Ephesians 6:18
Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.
Catholic faith denies that our ability to be of good to our brothers and sisters in Christ is affected by a little trifle like death. Here on earth, we can pray for those we love even when they've changed their address to Heaven. In heaven, great saints like Therese of Lisieux have promised that they would spend their heaven doing good on earth. And judging from the miraculous cures and other favors granted to those who ask their intercession, the saints seem to keep their promise and not feel terribly constrained by death. Of course, in discussing prayer for the dead, people often ask "Why bother? Aren't the dead in the presence of God?" and "Why should we pray for the dead? Doesn't God know what they need?" The answer, of course, is that both these questions are based on assumption which, if granted, spell the end of all prayer. For, of course, we are in the presence of God too. There is nowhere He is not. Similarly, God knows what we need before we ask Him. Yet He teaches us to pray anyway. That is, He teaches us that we are living participants in the work of bringing grace to the world. The dead need His grace as much as the living. So today, pray for the living and the dead.
