Is it possible to pray for past events?

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Could a prayer in modern times reflect an intention of a past event.

For example, if I prayed today for the protection of the Jews during the Nazi Regime, could that prayer help the past Jews?

I know this is a silly question. :o Since the past is locked in stone.

But what are your opinions on if it could happen or not?
 
Past-Present-Future…it’s all the same with God, and with God,nothing is impossible.👍
 
I have always heard that we can pray for those in the past. I believe your prayer contributed. Since the source of our prayers’ answer is outside the bounds of time, it makes sense we can pray for anything, anyone at anytime.
 
I suppose, since that’s kind of what convinced me praying for souls in purgatory is ok (what if they were already out, ya know?). But then again purgatory is outside of time, isn’t it? :confused:
 
No prayer is ever wasted.

I heard a homily once where the priest talked about this subject. He said that a prayer said today for my great-grandfather’s soul in purgatory may not actually be needed at this point, because maybe my great-grandfather might be out of purgatory and in Heaven. However, that prayer, since God is out of time, might be the one that helped my great-grandfather make the correct moral decision 100 years ago.

No prayer is ever wasted. God will apply it where He knows it is needed.👍
 
OK, I don’t know where I red this, but it is a good bet I read it in the book Witness to Hope about the life of John Paul II. His Holiness John Paul II had a kneeler that he prayed at every day. Some part of the kneeler, part kneeled upon I suspect, opened like a box. His Holiness had it stuffed with little pieces of paper that had been given to him from people all over the world or were written by him with prayer intentions on them. Apparently, it was important for John Paul II to keep prayer intentions from the past close to his current prayers. I Googled around and found a reference to this practice of the Roman Pontiff in this article here:

Five Days to Say Yes

Ever since hearing John Paul II did this I have written every prayer intention I have had in what I call my Perpetual Prayer Book. I now have 84 pages in my book. Every day I pray for ALL the intentions in my book and I pray specifically for one full page in chronological order during my Morning Prayer by reading the entire page. When I get to the current end of my intentions, currently page 84, I start the next day at the first page again. It helps me remember things I have prayed for, prayers granted, things that still need praying for and things which the answer has yet to be discovered or for which I was led along a path I did not expect. Sometimes it reminds me someone I know was suffering and I should give them a call. When I tell someone I am going to pray for them for some intention… it becomes a life long commitment for me.

God and everything about Him is infinite, he lives in eternity, neither infinity nor eternity has a beginning, middle or end. Why would is it more difficult to believe God will use our prayers in the future but not the past, especially since he clearly knows we will say those prayers? Unless Holy Mother Church instructs me otherwise, I believe a prayer know through the power of God, can alleviate past suffering or be used in any other way God desires.
 
Swiss_Guy said:
I suppose, since that’s kind of what convinced me praying for souls in purgatory is ok (what if they were already out, ya know?). But then again purgatory is outside of time, isn’t it? :confused:
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According to Pope Benedict (writing as Cardinal Ratzinger) you are correct about purgatory and time.The transforming ‘moment’ of [purgatory] cannot be quantified by the measurements of earthly time. It is, indeed, not eternal but a transition, and yet trying to qualify it as of ‘short’ or ‘long’ duration on the basis of temporal measurements derived from physics would be naive and unproductive. The ‘temporal measure’ of this encounter lies in the unsoundable depths of existence, in a passing-over where we are burned ere we are transformed. To measure such Existenzzeit, such an ‘existential time,’ in terms of the time of this world would be to ignore the specificity of the human spirit in its simultaneous relationship with, and differentation from, the world. (Ratzinger, Eschatology):o
 
Oh, I also forgot this quote from Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical:In the interconnectedness of Being, my gratitude to the other—my prayer for him—can play a small part in his purification. And for that there is no need to convert earthly time into God’s time: in the communion of souls simple terrestrial time is superseded. It is never too late to touch the heart of another, nor is it ever in vain. (Spe Salvi, #48):o
 
If we are to say that purgatory is outside of time, what are we to make of partial indulgences of X number of days?
 
Crimsonflyboy said:
If we are to say that purgatory is outside of time, what are we to make of partial indulgences of X number of days?
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First, as far as I know, partial indulgences are not ever stated in that way any more. Secondly, even when they were stated in that way, the X number of days did not refer to time in purgatory, but rather to earthly penance (such as X number of days of prayer, or X days of pilgrimage or retreat) comparing the results of such earthly penance to what might be equivalent penance in purgatory.

Obviously that was a misleading system; altho it did have the benefit of making reference to penance that we might do here on earth–as we still can.

And we must also remember that even a plenary indulgence is only plenary if all the conditions are met, including a detachment from sin. Everyone doesn’t meet those conditions, so that an indulgence that is stated as plenary might actually be partial for some and plenary for others!
 
Crimsonflyboy, regarding “what are we to make of partial indulgences of X number of days?” I second JimG’s post. But to clarify, are you saying there were times that someone was told if they did such-and-such that they would get X number of days less in Purgatory? Or are you saying that a certain indulgence required X number of days of penance? The first question would be more confusing. But remember, even though specifics of earthly time have never been part of the permanent doctrine of purgatory, the theology behind the figure of time refers to the magnitude of penance required. i.e. when a Christian in history referred to more “days” in purgatory, he/she said it in the context that more penance was required—greater sins require greater penance for remission of their temporal (not eternal) consequences. In the current development of doctrine, clock-time isn’t strictly adhered to as a “unit of measure” regarding the magnitude of a sin, even the figure of time helped us understand more penance corresponded to more severe sin. Make sense?
 
JD27076 said:
Could a prayer in modern times reflect an intention of a past event.

For example, if I prayed today for the protection of the Jews during the Nazi Regime, could that prayer help the past Jews?

I know this is a silly question. :o Since the past is locked in stone.

But what are your opinions on if it could happen or not?
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Not a silly question at all…I pray constantly for something that happened over a hundred years ago…glad to know i am not the only one who wonders about this.
 
I hope so, because I have done it!!

From our limited perspective, time is linear…but God is not bound by time–
 
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