Prayers for the Dead

The graffiti in the catacombs, where Christians hid and were buried during the persecutions of the first three centuries recorded prayers for the dead on wall inscriptions. Some of the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament, like the Acts of Paul and Thecla and the Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity (both written during the second century), refer to the Christian practice of praying for the dead. Prayers for the dead would have been offered only if Christians believed in purgatory, even if they did not use that name for it. Prayers are not needed by those in heaven, and no one can help those in Hell. (See Catholic Answers’ tract The Roots of Purgatory for quotations from these and other early Christian sources.)

Verses that allude to a Purgatorial State

“In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the dead to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin” (2 Macc. 12:43–45).

Christ refers to the sinner who “will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matt. 12:32), and one could see this a meaning that should one die in a state of unrepentance of some of his venial sins, at the end of his earthly life meaning “this age”, purification is still possible “in the age to come”. It is a vague reference, admittedly, but the counter argument that Jesus is merely using the second age as an intensification tool here might be even weaker than the argument that it is indeed an allusion to a Purgatorial state, since I cannot think of another place where he does this, nor is he generally given to hyperbole.

Let us look at another verse. The way that I understand it, for Jews, ‘Sheol” is synonymous with Hades. The word Jesus used for Hellfire was Gehanna, not Sheol (eg. Matt.18:9). Although this terminology can be admittedly confusing. But I would like to take this “Sheol” as an intermediate analogous to Purgatory. Now the “first death”, should likely be taken as the end of earthly life. When viewed in this manner we see that in the verse, it is not definitive death. There will be those in Hades who are given to have Eternal Life, just as there will be those who are damned forever. “Death and Hades” seems a holding place. Personally I like to take “Hades” in the vision to signify Purgatory, and “death” as the holding place for those who are to receive Final Damnation, hence the dual “death and Hades”. Neither signify Final Damnation since it is the “lake of sulfur” into which they are both finally thrown “after having given their dead for Judgement” which seems definitive. That does not necessarily mean there are now four places, only three, but we can make some distinction in souls before the Final Judgement between those whose damnation is already decided and those whose Salvation is “death and hades”.

(Rev: 20:13-15) “The sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead, and each one was judged according to his deeds. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death— the lake of fire. And if anyone was found whose name was not written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire”

1 Cor 3:10-16 For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw –each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”

This speaks of “the Day” which is hard to see as anything other than the day that the person comes before the Judgement Seat of God, given the context that his life is being weighed in the balance and “revealed”. This sort of event does not occur during earthly life. There is a clear condition given of a person who “is saved”, meaning that he goes to Heaven, yet he “will suffer loss” and “be saved as through fire”. It is evident that both these occur post-death and so it is hard to see it as anything other than Purgatory.

Compare this with the OT verse from Isaiah. People are “recorded for life in Jerusalem” only after the Lord has washed away their filth by a “spirit of judgement and a spirit of burning”:
““On that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. Whoever is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, once the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed over all the glory there will be a canopy…” (Isaiah 4:1-5a)

The text here certainly seems to be suggesting that different amounts of purification are required post-death. The argument might be made that this is alluding to different levels of torment in Hell, but I do not think the sentiment of the author towards the one that “unknowingly does things worthy of punishment” is one of damnation. That is reserved for the one who is assigned a “place with the unbelievers”:

“The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not anticipate. Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. That servant who knows his master’s will but does not get ready or follow his instructions will be beaten with many blows. But the one who unknowingly does things worthy of punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from him who has been entrusted with much, even more will be demanded.…” (Lk.:12:46-48)

Necessary Purification

“nothing unclean shall enter [heaven]” (Rev. 21:27). Hebrews 12:14 states that we must strive “for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

