Wife]

My wife’s aunt says she would not accept prayer if the person were not in a state of grace, so I want to check.

And how, exactly, are we to know whether another person is in a state of grace or not? How does she know the last time you went to confession unless you tell her? Will she accept your prayers once she knows you have gone to confession?

Or does she mean some sort of big, ugly public sin, like living a homosexual lifestyle, living together before marriage, openly having an affair, supporting abortion, etc.???

 

[AlanFromWichita]

And how, exactly, are we to know whether another person is in a state of grace or not? How does she know the last time you went to confession unless you tell her? Will she accept your prayers once she knows you have gone to confession?

Or does she mean some sort of big, ugly public sin, like living a homosexual lifestyle, living together before marriage, openly having an affair, supporting abortion, etc.???

I had an in-law who was that way. I offered (via facebook private message) a brief (one sentence) prayer for him in his situation and he got very upset and said it’s dangerous to let people pray for you without knowing about them. The way he reacted, he must have felt like I was doing voodoo against him or something. I told him to consider the prayer unsaid.

Alan

 

[seeker_of_God]

I also accept prayers…their personal State of Grace has nothing to do with their prayers for you.

I LOVE what you do…maybe one day my hubby will be open to that! It’s beautiful.

Thank you. We’ve been doing this for three years.

Now we added the Divine Office to it, so now we pray over each other at night, then do Compline. It’s so beautiful. I love the peace that compline gives me before I go to sleep, so we leave that to last.

I appreciate your comments.

 

[seeker_of_God]

And how, exactly, are we to know whether another person is in a state of grace or not? How does she know the last time you went to confession unless you tell her? Will she accept your prayers once she knows you have gone to confession?

Or does she mean some sort of big, ugly public sin, like living a homosexual lifestyle, living together before marriage, openly having an affair, supporting abortion, etc.???

Presumably, she will accept after confession.

It’s just that we have to get our marriage convalidated. We got married two years ago in the Methodist church that I grew up in. We were fallen away at the time, so we did not get married in the Catholic Church. We are working to resolve that now, and to make a full confession this week.

 

[Veronica97]

Presumably, she will accept after confession.

It’s just that we have to get our marriage convalidated. We got married two years ago in the Methodist church that I grew up in. We were fallen away at the time, so we did not get married in the Catholic Church. We are working to resolve that now, and to make a full confession this week.

That may qualify as “grave matter”, but provided neither one of you has been married before, there’s a very good chance it wasn’t “mortal sin” for you. Since you were raised in the Methodist Church, you likely didn’t see anything wrong with not getting married in a Catholic Church. I don’t know you or what other sins you may have committed knowingly and willingly, but if this is the worst you’ve done, I’d say your prayers were likely VERY pleasing to God over the years. Congratulations on coming back to the Catholic Church and convalidating your marriage.

 

[Veronica97]

That may qualify as “grave matter”, but provided neither one of you has been married before, there’s a very good chance it wasn’t “mortal sin” for you. Since you were raised in the Methodist Church, you likely didn’t see anything wrong with not getting married in a Catholic Church. I don’t know you or what other sins you may have committed knowingly and willingly, but if this is the worst you’ve done, I’d say your prayers were likely VERY pleasing to God over the years. Congratulations on coming back to the Catholic Church and convalidating your marriage.

Please note that I’m not saying you shouldn’t include your marriage outside the Church in your confession–by all means you should! I’m just saying that the Lord knows your heart and likely He was still very pleased by your prayers. How many people never even think to pray for their spouses or even at all?