Remember to pray for your deceased friends and family

Remember to prayer for your deceased friends and family.

Before we get started, the Litany of the Faithful Departed

This might seem like a weird thing to hear in a nominally Protestant country, but, the truth is, that praying for the dead is such a human act, that I’m unsure what the objection to it is.

My job isn’t to go over the Biblical evidence for it (though, I have, Coffee and Christianity: Episode 25: Prayers for the dead) as well as Jewish tradition.  (same episode).

Now, today, I just want to tell you that, pray for those people whom you love and cared about.

I especially want you to pray for Protestant family members, or other people who don't expect to be prayed for after death.
I’ve met some Protestants that are (sadly) more holy than a lot of Catholics ever will be. 

That is to our shame.

But, coming from a mixed faith family (on my dad’s side, I know there are some Catholics, but, my dad was Lutheran.  My mom’s family is Catholic, Baptist, Jewish, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, etc), I think most of the influential people in my life have been Protestants.

Note, this does not mean I think all Protestants are holy.  I don’t. 

And, when you’re remembering your friends and family in Purgatory, you don’t have to think of them as being in fire (I don’t, I have more of an Eastern Christian view on it; The Orthodox View of Purgatory Is Surprisingly Catholic)

I feel for me though (and, keep in mind, this isn’t supposed to be an apologetics article), that part of the “urging” to pray for the dead, is because of hope.  The Bible talks A LOT about hope. 

I’ll let Paul have the final words on this; “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it”.

(Romans 8:24-25, KJV because I live in the Bible belt).