Why do Catholics pray for the dead?

I remember visiting Father Peter Tierney in hospital, just a week before he died. He had recently found out that he had not long to live. He shared with me that he found the words of Cardinal Newman in the Dream of Gerontius very helpful in understanding the Church's teaching on Purgatory, the purification, cleansing that many of us need before we are ready for the glory of Heaven.

You might like to read, prayerfully, the closing section of this long poem below. Its gentle faith and hope may well help and inform your prayers for our departed loved ones this November. The words here are spoken to the departed soul by his guardian angel:

SOFTLY and gently, dearly-ransomed soul,

In my most loving arms I now enfold thee,

And, o’er the penal waters, as they roll,

I poise thee, and I lower thee, and hold thee.

And carefully I dip thee in the lake,

And thou, without a sob or a resistance,

Dost through the flood thy rapid passage take,

Sinking deep, deeper, into the dim distance.

Angels, to whom the willing task is given,

Shall tend, and nurse, and lull thee, as thou liest;

And Masses on the earth and prayers in heaven,

Shall aid thee at the Throne of the most Highest.

Farewell, but not forever! Brother dear,

Be brave and patient on thy bed of sorrow;

Swiftly shall pass thy night of trial here,

And I will come and wake thee on the morrow.

You may may also like to listen to the beautiful setting of these words by Sir Edward Elgar.

'Softly and Gently' Elgar's Dream of Gerontius, Anna Stephany from WiredForMusic on Vimeo.