I once asked a Protestant friend whether he thought he would go straight to Heaven when he dies. He seemed a bit hesitant, so I elaborated, asking: “Do you think that were death to strike you down this minute (we were talking over lunch), you would be fit to sit at God’s dining table and eat with Him?” He admitted that he would indeed not be pure enough. He continued, however: “Jesus will make me pure..”. “Jesus will make us pure”, I replied, “and we call that Purgatory”. However short you might think the purification might take, you do attest to it’s necessity. The process that you call purification, we call Purgatory. You may believe that Purgatory lasts only a moment, or you may think it takes thousands of years. Surely we have not been given to know what time this will be. ” Indeed if Purgatory takes place in the timelessness of Eternity. It makes no difference whether you call it a moment or whether you call it a billion years. It takes as long as it needs to, or it doesn’t take any time at all.

Indeed no one, may present themselves to the Lord with any stain of sin upon themselves. Now say your friend was getting married in India, and you went to the reception wearing a brilliant white shirt (It’s too hot to wear a coat usually). Just as you walk in under the entrance to the open-air banquet, a bird poops on your shoulder. But your friend has already seen you, he’s been waiting for you, you’re his best man, after all. “Come on in!”, he says, “Don’t just stand there!” “But…my…shirt…” you start to say “Nonsense!”, he says, “What’s a little s*** between friends? Just come along in!” Would you go? Would you enjoy the evening? St Catherine of Siena says that a soul would willingly throw itself into a thousand hells rather than go before God with the slightest stain of sin, so great is the purity of our God, and so great will be our shame to stand before him unclean.

“See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years” (Malachi 3)

“For he afflicts, and he shows mercy; he leads down to Hades in the lowest regions of the earth,
and he brings up from the great abyss, and there is nothing that can escape his hand. (Tobit 13:2)

There is a Way, it is Jesus. There is a certain ‘SPACE’ that needs to be bridged between ourselves and Him. This space is SIN, because he has none, yet otherwise was like us in all ways. Sanctification (Purification) (The Catholic ‘Purgatory’=’Sanctificatory’) is the word for that process should it take place after death. Alternatives to it like “Justification by Faith”, “Double Imputation” and whatever else are all attempts substitute one process for another. If you merely called Purgatory “Mercy”, you wouldn’t be far off because that purification is an act of Mercy of God, in whose infinite providence, even the soul unfit for Heaven is made to be fit.  If you believe that God mercifully purifies, that is Purgatory.

Which would make you a Catholic. As a doctrine, Purgatory is not difficult to comprehend. To arrive at this, it is sufficient to hold that nothing unclean can stand before God (or sit in His lap), and that almost none of us are perfectly pure at the time of our deaths. To believe that the partially pure are saved, it is necessary to believe in a process of purification that occurs after death. Catholics call that process Purgatory. That is all there is to it.

Justification by Faith” is the Protestant substitution in place of Purgatory, the concept made necessary by the denial of the latter doctrine.

A Protestant once said to me that God would then grant him ‘instant purification’ at Judgement Day. Once again he is merely taking a hopeful guess at the time the purification might take, with no concrete way of knowing that that time period will be. We Catholics do not know either. It takes as long as Purgatory takes, and however many “instants”. “Justification implies doing justice. He who is justified is a just man. A just man does not inflict injustices upon his brethren. Then he is sinless. To be “justified”, then, a very technical sounding term, is put simply, to be “made free from sin and concupiscence, the tendency to sin”. In other words, the restoration of ourselves from our fallen natures.

Reparation, and is it Punishment?

In 148 of The Dialogue, the Father explains to St. Catherine both why the souls in Purgatory suffer, and that she can pray and make reparation for them: “…And if you turn to Purgatory, there you will find my gentle immeasurable providence towards those poor souls who foolishly wasted their time. Now, because they are separated from their bodies, they no longer have time in which to merit. Therefore I have provided that you who are still in the mortal life should have time for them. I mean that by giving alms and having my ministers say the Divine Office, by fasting and praying while you are in the state of grace, you can by my mercy shorten their time of punishment. O tender providence!”

