[sinkspur]

Not only prayer, but one can also give up some of the unpleasantness in one's life (i.e., a toothache, back pain) for them. Or skip a meal once in a while for them.

[conservonator]

Offering prayers and suffering for the souls in purgatory is a daily part of my life.

[armydoc]

Well, this should be a relatively easy matter. Given that saying the Prayer of St. Gertrude the Great releases 1000 souls from purgatory each time it is said (http://www.catholicspot.com/purgatory.htm), and assuming a cumulative world population of 106,456,367,669 (http://www.prb.org/Content/ContentGroups/PTarticle/0ct-Dec02/How_Many_People_Have_Ever_Lived_on_Earth_.htm), and with a current world population of Catholics of 1 billion, only 1 out of ten Catholics would have to say the prayer once to empty out the place (even assuming everyone that ever lived is in purgatory- obviously not the case).

Alternatively, we could take Jesus at his Word when he said "It is finished".

[RnMomof7]

Why did Christ die?

[roylene]

Not being a Catholic, I do not get purgatory.

[EvaClement]

bookmark.

[LibKill]

In Saltillo, Mexico I went to a cathedral. There are donation boxes there with paintings of suffering souls in purgatory attached. The donations go for prayers for their release.

I'm not religious, just reporting what I saw.

[gcruse]

praying for the poor souls - the sooner they'll be freed and can then intercede for us.

LOL  When you get right down to it, it's all about us, isn't it?  The sooner we can get your soul to start interceding for us, ie changing God's mind, the better.  I won't belabor the obvious of a perfect deity making imperfect decisions that can be rectified by having these imperfections pointed out in prayer.

[Revelation 911]

Your works count in your salvation, and those works include helping the suffering souls in Purgatory.

the repentant thief on the cross (and Christ) might argue the point - no time for works, but he was saved none the less