Because God is a refiner’s forge, that burns away the impurities of our soul. He doesn’t cause the pain of this process, it is our own attachment to sin that causes it, and the realization of the pain that our sin has caused others to bear. If God was to reduce this pain and suffering, He would be diminishing who He is. Since He cannot be less than what He is, the purification process must come with suffering.How can our prayers help the souls in purgatory? If they are suffering because they need to be purified from their sins, then why doesn’t God make their purification as fast and painless as possible whether we pray or not? (Note that I don’t doubt that our prayers can help them, I’m only asking how they can help.)
This doesn’t answer the question. Your answer seems to imply that God cannot justly reduce suffering in purgatory and therefore praying for the souls in purgatory is useless. On the other hand, if our prayers can help them, that seems to imply that God can justly reduce their suffering, and if that is the case then it appears that God should reduce their suffering as much as possible whether we pray for them or not. The question is, what is wrong with this logic?Because God is a refiner’s forge, that burns away the impurities of our soul. He doesn’t cause the pain of this process, it is our own attachment to sin that causes it, and the realization of the pain that our sin has caused others to bear. If God was to reduce this pain and suffering, He would be diminishing who He is. Since He cannot be less than what He is, the purification process must come with suffering.
Praying for souls is not useless. Your prayers act as penance for the souls that are there. However, the Church recognizes the existence of purgatory as a necessary element to the sanctification process, but doesn’t spend a whole lot of time trying to postulate exactly what happens, because we simply don’t know. Scripture commands us to pray for the dead, the Church teaches us to pray for the dead, so we do.This doesn’t answer the question. Your answer seems to imply that God cannot justly reduce suffering in purgatory and therefore praying for the souls in purgatory is useless. On the other hand, if our prayers can help them, that seems to imply that God can justly reduce their suffering, and if that is the case then it appears that God should reduce their suffering as much as possible whether we pray for them or not. The question is, what is wrong with this logic?
Frankly, if I find myself in Puragtory I won’t care how long I am there. I will put up with the purification process gladly because it means I have been saved and I would know that my next destination is Heaven.How can our prayers help the souls in purgatory? If they are suffering because they need to be purified from their sins, then why doesn’t God make their purification as fast and painless as possible whether we pray or not? (Note that I don’t doubt that our prayers can help them, I’m only asking how they can help.)
Now that is one very cool perspective I haven’t heard before. Thank you for that !Frankly, if I find myself in Puragtory I won’t care how long I am there. I will put up with the purification process gladly because it means I have been saved and I would know that my next destination is Heaven.