St Alphonsus says that even many saintly persons are given by God to suffer much fear, temptation and abandonment at the time of their deaths because some small purification was still required of them. Cardinal George Pell says: “Purgatory is a bit like you get up in the morning and draw the curtains and the light is too much for you…” I was watching a cartoon ‘Sofia the First’ that my 3 year old daughter loves. Sofia’s half-brother the prince James is playing with a ball in the castle, which is against ‘castle rules’ as you’d expect, with all the expensive artifacts around. Sure enough, the ball bounces into a valuable large stained-glass portrait of the Royal family which the King had made as a surprise for the Queen, and shatters it. Sofia knows that as a punishment, it is likely that they will not be allowed to go to the Circus. She also knows how much her brother James would love to go. So she takes the blame.  James is not really a bad sort, and is surprised as well as grateful, but goes along to the Circus with the rest of the family, while Sofia stays at home with the butler. James’ conscience is torn, however, and he sits with his head in his hands through the whole performance, completely unable to enjoy the wonderful spectacle being played out right before his eyes. Racked by guilt, he eventually confesses his crime. Jesus takes the fall for us. We are saved, however, we cannot really partake of Eternal life in our soiled state.

Every crime demands reparation, and so does every sin. What is reparation, and what is punishment? A good example is given of a boy who while playing outside disobeys orders not to play ball games and ends up breaking the neighbour’s window. The boy is truly sorry when he realises what he has done, for he should have waited for his friends to go and play cricket in the park. Accompanied by his father and in tears, he says sorry to the old neighbour. The nice old man truly forgives him from the heart: Repentance and Forgiveness. The neighbour’s window, however is still broke. It falls on the boy to fix it, for it is his responsibility. He does a few chores around the house, works a few shifts at the library and is able to pay for a new window: Reparation.

Where does punishment come in. When does a father punish their child and why. Surely if possible, a father will not punish a child that is truly sorry for his misdeed, tearfully asks forgiveness and makes good any losses or shows willingness to do so? Punishment must be added only if the child repeat offends, as a deterrent. But is God like a thing on Earth that requires reparation too, and like the man with the broken window is there really something that an offended God requires back from us? The answer is that God demands EVERYTHING from us. Our whole lives belong to God, and so like the neighbour, God requires of us that we give our all to him, our whole selves. When we withhold something form God, this itself is an injustice to God and a sin, because everything truly belongs to God and must be during our lives be dedicated back to him, with an acknowledgement of the rightful Owner of everything. But further, because our all is not enough as reparation for even the smallest sin against God, he offers the sacrifice of his own Son to make the reparation perfect. It is possible for us to make complete reparation for our sins in this life. Because if we give our lives wholly to Jesus, then we have nothing more to give. In Deuteronomical law if a thief stole something, like his neighbour’s bull and then for some reason had squandered the money and could not make good the loss, he was meant to sell himself in order to do so! In a sense this is the manner in which we give ourselves completely to God. Once all this is done however, God does not then require punishment. He will not punish the babe that lies in his arms softly snoring there.

Purgatory then is a place where incomplete reparations can indeed be completed. It is said that a single good deed done voluntarily on Earth can account for a thousand days of pain in Purgatory. But again, this makes complete sense, for does not voluntary reparation hurt less than if it is forced? Why does James refuse to do it of his own accord? Perhaps it is that although he feels sorry, he does not feel sorry enough. Thus there are degrees of contrition. In the case of James, would he not find it considerably more enjoyable if he decided, of his own accord to fix the window, rather than be forcibly dragged into doing so? Purgatory is not a “Catholic invention” anymore than “purification” is Catholic invention.

Finally, I have also asked the question myself “what if I were to die today?“ I have wrestled with what is the best way to answer this question: There are two possibilities at the time of one’s death. Those two possibilities remain the same were that day to be today, or were that day to be many years at some point in the future, say 50 years from now: Either the person dies and in a state of having accomplished all that the Lord had given him to do in his time, or in the state of having not accomplished everything that he should have accomplished according to gods will in the spiritual life, in the striving for the holiness of his soul. The former dies in a state of imperfection, the latter in a state of perfection.

