Q. I was given a prayer folder that tells me that I will suffer no purgatory and be taken directly to heaven when I die, provided that I say these prayers daily for 12 years. (Missed days can be made up.) I am about ready to start the third year, but a dear Catholic friend has just told me that this promise is not true.
The prayers are called “The Seven Sorrows of Mary, as given to St. Bridget and The Twelve-Year Prayers of St. Bridget on the Passion of Jesus,” and I have read that these prayers were confirmed by Pope Clement XII and Pope Innocent X. I don’t really mind doing the prayers, but I would like to know if I can guarantee my salvation. (Fayetteville, Ark.)
A. No prayer — not even one said every day for 12 years — can “guarantee salvation.” Even a plenary indulgence, which remits all of the temporal punishment due to sin, covers only those sins committed up until the time the indulgence is gained; it is not “prospective.”
The surest way to eternal happiness is to live out the teachings of Jesus Christ as learned from the Gospels. (I quote as my witness Jesus himself, who explained in Matthew 7:21 that “not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father in heaven.”)
It strikes me as a bit like magic to think that the mere recitation of certain words could by itself win joy that is eternal. After all, a plenary indulgence requires, in addition to the particular prayer or action, the reception of the sacraments of penance and the Eucharist (as well as prayers for the pope’s intentions).
Having said this, I would still encourage you to continue the recitation of the prayers you mentioned. Most often, the effect of prayer — as well as comforting the soul — is to bring one closer to Jesus in thought and action, which is the goal of our lives and the safest path to salvation.
Corpus Christi