It's that true?

[ADiosgracias]

Q. If someone is in hell, are our prayers wasted on him or her? Our prayers cannot get someone out of hell, but they can lighten the punishment of God in hell?!

— N.W., Salmon, Idaho

A. Here’s a reply from OSV columnist Msgr. M. Francis Mannion:

Actually, prayers for those in hell are a total waste of time. The damned do not want your prayers or your attempts at communion with them. That is the nature of hell. And prayers do not lighten the punishment of hell because God does not send the punishment. God does not send people to hell. They have so locked themselves into a hellish way of life that they would not want to be anywhere else.

Keep this thought in mind, however: If you now pray for anyone in this life they will never go to hell. What a great thought! If anyone is lovable enough to merit the prayers of others, then they are redeemable. So the best way to keep people out of hell is to be in prayerful communion with them — now. I got this idea from a retreat given in our seminary in 1970 by a Galway priest, and it struck me as completely revolutionary.

 

[marty1818]

Praying for those in hell would be a waste of time for the reasons the Monsignor mentions. It is important to note though, that we cannot know with certainty who is in hell so even if we were praying for someone in hell, we would never know it in this life. All we can do is pray for the deceased and entrust them to the mercy of God.

 

[ADiosgracias]

My concern is in the second part “If you now pray for anyone in this life they will never go to hell. What a great thought! If anyone is lovable enough to merit the prayers of others, then they are redeemable”

 

[1ke]

My concern is in the second part “If you now pray for anyone in this life they will never go to hell. What a great thought! If anyone is lovable enough to merit the prayers of others, then they are redeemable”

I think you misunderstand. He is saying we should pray that they do not go to Hell. Pray for them to repent, to be reconciled, to live a holy life, for final penitence and a holy death. Your prayers can merit much grace for them. We pray that they will be moved by that grace.

 

[Leon_Bloy]

To chime in here, yeah, prayers for those in hell would be pointless, according to Church teaching. However, as noted by Ike (I think - one of my favorite posters ), nobody knows who if anybody is in hell, so it’s best just to pray for the dead and leave it all up to God’s mercy. Also, the statement that praying for a person automatically, as it were, prevents them from going to hell is a little odd - of course, whether or not a person goes to hell is up to that person as they are judged by God alone. But of course, pray, pray for everybody! Living and dead. Especially in this month of November.

 

[revert_jen]

I’ve heard that prayers for those in Hell are NOT useless–only useless to the person being prayed for. Meaning, that if you pray for someone in Hell (of course not knowing that he is in Hell), it does you some good, and God can “transfer” the prayers to someone in Purgatory.

There is no way that one person can ensure the eternal destination of any other person. Praying for someone who is alive can grant them great graces, but it cannot (and should not) remove their free will.

Priests, even Monsignors, are not infallible. Not everything they say is correct. I’m sure he meant well.

–Jen

 

[bilop]

I’ve heard that prayers for those in Hell are NOT useless–only useless to the person being prayed for. Meaning, that if you pray for someone in Hell (of course not knowing that he is in Hell), it does you some good, and God can “transfer” the prayers to someone in Purgatory.

There is no way that one person can ensure the eternal destination of any other person. Praying for someone who is alive can grant them great graces, but it cannot (and should not) remove their free will.

Priests, even Monsignors, are not infallible. Not everything they say is correct. I’m sure he meant well.

–Jen

He probably means that the prayers do no good for the person in Hell.

I agree that God surely makes some use of sincere prayers for those who happen to be in Hell, especially if the prayer has no reason to know the person is in Hell.

God Bless

 

[revert_jen]

He probably means that the prayers do no good for the person in Hell.

Probably, but the idea that any heart-felt prayer is “useless” sets my teeth on edge. Plus, there should be no element of judgement in prayer for the dead. If people start doing things like praying, “Lord, please grant rest and peace to So-and-so if he’s not already in Hell,” that is definitely a change for the worse.

I mean, surely prayers do no good for those in Hell, but that information is only useful from a theological standpoint, not from a practical one.

Anyway, his reply gives a bit of the effect of, “Don’t pray for the dead, because they might be in Hell which would be a waste. Pray for the living instead and you can keep them out of Hell.” Which is so full of wrongness (much more full of wrongness than what he actually said), that it’s hard to know where to start.

–Jen

 

[R_C]

It’s not useless in the sense that God would take any good merit coming from that prayer and apply it for the sake of souls in purgatory or sinners. But it is useless in the sense that the person in hell will not benefit at all, only hurt more. Such would be the case, say, for prayers for fallen angels. But as for humans, we hardly know who is in hell and who isn’t If we did, no point at all in praying for them, we should spend the prayer for better needs.

On the contrary, the poor souls in Purgatory are in desperate need of our prayers. What is to some extent better: to pray only for sinners to try to save them ourselves, or to also pray for souls in purgatory who, released, would be saints at the presence of God and intercede on our behalf for sinners?

 

[bilop]

It’s not useless in the sense that God would take any good merit coming from that prayer and apply it for the sake of souls in purgatory or sinners. But it is useless in the sense that the person in hell will not benefit at all, only hurt more. Such would be the case, say, for prayers for fallen angels. But as for humans, we hardly know who is in hell and who isn’t If we did, no point at all in praying for them, we should spend the prayer for better needs.

On the contrary, the poor souls in Purgatory are in desperate need of our prayers. What is to some extent better: to pray only for sinners to try to save them ourselves, or to also pray for souls in purgatory who, released, would be saints at the presence of God and intercede on our behalf for sinners?

If I’m in the mood to pray for someone I don’t know, I like to pray for “the most forgotten soul in Purgatory”.

That’s always someone, who has no one to pray for them, so I figure it’s a great use of prayer time.

God Bless

 

[R_C]

You mean the poor soul who has been crying his heart out for centuries hoping for that one last prayer or indulgence that would free him? That’s a beautiful prayer indeed! If I hadn’t given to Our Lady the privilege of determining who will my poor prayers benefit, I’d adopt it as mine…yet I feel the forgotten souls are the ones in most need, so she probably intercedes for them very much, with great joy (relative to their state, of course) of the other souls in purgatory That was also the advice of St. Francis of Sales (I think): to not count on the prayers of our nearest, because they cease soon enough :sad_yes:

 

[thistle]

Q. If someone is in hell, are our prayers wasted on him or her? Our prayers cannot get someone out of hell, but they can lighten the punishment of God in hell?!

— N.W., Salmon, Idaho

A. Here’s a reply from OSV columnist Msgr. M. Francis Mannion:

Actually, prayers for those in hell are a total waste of time. The damned do not want your prayers or your attempts at communion with them. That is the nature of hell. And prayers do not lighten the punishment of hell because God does not send the punishment. God does not send people to hell. They have so locked themselves into a hellish way of life that they would not want to be anywhere else.

Keep this thought in mind, however: If you now pray for anyone in this life they will never go to hell. What a great thought! If anyone is lovable enough to merit the prayers of others, then they are redeemable. So the best way to keep people out of hell is to be in prayerful communion with them — now. I got this idea from a retreat given in our seminary in 1970 by a Galway priest, and it struck me as completely revolutionary.

They are certainly wasted on the person(s) already in Hell.
People in Hell are there forever and nothing can alleviate them of the punishments of Hell.