Susan Tassone, also known as the Purgatory Lady, has come out with a new book called “St. Faustina Prayer Book for the Conversion of Sinners.”

In thinking of a few people I’ve never met, who were presented to me as being bad influences on my friends’ young relatives, my guess is that those bad influences are men and women who are not likely being prayed for. If someone who knows them does occasionally send up a prayer for them, it may not be enough.

We might safely assume that there are numerous young and older persons who are burdened with the evil of the world without the protection of other people’s prayers. Therefore Susan’s new book is especially timely.

We all tend to focus our intercessory prayers to benefit our loved ones and their own loved ones. That is good, essential even, for their well-being. But certainly it would please the Lord to pray also for people we don’t know personally but have heard about along the way.

St. Therese famously prayed for the conversion of a particular murderer. At the last moment before his execution, he asked for a crucifix and kissed the hands and feet of the Christ figure. She took that as an answer to her prayers for his conversion.

Those of us who have benefited from the prayers of others — perhaps when we were ill or in distress — know a bit about the power of prayer. It is a true kindness to offer prayers for others, including the men and women whose lives obviously are mired in ungodly influences.

To that end, below are a few of the shorter prayers that Susan unearthed from various sources. We can use them to pray for the conversion of people we know and for others whom God seems to point out to us as being in dire need of prayers. Perhaps that can include a young person or two in our neighborhoods.

A Prayer to Our Lord and Our Lady for the Disillusioned

Dear Lord, please be near all those who are disillusioned, who have fallen away from You, who have never been aware of their hearts being touched by Your grace. May they find the truth, love, comfort and consolation that only You can give.

Dear Blessed Mother Mary, pray for us — sinners, all — that we may faithfully follow your instructions and do whatever your son tells us to do. Amen.

A Prayer for Those Who Have Drifted from the Lord

Lord, you became a human being and by Your suffering obtained salvation for all of us. Look graciously on those dearest to my heart and others who have drifted from You and the Faith. Grant them the grace to see how much You love and care for them so that they may return to You. Help me refrain from judging or criticizing them but — by my prayers and acts of kindness — gently invite them back to You and Your Church. Amen.

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque’s Prayer for Prodigals

Loving heart of Jesus, move hearts that are harder than rock, melt spirits that are colder than ice, reach souls that are more impenetrable than diamonds. Amen.

A Useful Prayer

Today, dear Lord, accept my heartaches and my hardships, my anxiety and my pain, as living, wordless prayers for those who have turned their backs on You, those who have drifted from You, and those who have never heard of or known Your love. Amen.

“St. Faustina united herself with Jesus in atonement for sinners,” Susan says in her book. Faustina received a number of deep insights about her prayers, for example, “I saw that my suffering and prayer shackled Satan and snatched many souls from his clutches.”

She was given those glimpses so that she can assure us even now that our prayers and offerings will make a difference — for our loved ones, and for those who need us to pray for them.