So, Friardchips (please don’t think I’m fighting you --I may sound like an atheist trying to rebut, but I have a big inner atheist as I was one for 25 years --so I am grateful if you will bear with me on this), the point is this:
If I don’t pray for my two brothers who are away from the faith, God will not call them, or not call them so hard, if I do not pray for them?
This question really bothers me, as it implies God withholds his goodness unless there is someone to pray for us/them.
Grace from Heaven to earth flows like a channel. Yes, grace is from God, but it flows through the intercessory hierarchy (degrees of humility). So we have Jesus at the Father’s right hand, as Mediator, we have the Holy Spirit as Advocate and Our Lady, His Mystical Spouse, through whom graces flow, and then we have the Saints in Heaven, Angels, and we have the Church on earth. All graces flow through the Church though seemingly grace comes direct from God; but in fact, since the fall of humankind, it has been this way. So that all people co-operate in the sharing work of the Redeemer. But all graces flow through and beyond the visible confines of the Church. This was the case even before the visible Church came into being. This might take more explanation to understand, and more examples, but this is the case, nevertheless. In terms of intercession on earth, before Jesus’ time, we had the prophets. Yet all, every single being who ever existed, that is saved, belongs to the Church, and has received intercession on their behalf.
With this explanation, you can see how each one of us is not only doing a nice extra something for someone, when we pray for them, but actually carrying out a duty, a work; in this case, I think prayer is known to be a ‘work of mercy’. This is a duty, as a Catholic. The biggest part, in fact, other than living the sacramental life.
As another poster said, God calls all of humanity. He calls humanity through every good means available in Creation. Even in suffering, humankind can cry out, and receive the grace of conversion. But even if someone has received an on-the-spot conversion, in the manner of St. Francis or St. Augustine, this conversion has still been instituted via grace, through the power of Intercession. This is the most perfect way as created by the Father when He pre-empted the Fall of Humankind with His Saving Plan.
God always invites. It is humanity that turns away. The grace is there, but we cannot always open our hearts to it. So, with the power invested in each Baptised Catholic, one is to pray for others.
I don’t know how to answer this in succinct enough terms…