Bishop Lynch passed away...

[1stFreedom]

Bishop Lynch passed away last night.

Bishop Lynch was remembered for his civil disobediance at abortion clinics in Westchester NY, often being arrested with Father Fidelis (a franciscan brother at the time.)

Please include Bishop Lynch in your prayers.

[1stFreedom]

Some stories about Bishop Lynch:

http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9706/opinion/mcconnell.html

http://www.ewtn.com/library/PROLIFE/CURSELND.TXT

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

I doubt Bishop Lynch ever heard of you.

[ModernDayCato]

Wow.

[BibChr]

Please include Bishop Lynch in your prayers.

May I ask, honestly, when you ask for that, what do you mean? You do mean to ask people to pray for this dead man, right? I ask, meaning (I swear) no sarcasm, what sorts of things are you thinking that someone would pray for a dead man?

Dan

[HiTech RedNeck]

is this catholic bait or what? :-)

[AndrewC]

May I ask, honestly, when you ask for that, what do you mean? You do mean to ask people to pray for this dead man, right?

Dan, God is not constrained by our concept of time.

[BibChr]

If I used honest answers to my honest question, I could justly be called all sorts of nasty things. This is just something I really wonder.

Dan

[BibChr]

I don't know what you mean specifically, though. You mean you would pray about things that had already happened before he died, things of which you already know the outcome? I don't know what you specifically mean. What would you pray for a man who has died?

Dan

[BibChr]

Uh, what I meant to say was...

If I used honest answers to my honest question as an opportunity to jump up and down on the people answering me, I could justly be called all sorts of nasty things.

That!

Dan

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

St. Paul prayed for his deceased friend in 2 Tim 1:16-18 May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiph'orus, for he often refreshed me; he was not ashamed of my chains, 17 but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me eagerly and found me-- 18 may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day--and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus

St. Paul illustrates that the early Christian community retained this portion of OT tradition as explicitly stated in 2 Maccabees 12:44 for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death.

[AndrewC]

What would you pray for a man who has died?

Well, what I would pray for, were he alive.

Mat 21:2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose [them], and bring [them] unto me.

Mat 21:3 And if any [man] say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.

[BibChr]

Thanks for responding.

Leaving aside my acceptance or rejection of your interpretation of Paul's words to Timothy, I still have to ask — and I am not trying to be dense, just clear — what is it that you envision praying for this man who has died? Are you intending to pray that he will, after death, find a mercy from God that he had not experienced in life, hoping to change his relationship to God from what it was at the moment of his death?

Dan

[Brandybux]

Dan,

I'll answer as a catholic (not a Catholic) Christian ...

In the Prayers of the People during the Rite I Liturgy, we find the following:

And we also bless thy holy Name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear [especially {here insert names of recently departed Christians}], beseeching thee to grant them continual growth in thy love and service; and to grant us grace so to follow the good examples of [{name a notable saint, often the saint for whom the parish is named} and of] all thy saints, that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom.

Someone above mentioned that God is not constrained by our experience of time. However, prayers for departed Christians arises more naturally from the conviction that the Christians in heaven are no less sentient or undeserving of our prayers for them than saints on earth. I would think, in particular, that the "transition" alone makes such Christians liable to need prayers for settling down in the new, surely strange surroundings. If you'd pray for fellow believers moving to a new land, how much more when they're moving to heaven.

[Happy2BMe]

Not a Catholic, but always admired Bishop Lynch's fine work against the baby killers of the world.

May he rest in peace.

[klute]

Are you intending to pray that he will, after death, find a mercy from God that he had not experienced in life, hoping to change his relationship to God from what it was at the moment of his death?

Well...I'm unsure what harm praying for such things does..but I do have to admit the above paragraph is as confusing as the concept that I can ask and receive forgiveness for something I haven't yet done and may not even be sorry for after I do it.

[BibChr]

I do appreciate that you are trying to explain your view to me. I'll be honest, I don't get the connection with those two verses at all. Leaving that aside, you say this:

Well, what I would pray for, were he alive.

That would be (in my understanding of Biblical priorities) for his conviction of sin, his salvation through faith in Christ alone, his conversion, his growth in faith and holiness, his physical wellbeing, God's hand on his life, a blessed marriage and family life... such matters as that. You're saying you'd pray any or all of that? I honestly wouldn't guess what else you'd mean; that's why I'd appreciate someone who plans to do this telling me what he plans to pray — or the person who asked for the prayers explaining what he wanted prayed.

Dan

[HiTech RedNeck]

things of which you already know the outcome

We don't know if he went to heaven or hell (hoping of course, it was the former). It's a Schrodinger's cat kind of question.

[wimpycat]

Praying doesn't change God, it changes you. Now stop trying to derail the thread. A Catholic bishop died and it seems prayers are being asked for him. Catholics pray for the dead. If I were a Catholic I'd tell you to shut up, but I'm not. I'm a Baptist, and I'm telling you to let these Catholics do their thing and quit pretending that you want to know something in an effort to start a quarrel. You're not fooling anyone.