Is it true that there are two paths to Salvation? for as a Catholic one can perhaps now state that there is the saintly way and the “not-saintly way” of Purgatory. In the Catholic doctrine, sanctification, which is saintliness in this life, really is sanctification, whereas anything less or a degree of the above is the way of Purgatory, the path that requires sanctification after death.

Lastly, we cannot snow discursively that’s prayers to the saints are prerequisite to salvation, we can show that they are perquisite to sanctification, especially where the type of sanctification we speak of here that is to be had in union with the saints is not even broached by Protestants who are satisfied and define the scope of the human state as that which is below this sanctity that is in union with the heavenly hosts.

Alternatives to Purgatorial Purification

Substituting this with a belief in a kind of ongoing purification in our earthly lives would not also seem a satisfactory replacement, because it does not answer the question “are you perfect should death strike you at this moment?”. The world would be a completely different place should it be filled purely with perfect believers in Jesus. Supposed sanctification of the Spirit as separate from that of the soul is another option that I have heard mentioned by Protestants. This is to firstly force a distinction between the soul and spirit. I discuss this in the article on the “Nature of the Human Person”. However for now, we can already state that this merely shifts the problem of impurity from the spirit to the soul, and so is not a solution for impurity.

Church Fathers

EARLY CHRISTIAN INSCRIPTION
My mother is Eucharis and my father is Pius. I pray you, O brethren, to pray when you come here, and to ask in your common prayers the Father and the Son. May it be in your minds to remember dear Agape that the omnipotent God may keep Agape safe forever [Christian Inscriptions 34 (c. A.D. 150)] (from Jimmy Akin’s The Fathers Know Best)

THE ACTS OF PAUL AND THECLA
“And after the exhibition, Tryphaena again received her [Thecla]. For her daughter Falconilla had died, and said to her in a dream: ‘Mother, you shall have this stranger Thecla in my place, in order that she may pray concerning me, and that I may be transferred to the place of the righteous’” (Acts of Paul and Thecla [A.D. 160]).

ABERCIUS
“The citizen of a prominent city, I erected this while I lived, that I might have a resting place for my body. Abercius is my name, a disciple of the chaste Shepherd who feeds his sheep on the mountains and in the fields, who has great eyes surveying everywhere, who taught me the faithful writings of life. Standing by, I, Abercius, ordered this to be inscribed: Truly, I was in my seventy-second year. May everyone who is in accord with this and who understands it pray for Abercius” (Epitaph of Abercius [A.D. 190]).

THE MARTYRDOM OF PERPETUA AND FELICITY
“[T]hat very night, this was shown to me in a vision: I [Perpetua] saw Dinocrates going out from a gloomy place, where also there were several others, and he was parched and very thirsty, with a filthy countenance and pallid color, and the wound on his face which he had when he died. This Dinocrates had been my brother after the flesh, seven years of age, who died miserably with disease. . . . For him I had made my prayer, and between him and me there was a large interval, so that neither of us could approach to the other . . . and [I] knew that my brother was in suffering. But I trusted that my prayer would bring help to his suffering; and I prayed for him every day until we passed over into the prison of the camp, for we were to fight in the camp-show. Then . . . I made my prayer for my brother day and night, groaning and weeping that he might be granted to me. Then, on the day on which we remained in fetters, this was shown to me: I saw that the place which I had formerly observed to be in gloom was now bright; and Dinocrates, with a clean body well clad, was finding refreshment. . . . [And] he went away from the water to play joyously, after the manner of children, and I awoke. Then I understood that he was translated from the place of punishment” (The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity 2:3–4 [A.D. 202]).

