Offerings for the Holy Souls?

[Dorothy_Brown]

I plan to start praying a daily Rosary for particular intentions (for example, on Mondays I will pray for those involved in or affected by abortion, on Tuesdays I will pray for those involved in the occult, etc.) I was wondering if we can offer up Rosaries prayed for the living for the Holy Souls in Purgatory? In other words, do those in Purgatory only benefit from our prayers if they are who we are praying for? I would dedicate a specific day of the week for the souls in Purgatory, but it just seems a little strange to pray for them “now and at the hour of their death” since they have already died.

 

[Crusaderbear]

I generally dedicate several decades a week to ‘the souls in purrgatory’ - just a general prayer. I’ll dedicate other decades for relatives who may be there…I feel God will share the prayers around as needed!

 

[Roseeurekacross]

I try to gain indulgences for those in purgatory. Sometimes I have a person in mind, other times not. I have no idea how it works. I hope some reach those with no one to pray for them. It’s in God’s hands,

Usually I pray the Rosary in Church with a group, I imagine the words ’ now and at the hour of our death’ being for us alive and those yet to be born. But the work itself, the big picture, being for those in purgatory.
It is a Spiritual act of Mercy so any prayer for the dead must help …

 

[midori]

but it just seems a little strange to pray for them “now and at the hour of their death” since they have already died.

God is outside of time. So if you do something for X, even if it’s years after the actual time of his death, God already took that into account.

Anecdote:

One day Padre Pio told his doctor: “I’m praying for the good death of my great-great grandfather”.
“But he died more than one hundred years ago!”
“Remember that for God there is no past and no future, and everything is present. So God made use at that time of the prayers I’m saying now.”

 

[Tis_Bearself]

You can get a partial, or under certain conditions, plenary, indulgence for praying the Rosary. You are free to ask Jesus to apply this indulgence to the souls in Purgatory, and you can do this even if you are praying the Rosary for some other intention. I do this all the time. I just tell Jesus and Mary this rosary is for intention “A” (i.e. for world peace, for the protection of the USA, for today’s Catholic Answers prayer intentions) and if I earn any indulgence from saying the rosary, please apply it to the souls in purgatory of their choice.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

God is outside of time. So if you do something for X, even if it’s years after the actual time of his death, God already took that into account.

Yes, sometimes I do this too, having read that Padre Pio story some time back.

 

[NeedImprovement]

Some would argue, that from the exterior at least, the Divine Mercy Chaplet would appear to be just a little more customized towards prayers for the holy souls in Purgatory ; in particular the clause “Have Mercy on us and on the whole world”. Similarly, it is also a very powerful prayer for the dying - when said with trust in the Divine Mercy. But the thing about the Divine Mercy Chaplet is that even if we are offering it for the souls in Purgatory, we must still recite a Hail Mary after the initial Our Father opens the Chaplet.

In a comparison of the two - the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet, from the perspective of their applicability to helping the holy souls in Purgatory , Father Robert Stackpole, STD,- Director of the John Paul II Institute of Divine Mercy concludes in his article Is the Chaplet Only for the Living and Dying ?-

Either prayer, offered up with a sincere heart that trusts in the Lord, will not fail to be heard, and opens the floodgates of Divine Mercy.

Also, from Fr. Dan Cambra of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception, a good article on our Blessed Mother and Purgatory :
She Knows them Well. How can She Assist the Souls in Purgatory

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the most powerful prayer which can be offered for the holy souls in Purgatory. But after the Mass, the next most powerful prayer which can be offered for the holy souls, according to prevalent thought of today and of time past, is the Rosary. It is not only prayed to our Blessed Mother - it is prayed* with *Her.

A nice, related,comprehensive National Catholic Register article in the form a Q&A interview with author Susan Tassone entitled : How to Help the Holy Souls in Purgatory

 

[NeedImprovement]

Personally, I would never pass up the opportunity to pray a Hail Mary for the souls in Purgatory. We can offer our Blessed Mother our merits for the souls in Purgatory.

The value of reciting just one Hail Mary - from St. Louis de Montfort’s book, The Secret of the Rosary:

Blessed Alan says that a nun who had always had a great devotion to the Holy Rosary appeared after death to one of her sisters in religion and said to her: “If I were allowed to go back into my body, to have the chance of saying just one single Hail Mary - even if I said it quickly and without great fervor - I would gladly go through the sufferings that I had during my last illness all over again, in order to gain the merit of this prayer.” (Blessed Alan de la Roche, De Dignitate Psalterii, Chapter LXIX) This is all the more compelling because she had been bedridden and had suffered agonizing pains for several years before she died.

From The Secret of Mary ; The Perfect Practice of Devotion to Mary

1. By this devotion we place our merits in the hands of our Lady, but only that she may preserve, increase and embellish them, since merit for increase of grace and glory cannot be handed over to any other person. But we give to her all our prayers and good works, inasmuch as they have intercessory and atonement value, for her to distribute and apply to whom she pleases. If, after having thus consecrated ourselves to our Lady, we wish to help a soul in purgatory, rescue a sinner, or assist a friend by a prayer, an alms, an act of self-denial or an act of self-sacrifice, we must humbly request it of our Lady, abiding always by her decision, which of course remains unknown to us. We can be fully convinced that the value of our actions, being dispensed by that same hand which God himself uses to distribute his gifts and graces to us, cannot fail to be applied for his greatest glory.