Why are we praying for a deceased priest?

[wes1side]

I am not the most well versed Catholic, but I am trying to become a better and more knowledgable Catholic. I have started attending a local Communion and Liberation group. After we pray the Angelus, the leader says “and for Father Guissani…” and then we close.

Why would we pray for a priest who died earlier this year? I know Father Guissani did good things during his life, but this local CL group almost puts him at the same level as Jesus himself. When I questioned this, the leader told me that the local diocese director instructed them to do so…this person (from the diocese)is a lay person.

Is this OK, I just want to make sure I am not off base wheni question this.

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Dear D,

It is precisely because Fr. Guissani is a sinner like you and me—and is not Jesus, that they you are praying for the repose of his soul. For more on praying for the deceased, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, # 958:

Communion with the dead. "In full consciousness of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church in its pilgrim members, from the very earliest days of the Christian religion, has honored with great respect the memory of the dead; and ‘because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins’ she offers her suffrages for them."Our prayer for them is capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.

And # 1032:

This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin."From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:
Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.