Let us say you are praying for a very difficult person, one who appears to clearly be in at the least the beginning stages of ending up in hell.

How long must one continue to pray? Until there appears some clear indication of an answer, either good or bad?

I know that St. Monica prayed for St. Augustine for over 30 years, but some of us won't live that long. Besides, the times today are, I believe, far worse than they were in her time. At least she had a real Bishop she could visit (St. Ambrose). We have hardly any priests left, let alone any real Bishops.

Should one pray for a while, then wait to see what God might do, if anything, before resuming, or should one simply pray continuously until one starts to see some result, or should one keep praying until death overtakes him?

It seems to me that "little things", like very bad health, are far easier for God to do something about than difficult things like re-directing a soul. But then again, isn't everything easy for God?

Which brings up another dilemma: is it better NOT to ask God to remove a heavy cross where health is concerned, even if the problem causes very great difficulty with doing one's daily duty?

I really don't understand a lot of this.

I DO know that the effectiveness of prayers, all else being equal, appear to fall into three distinct categories.

I.e., those prayer for OTHERS, are generally more effective than prayers for ourselves.

In fact, I would say that prayer for ourselves for physical or material things are at the bottom of the pile.

Prayers for our own spiritual good rate a bit higher on the scale with God, it seems to me.

Then, prayers for the physical or material good of others are next up the ladder.

And best, or at least those most likely to be answered, are prayers for the spiritual welfare of others.

I'm really not certain about any of this, but that seems to be my experience.

Well, I guess I should shut-up now and go away.

My idea of prayer is simply knowing that God is not limited, and He gives His grace to us when we need it most and His timing is always perfect. Perhaps the person you are praying for will not receive this grace till the last moments of their life.

I always ask God to please give His extra ordinary grace, as He has done with St. Paul, just knock the person I am praying for off their horse if that is what it takes, I ask. I remind Him, (not that He needs reminding) of how Jesus rose Lazarus from his bodily death, by a few words, and please rise (? name) from their spiritual death.

Remember too, Our Lady said many souls are lost because no one prayers for them, which to me, is saying if you pray for someone they will not be lost.

Having a Mass offered for a person while they are alive is so much more beneficial than waiting till they are dead. Even if you should pass away before the person you have prayed for is converted, these prayer offered will still be efficacious and the key to successful prayer is confidence.

These are only my simple thoughts on prayer, things I like to think about and maybe just my humble opinion.

Before becoming the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Kennesaw Mountain Landis was a U.S. Federal Judge. He one time sentence a man to 25 years in prison. The man told him that he was 75 years old and he couldn't do 25 years. Judge Landis told the man, "Well...Do the best you can."

You are right, you may not live 30 years, but I think you should do the best you can. And when you find yourself in eternity, unless you find yourself in hell, there's no reason that you can'y go right on praying.

Of course, I don't think you are actually under an obligation to pray for someone. You truly do have the freedom not to pray for someone in particular.