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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Mass said for Osama Bin Laden	John	Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Question: Dear Bro. Ignatius, The thought of praying, individually, or specifically, for Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Adoph Hitler, perhaps even Judas Iscariot, after they have died, and knowing what they have done, is somewhat difficult, at least for me. To me, it would make better sense to address our prayers in a more comprehensive way, for example, “Heavenly Father, I offer this Rosary for all souls living and dead, in hopes that through Your infinite love and mercy, Your justice will be applied equally to both sinner, and just, and that final judgement will be, as it should be, according to Thy Will. I ask for this in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.” Also, not knowing their final judgement, I would suggest having a Mass said for all the souls in Purgatory, in that way, all souls would benefit by such an act of kindness and charity. In the Book of Maccabee’s, one of the seven (7) books removed from the King James Version of the Bible, we are told, “It is a good and wholesome thought to pray for the dead”. However, while Sadam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden were still alive, I had no problem asking God to intercede, on our behalf, by giving them the grace, needed for their conversion of heart and the salvation of their eternal soul. Bro. Igantius, if I am wrong, I will understand if my letter is not posted. God bless, John
Question Answered by Dear John: We are to pray for everyone. Jesus commands this. Charity commands this. I hope that Osama Bin Laden gets to go to heaven. We are never to hope that anyone goes to hell. We can pray that in God's perfect judgment that Osama will somehow be able to attain heaven, but that is a judgment for God, not us. When a person dies, we should pray for them by name at first. After a while, unless the person is a loved-one perhaps, we pray the generic prayers that will include that person automatically. We cannot pray for everyone by name for years on end. If we did the prayer list would be so long that we could do nothing else. But, just after the person has died, praying for them by name is the right thing to do. Thus, Hitler and Stalin are long dead. Unless we are called to do so, praying for them by name is no longer necessary. Osama, however, has just died, so we need to include him by name initially. I would say that to pray generically to avoid praying for Osama is improper and an excuse to be uncharitable. When we do pray generically, we pray with the mental assent of all those we have prayed for in the past, and all those to whom we never knew. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Mass said for Osama Bin Laden

John

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Question:

Dear Bro. Ignatius,

The thought of praying, individually, or specifically, for Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Adoph Hitler, perhaps even Judas Iscariot, after they have died, and knowing what they have done, is somewhat difficult, at least for me.

To me, it would make better sense to address our prayers in a more comprehensive way, for example, “Heavenly Father, I offer this Rosary for all souls living and dead, in hopes that through Your infinite love and mercy, Your justice will be applied equally to both sinner, and just, and that final judgement will be, as it should be, according to Thy Will. I ask for this in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.”

Also, not knowing their final judgement, I would suggest having a Mass said for all the souls in Purgatory, in that way, all souls would benefit by such an act of kindness and charity. In the Book of Maccabee’s, one of the seven (7) books removed from the King James Version of the Bible, we are told, “It is a good and wholesome thought to pray for the dead”.

However, while Sadam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden were still alive, I had no problem asking God to intercede, on our behalf, by giving them the grace, needed for their conversion of heart and the salvation of their eternal soul.

Bro. Igantius, if I am wrong, I will understand if my letter is not posted.

God bless,

John

Question Answered by

Dear John:

We are to pray for everyone. Jesus commands this. Charity commands this. I hope that Osama Bin Laden gets to go to heaven. We are never to hope that anyone goes to hell. We can pray that in God's perfect judgment that Osama will somehow be able to attain heaven, but that is a judgment for God, not us.

When a person dies, we should pray for them by name at first. After a while, unless the person is a loved-one perhaps, we pray the generic prayers that will include that person automatically. We cannot pray for everyone by name for years on end. If we did the prayer list would be so long that we could do nothing else. But, just after the person has died, praying for them by name is the right thing to do.

Thus, Hitler and Stalin are long dead. Unless we are called to do so, praying for them by name is no longer necessary. Osama, however, has just died, so we need to include him by name initially.

I would say that to pray generically to avoid praying for Osama is improper and an excuse to be uncharitable.

When we do pray generically, we pray with the mental assent of all those we have prayed for in the past, and all those to whom we never knew.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below:
Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum.
Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum
Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum
Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum
Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum