A caller named Ed brought Patrick Madrid two questions about death. Does God give a soul one last chance to repent at death? And can prayers offered years later still help someone who has already died?

Patrick began with an important clarification. No, God does not place souls in some kind of “middle ground area between time and eternity.” At death, the soul faces judgment. As Patrick explained, “When death occurs, the body and the soul separate. That’s when the particular judgment occurs.”

But that does not make prayer useless. Quite the opposite.

Because God is outside of time, He is not limited the way we are. Patrick explained that prayers offered after someone’s death may still be applied by God to that person’s final moments before death. Not because judgment is delayed, but because God sees all of history at once. For us, a prayer may come years later. For God, it can still be part of His providential care.

Patrick also addressed a claim sometimes linked to St. Faustina’s diary: that a person gets three chances to return to God at death. He said he had not found support for that specific idea. What he did find was this: “God grants the soul a final grace. If the soul is willing, it can return to God.” That is a sobering and hopeful truth.

To illustrate God’s mercy, Patrick shared the story of St. John Vianney consoling a family after a man died by suicide. In the final split second of life, the man received grace, repented, and was saved.

Never stop trusting in God’s mercy, and never stop praying for the dead. Those prayers are never wasted. God, who is beyond time, knows how to use them.

The best way to listen to the Best of the Week is on our #1 Free Catholic App. It’s free, and always will be! To get and share the Relevant Radio app, check it out here.