Confused by EWTN: Praying for the dead

  • Thread starter Thread starter LPS
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

LPS

Guest
EWTN had this yesterday on twitter:

“Many souls go to hell because there is no one to pray and make sacrifices for them!” Our Lady of Fatima

EWTN’s comment: Pray & Make reparation for departed souls. They need our prayers so badly!

My understanding of Catholic teaching is that departed souls are judged and will either go to hell or to purgatory. If a soul goes to hell, it is lost. If it goes to purgatory, it will eventually be purified and enter heaven; it will not go to hell.

So to me this from EWTN does not make sense! I understand praying & making sacrifices for people still living, that they might convert and be saved. And I understand making reparation for departed souls in purgatory so they may enter God’s presence.

But the way this is presented is confusing to me. Am I misunderstanding?
 
LPS said:
EWTN had this yesterday on twitter:

“Many souls go to hell because there is no one to pray and make sacrifices for them!” Our Lady of Fatima

EWTN’s comment: Pray & Make reparation for departed souls. They need our prayers so badly!

My understanding of Catholic teaching is that departed souls are judged and will either go to hell or to purgatory. If a soul goes to hell, it is lost. If it goes to purgatory, it will eventually be purified and enter heaven; it will not go to hell.

So to me this from EWTN does not make sense! I understand praying & making sacrifices for people still living, that they might convert and be saved. And I understand making reparation for departed souls in purgatory so they may enter God’s presence.

But the way this is presented is confusing to me. Am I misunderstanding?
Click to expand...
It means that God can save them at the moment of Death.

St. Faustina had also one daily prayer that she never missed which was, “O Jesus inspire people to pray for the dying”. St. Faustina said that by prayer, “God’s mercy can touch the sinner even at the last moment, in a wondrous and mysterious way. Outwardly, it seems as if everything is lost, but it is not so. The soul, illumined by a ray of God’s powerful final grace, can turn to God even in the last moment, with such a power of love that in an instant, it receives from God, forgiveness of all sin and punishment, while outwardly it shows no sign either of repentance or of contrition, because souls [at that stage] no longer react to external things”. (Diary 1698)

An Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory

Excerpt :

I can tell you about the different degrees of Purgatory because I have passed through them. In the great Purgatory there are several stages. In the lowest and most painful, like a temporary hell, are the sinners who have committed terrible crimes during life and whose death surprised them in that state. It was almost a miracle that they were saved, and often by the prayers of holy parents or other pious persons. Sometimes they did not even have time to confess their sins and the world thought them lost, but God, whose mercy is infinite, gave them at the moment of death the contrition necessary for their salvation on account of one or more good actions which they performed during life. For such souls, Purgatory is terrible. It is a real hell with this difference, that in hell they curse God, whereas we bless Him and thank Him for having saved us.

catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=6253
 
LPS said:
EWTN had this yesterday on twitter:

“Many souls go to hell because there is no one to pray and make sacrifices for them!” Our Lady of Fatima

EWTN’s comment: Pray & Make reparation for departed souls. They need our prayers so badly!

My understanding of Catholic teaching is that departed souls are judged and will either go to hell or to purgatory. If a soul goes to hell, it is lost. If it goes to purgatory, it will eventually be purified and enter heaven; it will not go to hell.

So to me this from EWTN does not make sense! I understand praying & making sacrifices for people still living, that they might convert and be saved. And I understand making reparation for departed souls in purgatory so they may enter God’s presence.

But the way this is presented is confusing to me. Am I misunderstanding?
Click to expand...
My understanding is that people need prayer and reparation in life to avoid Hell, and the souls in Purgatory need prayer and reparations to get out of Purgatory.
 
jediliz said:
**There are many who go to purgatory who have no one to pray for them. **Pray for the souls who are going through the purifying fire of purgatory so they may enter Heaven sooner.

catholiccompany.com/getfed/prayer-holy-souls-purgatory-st-gertrude/
Click to expand...
I do think Our Lady’s and the Saint’s prayers can be for those in Purgatory. And too, the Church as a whole also prays for souls in Purgatory, doesn’t she?

I think the prayers of humanity are needed for souls because Heaven invites our participation. We help one another.

It is likely that those in Purgatory who did not really attend Mass ever might be there for a long time because they missed out on graces whilst on earth and therefore require more prayers than those who died in a holy state.
 
Well kind of, see our God is so merciful, so amazing that He doesn’t require the prayers to be said before the persons death. He does not require them to be said before they are judged! In fact it is taught that you should say the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for anyone especially those who are dead, even if they have been dead for 30 years. God, who knows everything, knows that you will say the prayers for that person and applies the prayers that will be said to the person at the time of their death and judgement!

So in light of this I would say pray often, pray for those who have died, pray for the dying and pray for the conversion of sinners. Also pray much for the Holy Souls in Purgatory!
 
I heard Fr Chris Alar of the Marian Fathers from Stockbridge MA shrine (Divine Mercy) state at least twice that you can pray for the dying outside of time and help them hopefully to avoid hell. He gave an example of his grandmother who had committed sucide a number of years before.

In his priestly formation he was told that since God is outside of time, by Fr Chris praying for his grandmother some years later, Fr Chris may have helped his grandmother avoid hell. I offer a Divine Mercy Chaplet every day for the dying “no matter when they are dying, past present, future”. I’ve discussed this with my pastor and he concurred this.
 
Techno2000 said:
It means that God can save them at the moment of Death.

St. Faustina had also one daily prayer that she never missed which was, “O Jesus inspire people to pray for the dying”. St. Faustina said that by prayer, “God’s mercy can touch the sinner even at the last moment, in a wondrous and mysterious way. Outwardly, it seems as if everything is lost, but it is not so. The soul, illumined by a ray of God’s powerful final grace, can turn to God even in the last moment, with such a power of love that in an instant, it receives from God, forgiveness of all sin and punishment, while outwardly it shows no sign either of repentance or of contrition, because souls [at that stage] no longer react to external things”. (Diary 1698)

An Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory

Excerpt :

I can tell you about the different degrees of Purgatory because I have passed through them. In the great Purgatory there are several stages. In the lowest and most painful, like a temporary hell, are the sinners who have committed terrible crimes during life and whose death surprised them in that state. It was almost a miracle that they were saved, and often by the prayers of holy parents or other pious persons. Sometimes they did not even have time to confess their sins and the world thought them lost, but God, whose mercy is infinite, gave them at the moment of death the contrition necessary for their salvation on account of one or more good actions which they performed during life. For such souls, Purgatory is terrible. It is a real hell with this difference, that in hell they curse God, whereas we bless Him and thank Him for having saved us.

catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=6253
Click to expand...
Wow! Thanks for this!
 
irishcolleen45 said:
I heard Fr Chris Alar of the Marian Fathers from Stockbridge MA shrine (Divine Mercy) state at least twice that you can pray for the dying outside of time and help them hopefully to avoid hell. He gave an example of his grandmother who had committed sucide a number of years before.

In his priestly formation he was told that since God is outside of time, by Fr Chris praying for his grandmother some years later, Fr Chris may have helped his grandmother avoid hell. I offer a Divine Mercy Chaplet every day for the dying “no matter when they are dying, past present, future”. I’ve discussed this with my pastor and he concurred this.
Click to expand...
I had never thought of that before…and it does make sense…that has given me renewed hope for those souls whom I pray for…thank you…🙂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top