Pray to Heaven

Can someone get to heaven on a prayer?
Can I save them, I mean, by prayer alone?
What is the minimum to pay the fare?
Should they not get there mostly on their own?

So many go to hell, Our Lady said,*
because they have for them no one who prays,
implying prayer would be enough, instead
of saving them in all the usual ways.

Who knows what God’s sweet mercy has in store
for all the millions here who do not pray,
can’t God’s great might help those that we pray for,
and with our prayers just wipe their sins away?

St. Monica prayed for her son for years,
so Ambrose said God won’t deny such tears.

* Our Lady of Fatima told the three children so many souls
end up in hell because there is no one to pray for them.

                                by Pete Voelz      1/21/14