Which brings up how long does one pray for those in purgatory? How do they know when they are sprung from their incarceration? AND, if they don’t know their OWN salvation, how can they be sure of anyone else? They pray to not only their Pope-verified Saints but also to any other Tom, Dick or Harry who has died. For all they know, some of them are in hell.
Excellent points sir. It has been so long since I was a catholic, I can hardly remember. I seem to remember they told us if we went to mass for nine straight first Fridays, or five straight first Saturdays, we could get someone out of purgatory. It gave me a sense of power, like the Mormons baptism for the dead. I only went through the motions, because I didn't think that I was even good enough to qualify for purgatory. I thought I would go to Hell, and it bothered me. I didn't feel like being a good sport, and getting someone into Heaven, when I was pretty sure I would be in Hell fire. Not a good deal I thought. If I was in hell, I think answering someone's prayer, would be the absolute last thing on my mind. Does that help? 😇
Heck!
I can't even get an answer from our FR Catholics on just who the "dead in Christ" are!