TERTULLIAN
“We offer sacrifices for the dead on their birthday anniversaries [the date of death—birth into eternal life]” (The Crown 3:3 [A.D. 211]).

“A woman, after the death of her husband . . . prays for his soul and asks that he may, while waiting, find rest; and that he may share in the first resurrection. And each year, on the anniversary of his death, she offers the sacrifice” (Monogamy 10:1–2 [A.D. 216]).

[T]hat allegory of the Lord [Mt 5:25–26] . . . is extremely clear and simple in its meaning: . . . [Beware unless, as] a transgressor of your agreement, before God the judge . . . he deliver you over to the angel who is to execute the sentence, and he commit you to the prison of hades, out of which there will be no dismissal until the smallest even of your delinquencies be paid off in the period before the resurrection. What can be a more fitting meaning than this? What a truer
interpretation? [Treatise on the Soul 35 (c. A.D. 210)].

We offer sacrifices for the dead on their birthday anniversaries [the date of death, their birth into eternal life] [Chaplet 3 (A.D. 211)].

CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE
“The strength of the truly believing remains unshaken; and with those who fear and love God with their whole heart, their integrity continues steady and strong. For to adulterers even a time of repentance is granted by us, and peace [i.e., reconciliation] is given. Yet virginity is not therefore deficient in the Church, nor does the glorious design of continence languish through the sins of others. The Church, crowned with so many virgins, flourishes; and chastity and modesty preserve the tenor of their glory. Nor is the vigor of continence broken down because repentance and pardon are facilitated to the adulterer. It is one thing to stand for pardon, another thing to attain to glory; it is one thing, when cast into prison, not to go out thence until one has paid the uttermost farthing; another thing at once to receive the wages of faith and courage. It is one thing, tortured by long suffering for sins, to be cleansed and long purged by fire; another to have purged all sins by suffering. It is one thing, in fine, to be in suspense till the sentence of God at the day of judgment; another to be at once crowned by the Lord” (Letters 51[55]:20 [A.D. 253]).

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM
“Then we make mention also of those who have already fallen asleep: first, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, that through their prayers and supplications God would receive our petition; next, we make mention also of the holy fathers and bishops who have already fallen asleep, and, to put it simply, of all among us who have already fallen asleep, for we believe that it will be of very great benefit to the souls of those for whom the petition is carried up, while this holy and most solemn sacrifice is laid out” (Catechetical Lectures 23:5:9 [A.D. 350]).

LACTANTIUS
But when he shall have judged the righteous, he will also try them with fire. Then they whose sins shall exceed either in weight or in number shall be scorched by the fire and burned. But they whom full justice and maturity of virtue has imbued will not see that fire; for they have something of God in themselves that repels and rejects the violence of the flame. So great is the force
of innocence that the flame shrinks from it without doing harm; it has received this power from God, that it burns the wicked, and is under the command of the righteous [Divine Institutes 7:21 (c. A.D. 307)].

GREGORY OF NYSSA
“If a man distinguish in himself what is peculiarly human from that which is irrational, and if he be on the watch for a life of greater urbanity for himself, in this present life he will purify himself of any evil contracted, overcoming the irrational by reason. If he has inclined to the irrational pressure of the passions, using for the passions the cooperating hide of things irrational, he may afterward in a quite different manner be very much interested in what is better, when, after his departure out of the body, he gains knowledge of the difference between virtue and vice and finds that he is not able to partake of divinity until he has been purged of the filthy contagion in his soul by the purifying fire” (Sermon on the Dead [A.D. 382]).

ST. GREGORY THE GREAT

Each one will be presented to the judge exactly as he was when he departed this life. Yet there must be a cleansing fire before judgement, because of some minor faults that may remain to be purged away. Does not Christ, the truth, say that if anyone blasphemes against the Holy Spirit he shall not be forgiven “either in this world or in the world to come” (Matthew 12:32)? From this statement we learn that some sins can be forgiven in this world and some in the world to come. For if forgiveness is refused for a particular sin, we conclude logically that it is granted for others. This must apply, as I said, to slight transgressions. (Dialogues, 4:39)

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
“Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice [Job 1:5], why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them” (Homilies on First Corinthians 41:5 [A.D. 392]).

