Most of us, I would imagine, have either asked others for prayers or promised our own. In the latter case, we sometimes forget that promise, and so the surgery of a friend we committed to pray for has already taken place by the time we remember—leaving us praying after the event. Although this may feel like little more than a guilty response, praying after the event need not be without importance or efficacy. As very limited creatures caught up in space and time, we have no true grasp of eternity and its relation to temporal events. The notion that our intercessory prayer may transcend time—that our praying in the present might influence the outcome of past events as well as future ones—is suggested by Jesus’ own prayer: I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. Here Jesus prays for future, yet‑to‑be disciples as if they were already his devoted followers. So perhaps it is not so foolish to pray, for example, for a friend who seemed to have died alienated from Christ and the Church, in the hope that our prayer, foreseen by God, may have benefited that friend and opened his or her heart to salvation. May this possibility strengthen our commitment to pray for one another, as well as for those who have gone before us and those who come after us.