We read in Scripture that Moses asked God how he should answer the Israelites’ questions regarding His name. And the Lord said: “I am Who am” (Ex 3:14). He did not call Himself “the one who was, who is and who will be,” but “I am Who am”! Yes, because He is eternal; He had no beginning and will have no end. For Him there is no past or future, and everything is present; He lives beyond facts and outside of time. For the Angels, God created the ævum, a special measure of the course of events that differs from both the time of men and the eternity of God.1 But for us, God created time: we are born on a certain date, we develop and have a history within khrónos,2 during which we are tested, after which we finally partake in eternity. Therefore, try as we may, it is difficult for our discursive mind, accustomed to clock and calendar, to fix its attention on a Being for whom there is no before or after, but who, on a “screen” called the present, beholds, in a single divine glance, everything that has happened in the past and will happen in the future until the end of the world and throughout eternity.

The retroactive effect of prayer

Here on earth, we have the extraordinary advantage of being able to take participate in acts that took place centuries or millennia ago. Retroagere, from the Latin, means to turn back or act retroactively. For example, by praying today for Abel’s intentions at the moment he was killed by Cain (cf. Gen 4:8), we will contribute to the act of virtue he practised and have a part in his holiness. Or, when we read in Samson’s story that he was surrounded on all sides by the Philistines, we will be able to help him in that dreadful situation he faced. How is this possible? Because God encompasses everything and is seeing Abel and Samson in their difficulty at the same time as He sees me, in the 21st century, praying for both of them. And it is possible that my prayer is fundamental for Him to grant more grace to Abel, for him to maintain just and elevated dispositions in the depths of his soul, or the grant greater strength to Samson, to overcome a thousand Philistines in one fell swoop (cf. Jgs 15:14-16).

Interrelationship between those who live in time and eternity

I remember once when I was in the hospital, a nurse asked me: “Why is there a seventh-day Mass if the person has already died? After they have already been judged, there is no point in praying anymore! I do not really understand why the Church instituted these Masses. It makes sense to pray for someone who is dying, but afterwards… there is no solution!” I then explained to him that, in addition to the Masses being celebrated in suffrage of that soul, which may be in Purgatory, in order to relieve it of its penalties, there is also the retroactive effect of prayer. We can pray for the deceased long after their death, to prevent the devil from exerting his influence on them, and so that they may receive an efficacious grace of conversion at the hour of agony or have a good death, trusting in divine mercy and the maternal goodness of Our Lady, so that their souls leave their bodies in tranquillity, joy and jubilation and may rise to Heaven in the most beautiful manner. Interceding for the dead benefits not only them, but also those who pray, for these gain merits as a result. There is therefore an intense interrelationship between those who live on earth and those who have crossed the threshold of death, as long as the former pray for the latter. And God, in His infinite wisdom and zeal, established in the pattern of reciprocal love, makes the salvation of some depend on the prayer of others.

Participating in a Crusade by reciting a Hail Mary

Back in 1956 or 1957, when I was still a young boy of seventeen, I was so delighted to learn about the retroactive power of prayer that I decided to take advantage of it many, many times. Around the same time, I was reading a book about the Crusades by Joseph-François Michaud. At one point, an episode of the siege of Nicaea was mentioned, in which an infidel of gigantic stature, taking advantage of the height of the walls, mocked the Christians below and threw stones down at them, killing many of them. Outraged, I stopped reading and began to pray that there would be some reparation and that this man would get his just deserts. The description continued: suddenly, Godfrey of Bouillon approached, carrying a crossbow, accompanied by two squires. He cocked his crossbow, nocked his arrow and crept closer, covered by the shields of his companions. I interrupted the reading once again and recited a Hail Mary in the hope that he would aim well and succeed… Then the narrative went on to relate that the arrow was true; it pierced the giant through the heart and brought him down!3 I felt like I was taking part in the Crusade and becoming one with that hero, in such a way that if he is in Heaven, he will certainly thank me for the fruit of that Hail Mary.

A way to repair for past faults and obtain superabundant graces

However, just as we can help others by this means, it is also perfectly possible to use it to our own advantage. A concrete example will make the explanation clearer. Let us imagine someone who, at the age of thirteen, finds himself in a near occasion of sin and commits an infidelity against God’s Law. After a certain time, he receives a grace of conversion, goes to Confession and his fault is forgiven. Later on, perhaps years after the occurrence, he has the opportunity to study all the beauty of Catholic doctrine and learns something new: the retroactive effect of prayer. Consequently. he feels moved to pray to Our Lady to assist him at that moment in his adolescence, so that he will make amends for his mistake and not allow it to taint his soul to the point of losing the vocation to which God has called him. By acting in this way, he would be able to turn back the clock through prayer and obtain superabundant graces, which Providence may have poured out in view of his request. After this, he ought to give thanks for these graces granted to him and for having freed himself from this fault.
For God, everything is present: He sees Abel, Samson or Godfrey of Bouillon in trouble, at the same time as He sees me, in the 21st century, praying for all three
From left to right: Godfrey of Bouillon - Royal Square, Brussels (Belgium); Samson fighting the Philistines - Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Donatus, Arezzo (Italy); Abel murdered by Cain - Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Les Mureaux (France)

