Hi Brenda,

The simple answer is, yes, indulgences can be applied to the living or the dead!

Padre Pio was once deep in prayer. A woman waiting to speak with him eventually asked him,

Father, what were you praying about so intensely?

Padre Pio replied that he had been praying for his mother. The woman questioned him again,

Your mother died a long time ago; don't you believe she is in Heaven?

Padre Pio replied that he knew she was in Heaven because of the prayers he was now offering.

The Doctrine of the Communion of Saints is a wonderful solicitude of the Church, and makes us ever aware of how closely all human beings are connected, and of our obligations to others, even long after their souls have left this earth. In this particular age, when so many are unaware or have forgotten the pious and charitable act of praying for the dead, many will have their suffering in Purgatory needlessly extended in the everlasting life to come. For those in the Church who practice the pious devotion of praying for the souls in Purgatory, their prayers aid and assist in satisfying God's justice of burning off any remaining self-love attached to them. Remember, the souls in Purgatory can do nothing to help themselves. They are totally reliant upon the efforts of the Communion of Saints, living and dead.

Terry

Hi Brenda,

Just to add to what Terry has said:

• The "soul" of praying the Rosary is the meditation on the mysteries of the life of Our Lord and His holy parents, Joseph and Mary.
• The "body" is saying the prayers aloud.

Although you receive many graces anyway you say it, to say the Rosary well, takes a little mental discipline which can be developed over time. We should be striving to meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary to the point where the words we are saying aloud seem like a background issue, not the foremost thing on our mind. In his encyclical on the Rosary, our Pope St. John Paul II warned about falling into this trap of saying the Rosary "in vain repetition". Nevertheless, praying the Rosary, no matter how you pray it, is better than not praying it at all.

You said:

• When praying the Rosary for a certain intention, how can I pray the Rosary while mentioning my intention simultaneously?

I usually mention my intentions at the start, before the Creed, and mention any new ones in between the start of the decades. This allows me to focus on meditating of the mystery, while saying the background Hail Marys.

You said:

• Can the Saints give us things?
  I'm not talking about visions.

Seeing that Saints in Heaven now have perfect union of body, mind and will with Our Lord Himself, anything we ask through the intercession of the Saints is always granted in accord with God's will.

Someone may ask:

• Why ask a Saint, when I can ask God Himself?

Because in a more real sense than we can imagine, we are family. This is something the Protestant reformers, I believe, trashed! We honor those who God honors. God is glorified through the holy choices and work of His Saints.

Take my case: I've been looking for work for about three years. When I ask St. Joseph for his help in getting me a job, more than honoring St. Joseph, I am honoring the work of God in St. Joseph, and therefore honoring God Himself.

• Who would be the first Saint to affirm this?

St. Joseph Himself!

I hope Terry and I have answered your question.

Take care,

Mike

Dear Brenda,

You said:

• Is it wrong to pray the Rosary with fewer Hail Marys?

I find that saying all ten "Hail Mary's" kind of distracting, and I don't see the point in just saying the words.

If you want to say the Rosary, yes. You don't have to say the Rosary, however. St. Therese had a hard time saying the Rosary also. You can either:

• say the words of the prayer with meaning, thinking about them and their Scriptural setting, and meditate on the Mystery for a few minutes, prior to saying the decade; or
• you can meditate on the Mystery while you pray, but in this case, you will be conscious of the meaning of the words of the prayer only intermittently, if at all.

The saying of the prayer becomes a physical way of praying, and a sort of background music bearing up your soul as you meditate. Just keep trying, and the Rosary will reveal itself.

If you begin to get lost in meditation, that's fine, go with it, says St. Thérèse of Lisieux, (more1|more2), even if it means you don't finish the Rosary.

You said:

• Can the Saints give us things?
  <I'm not talking about visions.>
• If you ask Saints to pray for you, do they, themselves, give you what you need?
  <I thought they only interceded for us.>

All good things come from God. The Saint himself or herself does not give us anything, but the prayers and merits of a Saint may be shared with us in their fruitfulness — sort of like Jesus curing the paralytic, whose friends carried him to Jesus because of their faith, not his.

You said:

• When praying the Rosary for a certain intention, how can I pray the Rosary while mentioning my intention simultaneously?

Don't be too worried about the verbal aspect of prayer. The Church defines prayer as the lifting of the mind and heart to God. This can be expressed:

• in words
• in thought
• in imagination, or
• in some other manner.

When you lift your heart to God, all that is in your heart is lifted to Him, including those intentions that you carry in your heart. It is good to consciously and explicitly advert to your intention once, perhaps at the beginning of your prayer, but not necessary — God knows what you desire. You can offer a day, a task, an hour, a suffering, an act of love, or a verbal prayer for someone. All are prayers.

Hope this helps,

Mary Ann