Topic: How long can we pray for the dead?

Date originally posted: June 30, 2003

Source of this posting: Moderator response to emailed question

Moderator who originally posted this source: Cathy Rusin

Question:   Dear Father:We are told that the funeral prayers are for the dead. So, what is the Cut Off Date..for people who have died? Apparently we are not judged IMMEDIATELY after death..IF these prayers can help us After we die. Also, Mary tells us that many go to Hell because there is no one to pray for them. Can these people be fished out of Hell AFTER they are sent there, by our praying for them?? I Never see any info. on this. What's the story?Lizz

Answer: 

Dear Lizz,

Let me encourage you to go to our FAQ library and read, in the “After Death” section, “What is Purgatory” and “What happens after we die?”
http://64.246.202.66/FAQ_Library/faq_library.htm

All done?

I am unfamiliar with whatever pronouncement may have Mary talking about hell and prayer—can you give me a reference, please? I would be reluctant to promote that as official Catholic teaching. But the short answer is no, once people are ‘in’ Hell, they are there for eternity. But read on... because there is so much more to say about these topics!

As human beings, finite creatures in a particular place and time who learn about the world through our senses … the best, but still limited, way that we can talk about the infinite mysteries beyond our experience is through images. So heaven becomes some place “up there” with whatever our definition of perfection is: streets of gold, overflowing banquet tables, etc.
Hell becomes a place of whatever we think of as misery: eternal flames, little devils poking us with pitchforks. And purgatory is heaven’s waiting room where the magazines are boring and out of date and it seems to take forever for your number to be called! Now you see, these are just examples, they surely don’t fully represent the reality that awaits us.

We talk about places and time, because that’s what we know. The truth is, at the end of our earthly life, we won’t be living ‘in time’ anymore … we’ll be entering into eternity! But that’s too big a concept to talk about for very long, so that’s why we use examples. So “how long” do we pray for someone after their death? I don’t think there’s ever a time limit!

At death, although we may (hopefully!) be headed for an eternity in God’s Presence, we may still be clinging to sin, or its effects, that keeps us from being able to meet God face to face without fear or shame .. with anything less than utter love and joy. So we’ve given the term ‘purgatory’ to that process (which may happen in an instant, or may take years, as we know time) by which we get rid of (purge ourselves of) whatever keeps us from total union with God. The ‘pain’ of purgatory is best described as that of knowing that we’re not yet united with God, and yearning for that to happen, combined with our sorrow for our sins.

Every week in the Creed we profess a belief in the “Communion of Saints”. That means that our relationships with each other don’t end with death. We can help and encourage each other by our prayers. So it’s right to pray for those who have died that they will soon be with God in heaven. And it’s right to ask for the prayers of the saints, who can intercede to God for us.

I had a theology professor who once described Hell as utter nothingness. The condition of being entirely and desperately alone for all eternity. And he suggested that, at the point of death, one would have to say to God in effect, ‘leave me the Hell alone’ — to utterly and finally reject God’s invitations .. so what else could God do? That’s not necessarily official Catholic teaching, but its an image that helps me get past the flames and pitchforks and understand that God’s not trying to trip us up, or Mary’s not counting how many people pray for us!

And that’s the story! (Or at least a small part of it!)
Peace to you,
Cathy Rusin