by Brad Heidrick
There’s a quiet part of our Catholic life that offers one of the most beautiful works of mercy we’re given to do: praying for the souls in purgatory.
So much of our ministry at Catholic Community Health is about caring for those who walk the final steps of their earthly journey. We accompany them, pray with them and entrust them to the mercy of God. The church reminds us that our care doesn’t end with their last breath. Love doesn’t end there, either. In fact, our love — expressed through prayer — becomes even more powerful.
It can be easy to think of purgatory as a punishment, but in reality, it is God’s mercy, preparing the souls there to spend eternity with him. Those souls, who can no longer pray for themselves, rely on us. They are our brothers and sisters, members of the same body of Christ.
I think often of the prayers at the bedside of a hospice patient, the last rosaries offered by our volunteers and the countless moments when someone breathes their last as a chaplain recites the Divine Mercy chaplet. These prayers don’t fall to the floor. They rise. They continue. They echo into eternity, carrying that soul to Christ.
The truth is, many people die without anyone to pray for them by name. God has given us the privilege of standing in the gap. When we pray for the forgotten, the overlooked, the unknown, we live out our Catholic identity. We claim them as family.
This is a stewardship we don’t talk about enough — not the stewardship of buildings or budgets, but the stewardship of souls. Just as our volunteers bring residents to the chapel for Mass or hold the hand of someone taking their final breaths, so too can each of us help carry souls the rest of the way home through prayer.
In a world that moves quickly, remembering the dead slows us down and roots us again in what matters most: heaven. If you’re looking for a place to begin, start small: a Hail Mary for a soul in purgatory. Offer your next Communion for someone who has no one to pray for them. Pray the Divine Mercy chaplet for the next obituary you read.
We care for people in life with compassion, dignity and faith. Let us also care for them in death with confident prayer. This is the kind of stewardship that builds not only strong communities on earth, but a joyful reunion in heaven.
