Can a opiates addict go to heaven

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Techgal07

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My son died at the age of 28 on November 15
He was an addict for 10 years
In the end his life revolved around getting his next dose. He did whatever he could to get his fix

He was anointed in April while he was on life support
Miraculously he regained consciousness and within months his brain, kidneys and liver returned to normal.

He had a partial foot amputation in August. He remained on morphine for pain but the prescription he had was inadequate to control the pain.

This led to his getting the drug anyway he could

I prayed for 10 years and never gave up hope

Tha priest who came for the anointing did not make it in time. We prayed together for some time. Fr. Blessed him.

I have had a circle of prayer warriors who have been praying for him during this entire ordeal

Is there any way that I can know that he will see God someday

How can a loving God not answer the prayers of a mother?
 
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What is his first name, we who work to gain indulgences for souls in Purgatory can work for a few for him.

I am so sorry for your loss

Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.

Anyone can go to Heaven, ( except those fallen angels). it depends on God. Addiction doesn’t exclude anyone. At the end of life its between God and the individual. Prayer, Masses, and Purgatory sent indulgences help

🙏🕊️
 
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Techgal07 said:
Is there any way that I can know that he will see God someday
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No, there is no way that any of us can know this without a direct revelation from God. That being said, we can have confidence in our prayers, and that God does not preclude heaven to those who are sick, even when their sickness blinds them to His presence. Pray and do penance for him.
 
God most certainly answers the prayers of a Catholic mother about her child and I believe my great-grandmother still prays for me in heaven.

The Saint Gertrude the Great prayer is for persons in Pergatory. If you want to free him and 999 people today, pray it now. Then, let your faith decide where he is.

Scrupulosity can erupt but that may mean you have a lot of spiritual work to do. As a “just in case” put a prayer for him in the prayer intentions section, the prayer warriors can handle that.
 
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This is a good answer below. This touching story always tears me up.

Once on Mount Athos there was a monk who lived in Karyes. He drank and got drunk every day and was the cause of scandal to the pilgrims. Eventually he died and this relieved some of the faithful who went on to tell Elder Paisios that they were delighted that this huge problem was finally solved.
Father Paisios answered them that he knew about the death of the monk, after seeing the entire battalion of angels who came to collect his soul. The pilgrims were amazed and some protested and tried to explain to the Elder of whom they were talking about, thinking that the Elder did not understand.
Elder Paisios explained to them: “This particular monk was born in Asia Minor, shortly before the destruction by the Turks when they gathered all the boys. So as not to take him from their parents, they would take him with them to the reaping, and so he wouldn’t cry, they just put raki into his milk in order for him to sleep. Therefore he grew up as an alcoholic. There he found an elder and said to him that he was an alcoholic. The elder told him to do prostrations and prayers every night and beg the Panagia to help him to reduce by one the glasses he drank.
After a year he managed with struggle and repentance to make the 20 glasses he drank into 19 glasses. The struggle continued over the years and he reached 2-3 glasses, with which he would still get drunk.”
The world for years saw an alcoholic monk who scandalized the pilgrims, but God saw a fighter who fought a long struggle to reduce his passion.
Without knowing what each one is trying to do what he wants to do, what right do we have to judge his effort?

Taken from here.
 
I’m very sorry for your loss. Several of my good friends have lost members of their immediate family to opiates recently. It’s been very hard on them.

Yes, addicts can go to heaven. There is even an opium addict (St. Mark Ji Tianjiang) who is a canonized saint.

We cannot know for sure without a direct revelation from God that our loved ones are in heaven. You can pray sincerely to God for such a revelation, but it is up to him whether to provide one, and you need to have confidence in Him whether or not He “answers” you.

There are several things we can do to try to help our deceased loved ones get to heaven:
  • Pray for their souls yourself.
  • Get others to pray for their souls (prayer groups, prayer lines, put their name in the prayer petition books at Adoration chapels and churches, put the intention in the “intentions” boxes of shrines or send the intention in on-line)
  • Have Masses said for them. You can request a Mass at your own parish, or online from a monastery, order or mission. You can also have a set of Gregorian Masses (30 Masses over 30 days) said for a deceased soul. CNEWA.org is a good place to request Masses and is one of the Pope’s favorite agencies.
  • Obtain a plenary indulgence for their souls. Here are easy instructions on how to get a plenary indulgence on any day of the year. You can get one per day, and give it to the deceased soul of your choice. Many people including myself try to get these for deceased relatives and friends.

I am sure that doing these things could help your son’s soul if it is still in need of help. If he has already gone to heaven, then God would transfer the benefit to some other poor soul in need of help who has no one to pray for them. God bless.
 