“Weep for those who die in their wealth and who with all their wealth prepared no consolation for their own souls, who had the power to wash away their sins and did not will to do it. Let us weep for them, let us assist them to the extent of our ability, let us think of some assistance for them, small as it may be, yet let us somehow assist them. But how, and in what way? By praying for them and by entreating others to pray for them, by constantly giving alms to the poor on their behalf. Not in vain was it decreed by the apostles that in the awesome mysteries remembrance should be made of the departed. They knew that here there was much gain for them, much benefit. When the entire people stands with hands uplifted, a priestly assembly, and that awesome sacrificial Victim is laid out, how, when we are calling upon God, should we not succeed in their defense? But this is done for those who have departed in the faith, while even the catechumens are not reckoned as worthy of this consolation, but are deprived of every means of assistance except one. And what is that? We may give alms to the poor on their behalf” (Homilies on Philippians 3:9–10 [A.D. 402]).

AUGUSTINE
“There is an ecclesiastical discipline, as the faithful know, when the names of the martyrs are read aloud in that place at the altar of God, where prayer is not offered for them. Prayer, however, is offered for other dead who are remembered. It is wrong to pray for a martyr, to whose prayers we ought ourselves be commended” (Sermons 159:1 [A.D. 411]).

Neither chasten me in your heart displeasure” (Ps.37:2)… So that you may cleanse me in this life, and make me such, that I may after that stand in no need of the cleansing fire, for those “who are to be saved, yet so as by fire” (1 Cor 3:15). And because it is said, “he shall be saved”, that fire is thought lightly of. For all that, though we should be “save by fire”, yet will that fire be more grievous then anything that man can suffer in this life whatsoever. (Expositions on the Psalms, 37:3)

“But by the prayers of the holy Church, and by the salvific sacrifice, and by the alms which are given for their spirits, there is no doubt that the dead are aided, that the Lord might deal more mercifully with them than their sins would deserve. The whole Church observes this practice which was handed down by the Fathers: that it prays for those who have died in the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in their own place in the sacrifice itself; and the sacrifice is offered also in memory of them, on their behalf. If, then, works of mercy are celebrated for the sake of those who are being remembered, who would hesitate to recommend them, on whose behalf prayers to God are not offered in vain? It is not at all to be doubted that such prayers are of profit to the dead; but for such of them as lived before their death in a way that makes it possible for these things to be useful to them after death” (ibid., 172:2).

[T]emporary punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by others after death, by others both now and then; but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But of those who suffer temporary punishments after death, all are not doomed to those everlasting pains that are to follow that judgment; for to some, as we have already said, what is not remitted in this world is remitted in the next, that is, they are not punished with the eternal punishment of the world to come [City of God 21:13 (c. A.D. 419)].

“That there should be some fire even after this life is not incredible, and it can be inquired into and either be discovered or left hidden whether some of the faithful may be saved, some more slowly and some more quickly in the greater or lesser degree in which they loved the good things that perish, through a certain purgatorial fire” (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Charity 18:69 [A.D. 421]).

“The time which interposes between the death of a man and the final resurrection holds souls in hidden retreats, accordingly as each is deserving of rest or of hardship, in view of what it merited when it was living in the flesh. Nor can it be denied that the souls of the dead find relief through the piety of their friends and relatives who are still alive, when the Sacrifice of the Mediator [Mass] is offered for them, or when alms are given in the Church. But these things are of profit to those who, when they were alive, merited that they might afterward be able to be helped by these things. There is a certain manner of living, neither so good that there is no need of these helps after death, nor yet so wicked that these helps are of no avail after death” (ibid., 29:109).