Is it okay to pray for people in hell?

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GospelOfMatthew

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I like to think nobody is in hell but if people are, is it okay to pray for them? They can’t leave hell but can I pray that their eternal pain isn’t too painful?

I would assume these people wish they didn’t feel the pain they felt? Since God is not there it is painful but isn’t there also physical pain that could be lessened or no? God may not be in hell but hell isn’t beyond God’s control right?
 
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I would think anytime we pray for anyone, no matter what we believe their status to be, it is a reflection of the kindness and mercy which is to be extant within our hearts at all times. Indeed, pray for all you feel moved toward.
 
GospelOfMatthew said:
I would assume these people wish they didn’t feel the pain they felt?
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No, they do. The pain is a separation from God, which is what they wanted. Images of demons stabbing people with pitchforks is good to illustrate the magnitude of pain, but not its source nor reality. They’re exactly where they want to be.
GospelOfMatthew said:
Since God is not there
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That’s not quite correct. God is there, but as faint as possible.
GospelOfMatthew said:
but isn’t there also physical pain that could be lessened or no?
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The pain of Hell is not physical.

This may sound cold, but there is nothing to pity in the souls of Hell. If someone is in Hell, it’s because they rejected God and would rather spend eternity away from Him than be adoring Him in paradise as one of His servants.
 
Fauken said:
This may sound cold, but there is nothing to pity in the souls of Hell. If someone is in Hell, it’s because they rejected God and would rather spend eternity away from Him than be adoring Him in paradise as one of His servants.
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I think it was CS Lewis who summed it up as “the doors of Hell are locked from the inside.”
 
GospelOfMatthew said:
I like to think nobody is in hell but if people are, is it okay to pray for them? They can’t leave hell but can I pray that their eternal pain isn’t too painful?

I would assume these people wish they didn’t feel the pain they felt? Since God is not there it is painful but isn’t there also physical pain that could be lessened or no? God may not be in hell but hell isn’t beyond God’s control right?
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There is both corporal suffering and spiritual suffering. The Catechism says “The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.” – Catechism 1035

St. Thomas Aquinas has an interesting comment on suffering in hell in his Summa Theologiae, Supplement, Question 97 The Punishment of the Damned, Article 2. Whether the worm of the damned is corporeal?
I answer that, After the day of judgment, no animal or mixed body will remain in the renewed world except only the body of man, because the former are not directed to incorruption [Cf. Supplement:91:5], nor after that time will there be generation or corruption. Consequently the worm ascribed to the damned must be understood to be not of a corporeal but of a spiritual nature: and this is the remorse of conscience, which is called a worm because it originates from the corruption of sin, and torments the soul, as a corporeal worm born of corruption torments by gnawing.
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http://www.newadvent.org/summa/5097.htm#article1
 
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So people in hell enjoy being there you are saying?

In Heaven we worship God but don’t we also enjoy Heaven because it’s fun for us too? I feel very uninformed in my faith :confused:
 
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GospelOfMatthew said:
God may not be in hell but hell isn’t beyond God’s control right?
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Right. We pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” and while I never thought of it, his will be done in hell too. God loves each of us, and therefore we may well hope and pray that he does not cause pain and suffering in hell beyond that incurred by separation from him.
 
GospelOfMatthew said:
I like to think nobody is in hell but if people are, is it okay to pray for them? They can’t leave hell but can I pray that their eternal pain isn’t too painful?

I would assume these people wish they didn’t feel the pain they felt? Since God is not there it is painful but isn’t there also physical pain that could be lessened or no? God may not be in hell but hell isn’t beyond God’s control right?
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Prayers for those in Hell have no impact on those in Hell and are wasted for those in Hell.
However, God may somehow otherwise use the prayers for those in Purgatory.
 
It would not be in line with Tradition to pray for souls in hell, since they are permanently cut off from God and their condition does not change.

In private revelation at least, hell is already a manifestation of God’s mercy, because the distant place of hell decreases the suffering of the damned compared to if they were forced to be in the presence of God in their unclean state. So God is already (without any merit on the part of the damned) decreasing their suffering. Everybody receives God’s mercy, including the devil.

The question is essentially asking “Should I pray for the devil?” and the answer is “No.”. There is nothing you can do for him or anybody else in that condition.
 
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There is no point to praying for people in hell. They do not benefit from your prayers.
It would be like praying for people in Heaven. Like if I prayed for the soul of St. Therese.
God will simply redirect your prayer as it is undeliverable, basically.

St. Jean Vianney said it was important to pray for the living to keep them from going to hell. As did many other saints. I recommend you do that instead.

Also, since we don’t know who’s in hell, you can pray for any specific deceased person you want. I am praying for Joseph Stalin this upcoming week.
But a general prayer for the devil, for demons or for “the souls in hell” is like I said, undeliverable.
 
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GospelOfMatthew said:
So people in hell enjoy being there you are saying?
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My understanding is that that upon death they choose their false god and stick with it.

As an example, you might imagine someone who loves material wealth. Their whole life they desire wealth and gather wealth, always expecting that it will bring them happiness and peace. Of course it never does, but they keep pursuing it.

In fact they are enslaved by wealth, but they can’t see that. In their spiritual blindness, they continue in their spiritual poverty.

They continue in their expectation of happiness and peace, and they continue in their disappointment. All the while they choose it freely.

Now imagine living an eternity in that state of life. That may be a good picture of hell.

There are other false gods. Pleasure is a popular one. Can you imagine someone seeking pleasure for an eternity, and taking pleasure, but always feeling the disappointment, that absence of love and joy and peace? That’s another person’s hell.

So I wouldn’t say that they enjoy it, at least not as I understand joy, but they desire it, choose it, and obtain it.
 
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In larger terms, it seems a good thing that our prayers go to further God’s will and his plan of salvation. Praying for those in hell will not do either. I think this is a case of misplaced compassion. Why not pray, instead, for those who were unjustly injured by those in hell.
 
GospelOfMatthew said:
So people in hell enjoy being there you are saying?
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I’m not sure I’d say they enjoy it. Rather, they want it. If I were to describe what Hell is like (granted from my limited perspective), it is a mass of hate. You hate yourself, everyone around you, Heaven, Hell, God, Satan, Angel’s, demons, everyone and everything. You cannot imagine a more wretched and horrible creature than a soul in Hell. A soul in Hell rejected God, including all of His works, so a soul in Hell hates every one of them.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
There is no point to praying for people in hell. They do not benefit from your prayers.
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There is another way of looking at this. Prayer is for our own benefit as well. Even if, as you suggest, there is no benefit for those being prayed for, the prayer is clearly demonstrating a level of compassion which can be viewed as exercise for the soul. Or put another way; God knows all and doesn’t need our prayers at all, prayer is primarily for our own good.
 
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