You have a struggle which is more common than you think. There’s a piece of information you want and it’s not totally beyond the realm of possibility to know it or at least get clues, hence you seek it relentlessly.

However the scientist in me has to tell you that you are biased, as you should be. You can’t really be objective about it. If your question is, “is it possible that your son is in heaven?” Then the answer is objectively “yes”. When your question is “is my son in heaven?” then you can’t find an objective answer to that in this lifetime, in my opinion. So finally the question becomes “is it probable your son is in heaven?” And i think this is the real question that troubles you because there’s evidence to weigh and it’s a never ending question. I can’t answer it because i don’t know and none of us have the authority to judge. I can tell you that i have my own battles with this type of never ending question, so i understand a level of the distress. One thing i will leave you with is that in Genesis 7:1 you should note that God saved Noah and his whole family. I think the reasons the whole family were saved are self evident. I think that’s a more than good enough reason to keep faith, have hope and keep working on yourself.
 
I read this story in ‘Catechism stories for children’:

I heard once about a man who was on his way to a duel. Even before the duel fully started, his opponent pierced his heart and the man died. Some time later, it was revealed to a nun that the man was in fact saved, but he was in the lowest rungs of Purgatory. Even though he was about to commit mortal sin, he always kept his faith, and when he died, the faith and charity in his heart was ignited by the prayers of his family and friends and saved him.

I also heard of testimony from a woman who aborted her child. She repented and wanted to see her child. She asked God for the grace and He granted it to her. She saw her daughter how she would have been if she were still alive, playing at the feet of Jesus in heaven. Maybe you can ask a similar grace from God. He did want to give us many ‘unimaginable graces’ through the Divine Mercy devotion. 🙂 I can’t say for sure if your son is in heaven, but I do know for sure that those who trust in God will not be let down 🙂
 
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I’m very sorry to hear about your loss. As many people have already said here; Yes of course drug addicts can go to heaven.

Why God does not answer prayers of people (and especially mothers) i honestly don’t know, it remains a mystery as long as we’re on earth.
 
He sure could be in heaven.

I’m a recovering heroin addict myself.

I will pray for him at Divine Liturgy today, and you as well.
 
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I also keep thinking about Dante’s Purgatory, which contains characters who even at their last breath uttered the word of Mary, or repented in their last seconds, and were saved from everlasting hell and admitted into purgatory which leads to Heaven.

God’s loving mercy and kindness is absolutely, incomprehensibly, good and wholesome. None of our prayers go to waste. I will remember this intention in my compline tonight.
 
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No one can be certain he will go to heaven. I can't be certain myself. Such certainly
is against Catholic belief. But we can hope that we ourselves–and your son–will be or are saved.
To sin, someone has to have knowledge and freedom. There is no way I could say that I am sure an addict has both of these. They may never have much realized it is wrong, and it may be out of his control in part or totally. I expect we all will be surprised who we see in heaven when we get there (that is, hoping we will get there). We can only leave this in the hands of God, hoping and praying that they will be saved.
I like some of the other answers people have given you, and hope they help console you.
 
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Yes. Remember the requirements for a mortal sin are 3 fold:

In Roman Catholic moral theology, a mortal sin requires that all of the following conditions are met:
Its subject matter must be grave.
It must be committed with full knowledge (and awareness) of the sinful action and the gravity of the offense.
It must be committed with deliberate and complete consent.

I highly doubt an opiate addict can give deliberate and complete consent when caught up in an addiction that that has severe withdrawal symptoms and causes one to need the drug to function without intervention.

Therefore, In my opinion, he could very well go to heaven.

God bless you mom and I am sorry for your loss. Don’t worry about your son now. He is in the arms of a loving , merciful and just/fair God. May this bring you some peace.
 
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Techgal07 said:
He had a partial foot amputation in August. He remained on morphine for pain but the prescription he had was inadequate to control the pain.
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If someone is in severe pain, and they take pain medication to help them deal with it, they really aren’t an “addict” at all. An addict is someone who takes drugs to get loaded.

Sure, someone like your son or a cancer patient, who regularly takes opiates or opioids can become physically dependent but that’s really not the same as addiction.
 
May I recommend that you read the stories of St Monica and St Rita De Cascia.
These women had sons that were troublesome and they suffered greatly!
St Monica asked the very same question that you ask. Will my son be saved?
Personally I believe that God’s mercy is infinite and I believe that God has heard every single one of your prayers and I also believe that you will see your son in Heaven someday only because YOU prayed for him with all of your heart which is the way Jesus told us to pray.
 
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