Mary Most Holy, participant in the work of creation

This beautiful topic invites us to take our considerations to a higher plane: In God’s mind, since everything is present, – unlike the human mind, which follows a chronological line through which we first consider the facts and then, based on them, draw our conclusions – the organization of creatures is hierarchical; it is for the sake of the most important of creatures that He orders everything else. Therefore, in His creative plan, above all is Jesus Christ, the Word of God made Man, the centre of the universe, and Our Lady, as the most exalted of the mere creatures that came from divine hands. Since She is the Mother of creation and the Mediatrix of all graces – being the Mother of the Author of grace Himself – it is obvious that during the time She lived, She must have participated, through prayer, in the work of creating the universe. All the acts of the divine creative will were accompanied by the prayers of the Blessed Virgin. Thus, when He created the Angels on the first day, God chose, from among the infinite possibilities, these angelic spirits specifically, and not others, because of the prayer that Mary was going to make on their behalf! She had a part in all the events that took place before her birth, such as the great war of the Angels in Heaven against the evil spirits (cf. Rv 12:7). There is a tendency to overlook the fact that the merits of the Redemption wrought by Our Lord Jesus Christ – thus His Incarnation, Passion and Death on the Cross – just like prayer and any other supernatural act, also reach back in time. What is more, certain theologians and Doctors of the Church agree that they are not limited to the human race alone, but also benefited the Good Angels, preventing the demons from dragging them into rebellion against God. However, we have no hesitation in affirming that it was through the intercession of the Blessed Mother that these graces purchased by the Son helped them to persevere in the heavenly battle.4 Even the bad angels were not abandoned to their own nature, but received all the supernatural support they needed to be faithful. They, however, rejected the merits of Our Lord’s Passion, which were also applied to them through the intercession of Our Lady’s prayers, and as a result they condemned themselves. We could multiply the examples and even think of the time when the Serpent tempted Adam and Eve in Paradise… They both fell. However, after their sin they did penance for nine hundred years and remained in grace and faith. Who was there at that time to pray for them? No-one! This gift of penance was won from God because Our Lady would pray for them. Mary Most Holy, therefore, participates in the entire work of creation, in each and every action carried out by God, in the entire history of the perseverance of the good! She prayed for everyone! And so it had to be, since She is the Mother of God.

Future repercussions of the Redemption

However, if it is possible for the graces purchased by the Redemption of Our Lord Jesus Christ to reach back in time, it is all the more true that they have repercussions in the future. And there is an effect from them which has not yet taken place on earth and which must benefit the entire order of creation, because nature has been subjugated to sin and suffers its consequences.
During the period in which She lived in time, Our Lady must have participated, through prayer, in the work of creating the universe
Msgr. João in the year 2009, in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, Caieiras (Brazil)
St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, refers to this when he says that “the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now” (Rom 8:22). The earth groans, the springs and the seas groan, the sun and the stars groan, and all the souls that are already separated from their bodies groan… There is as it were a prayer of all created nature waiting for liberation, when the full effects of Calvary’s sacrifice will be realized, and it, redeemed from the punishment of the corruption of vanity, will be able to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God (cf. Rom 8:20-21). The flowers, the fish, the fields, the forests, in short, the whole universe will rejoice on this day. Let us fervently desire that the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, from whose fullness we have all received grace upon grace (cf. Jn 1:16), will overflow into the Wise and Immaculate Heart of Mary the treasures brought with His Incarnation and, through her, will pour them out in profusion upon all of humanity on the face of the earth, as well as on the entire order of creation. May this plenitude, at a certain moment in history, be reached, and may it be a glory celebrated not only by the living, but also by those who are already in eternity. And may those in hell – if it be God’s will – suffer more when they learn how much is being accomplished on earth, and may Adam and Eve rejoice with all the saints in Heaven. ◊

Excerpts from: Conferences from 9/6/1996, 2/10/2001, 19/9/2004; Homilies from 25/12/2006, 3/2/2007, 25/11/2008, 5/12/2008, 22/8/2009

 

Notes

1 Cf. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Summa Theologiæ. I, q.10, a.5.

2 From the Greek: time.

3 Cf. MICHAUD, Joseph-François. História das Cruzadas. São Paulo: Editora das Américas, 1956, v.I, p.198-199.

4 Cf. ST. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX. Sermones sobre el Cantar de los Cantares. Sermón XXII, n.6. In: Obras Completas. Madrid: BAC, 1955, v.II, p.138.