On the Ninth Day of the Novena...

Our Lord asked St. Faustina to bring to him SOULS WHO HAVE BECOME LUKEWARM.

He didn't ask her to call them out publicly or to condemn them, or to point out their unworthy Communions, nor to appeal for their excommunication...

Today bring to Me SOULS WHO HAVE BECOME LUKEWARM, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: 'Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.' For them, the last hope of salvation is to run to My mercy.

Most compassionate Jesus, You are Compassion Itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart. In this fire of Your pure love, let these tepid souls, who, like corpses, filled You with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O Most Compassionate Jesus, exercise the omnipotence of Your mercy and draw them into the very ardor of Your love, and bestow upon them the gift of holy love, for nothing is beyond Your power.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon lukewarm souls who are nonetheless enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. Father of Mercy, I beg You by the bitter Passion of Your Son and by His three-hour agony on the Cross: Let them, too, glorify the abyss of Your mercy. Amen.
 

 

Prayers for the dying - and the dead.

On this the 8th day of the novena, the Lord asked Sr. Faustina to pray for the souls in purgatory.

I'm hoping some of the people I've known and loved made it there.

The other day, after waking from a dream, I recalled a few people I've prayed for as they were dying.  Thinking of one dear friend - actually, my best friend's mother, my dream reminded me of the night she died.  Thinking she would make it through the night, my friend and I decided to leave the nursing home so each of us could get some rest.  The nurse pretty much assured us my friend's mom wasn't close to death yet, just very tired.  Before leaving, she cried out,  "Terry can't you do something?"  I think she said it that way because she knew I was religious.  I didn't know what to do, and I tried to comfort her, telling her I was praying.  As luck would have it, the chaplain happened by and I went out into the hall to ask if she could be baptised. (I wasn't sure she had ever been baptised.)

Father said he had seen her earlier and that the Lord knew her soul and she would be fine - besides, she never asked to be baptized.  I know the story sounds nuts, but I'm not revealing everything about the situation.  Long story short, I assured her I'd pray and would be back to see her.  She died shortly after we left.

I still pray for her today as if she is just now dying.  I pray the chaplet for her and offer communions and penances, and I've had Masses said.  I always regret leaving her alone.  There have been other friends who've died alone as well - I regret not being there to pray with and for them as they arrived at the moment of death - so I pray for them now, hoping they are in purgatory... placing myself in spirit next to their deathbed.  I'm sure that sounds crazy too.

It seemed I was around a lot of dying at one point in my life.  At times I was afraid of looking too holier than thou, praying next to the deathbed of someone I was not related to, and who wasn't even Catholic.   Then of course, there were those situations when all seemed well for the night, so I'd go home with the intention of returning the next day, only to find out they died a few hours later, or the next morning. 

Our Lord once instructed Sr. Faustina, "Pray as much as you can for the dying.  By your entreaties, obtain for them trust in my mercy, because they have the most need of trust, and have it the least.  Be assured that the grace of eternal salvation for certain souls in their final moments depends on your prayer." [1777]

I try not to lose my peace over such failures and fears, since I place all of my trust in the Divine Mercy to remedy anything that I failed to do through human weakness or ignorance.  I even hope he will have anticipated the prayers I offer now for their salvation.  If they be in purgatory, I hope they will likewise benefit from the prayers of the chaplet.