This is going to sound really silly, but I'm just totally exhausted and am feeling really down.  To make a long story short, I know some people that I would consider to be very important to me, and I care about them a lot and love them like close family.  I am pretty alone and my family does not support me, so the fact that these people treat me with kindness and help me whenever they can is making this all the harder.

They aren't Catholic.  They know I am and I believe they respect my beliefs or at least never belittle them.  And I know that if they die in that position, they will go to Hell for all eternity.  I love them; I want them to be in Heaven.  

It's just that I feel like there's something I should be doing and yet I also feel like I can never do anything to try to help them.  I'm trying to avoid sin and live a holy life and yet I fall so short that I will be paying for my own sins for the rest of my life and probably an unimaginably long time in Purgatory.  Yet I feel this very strong inner urging to do something.

It just seems like an enormous burden, especially when I think of how few will be saved, and how Jesus' heart must be broken at the knowledge that He gave His all and yet so many refuse Him, and cast themselves into Hell.  I need to get myself to Heaven with His help...what can I possibly do to help my friends, my family (even though I am not at all close with any of them), or everybody else on earth?  

Just pray. Pray a lot! By the conversion you experience, others are more likely to follow.

Reading St. John Chrysostom's works was a good guide for me. Essentially he observed how people struggle with sin. He noticed that their beliefs drifted to adapt to their way of life, people are forever trying to justify what they do. The path to conversion is firstly about changing actions (pray, do penance, turn away from sin) and belief will follow. The first action is prayer. His point was that Faith does not lead to prayer, but prayer leads to Faith.

Dear Friend,

Make use of heavily indulgenced sacramentals, such as the Pardon Crucifix, for yourself to mitigate
your term in Purgatory (having made a good Confession).  This will dispel your sense of doom about your own just punishments. Then you can get right down to praying for the conversion of your loved ones with a loving heart.

And pray a little bit for me, if you can.  We are all sinners, in need of Christ's mercy.

OP, your situation sounds so much like mine. I will pray for you! Please, will you pray for me?

It is hard not despair for loved ones who are lost. Don't underestimate what penance and prayers can do for them. For me, the problem often comes with tangibles and intangibles. I am more drawn to doing something tangible for them wether it be speaking, leading by example, etc. I want to do that because those results seem to be easily measured right off the bat. When I do things where the results seem more intangible, like prayer and penance, it's harder for me to keep doing them because I often don't perceive the results of my actions. But know that every time you do a penance for them, the spiritual world shifts in some way. Every time you pray for for them, you are asking for help from someone infinitely more powerful than yourself, and who loves the ones you love even more than you do.
I pray fervently for my unbelieving family. It's the best way to love them, in my case.

You hang in there!

Good Heavens....do you read my mind?  After years of neglect of the Blessed Virgin I finally wised up and developed a devotion to her because I realized I will not be saved without her.  I am so flawed and spiritually lazy that without her....I would be lost.  

I fear Purgatory but what else can I hope for?  I've often thought about martyrdom but we don't live in that age or place.

At Fatima, Our Lady prophesied the calamity in the Church which is now upon us.

Therefore, you can bank on her words:

"Pray; pray very much. Many sinners go to Hell because they have no one to pray for them and make sacrifices for them."

PRAY THE ROSARY FOR THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS AND THE SALVATION OF SOULS!

Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumph soon!

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.

Have Masses offered for your loved ones. As far as I'm aware, that's the best remedy.

If you wear the Brown Scapular, make the Five First Saturdays of Reparation devotion, and/or pray the Rosary every day, read the promises that Our Lady made to those who do that, and be consoled!

Ask for joy for yourself, or peace, or any of the gifts and fruits of the Holy Ghost.

 :smile: