In the article “Acting in the Past, Present and Future…”, from the January issue, Msgr. João says that “We can pray for the deceased long after their death, to prevent the devil from exerting his influence on them, and so that they may receive an efficacious grace of conversion at the hour of agony or have a good death, trusting in divine mercy and the maternal goodness of Our Lady, so that their souls leave their bodies in tranquillity, joy and jubilation and may rise to Heaven in the most beautiful manner.” But what if the person was not saved? We prayed that he or she would have a good death, be converted at the last moment or be saved. But if the person did not convert, did not repent of his or her sins in time – or did not want to repent – was there any value in that prayer?
Verônica Dias Gonçalves – Via revista.arautos.org
When we talk about prayer, we must take into account two related elements: efficaciousness and merit.
Prayer is considered efficacious when the supplication is favourably heard and achieves its objective. The Holy Gospels contain numerous accounts of requests made to Our Lord that He immediately answered: recovery of sight, liberation of those possessed, healing of lepers… There are countless miracles resulting from a prayer formulated with faith and humility, such as this one by the leper: “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean” (Lk 5:12).
However, prayer is not always efficacious. This happens for various reasons, such as: lack of faith, trust or perseverance; because what we ask for is not appropriate for our salvation; finally, because it does not depend solely on God and us whether our prayer is answered, but also on the person for whom we pray, since this person, in the exercise of his or her freedom, can reject the graces that our prayer obtains for him or her.
According to St. Thomas, four characteristics are required for prayer to be efficacious: asking for oneself, asking for things necessary for salvation, asking with piety and perseverance (cf. Summa Theologiæ. II-II, q.83, a.15, ad 2). The first condition, which seems to be an incentive to selfishness, is in reality only a theological precision. Still dealing with prayer in the Summa Theologiæ, the Angelic Doctor strongly encourages us to pray for our neighbour:
“When we pray we ought to ask for what we ought to desire. Now we ought to desire good things not only for ourselves, but also for others: for this is essential to the love which we owe to our neighbour […]. Therefore charity requires us to pray for others. Chrysostom says: ‘Necessity binds us to pray for ourselves, fraternal charity urges us to pray for others: and the prayer that fraternal charity proffers is sweeter to God than that which is the outcome of necessity’” (a.7).
Thus, it is clear that to pray for one’s neighbour is extremely pleasing to God; however, it is not always efficacious. What then is its value? St. Thomas himself answers:
“For it sometimes happens that we pray for another with piety and perseverance, and ask for things relating to his salvation, and yet it is not granted on account of some obstacle on the part of the person we are praying for, according to Jeremiah 15:1, ‘If Moses and Samuel shall stand before Me, My soul is not towards this people.’ And yet the prayer will be meritorious for the person who prays thus out of charity, according to Psalm 34:13, ‘My prayer shall be turned into my bosom, i.e. though it profit them not, I am not deprived of my reward,’ as the gloss expounds it” (a.7, ad 2).
Therefore, in the case raised by Veronica, even if the prayer is not effective in terms of the intention expressed, it will have the value of obtaining merits for the eternal life of the person who prayed it and, therefore, will be very useful to him. Additionally, we can say that God, upon receiving such a prayer, has the sovereign power to apply it to any other useful intention for the good of souls and the Holy Church, which is why a prayer is never in vain.
