Recourse to The Divine Mercy through the Chaplet becomes the last hope of salvation for the dying, healing for the wounded, and a consolation for the grieving.
How you can help, through Caritas.
By Marie Romagnano, MSN, RN and Fr. Kazimierz Chwalek, MIC
More than 2,000 people have perished in the devastating earthquake that struck Morocco on Sept. 8. The death toll is expected to rise.
How can we comfort the grieving families, bewildered and sorrowing over their tremendous personal loss in the earthquake so far away from us? We are not helpless; we have the power of prayer.
It is important to pray fervently now, and without delay, as many are still dying in the rubble of the earthquake. We are not able to assist them physically, but we can offer spiritual solace by praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet for them as it is a powerful and efficacious spiritual tool. Jesus told St. Faustina:
Pray as much as you can for the dying. By your entreaties obtain for them trust in My mercy, because they have most need of trust, and have it the least. Be assured that the grace of eternal salvation for certain souls in their final moment depends on your prayer (Diary of St. Faustina, 777).
At the hour of their death, I defend as My own glory every soul that will say this chaplet; or, when others say it for a dying person; the pardon is the same (Diary, 811).
When we pray The Divine Mercy Chaplet for them, we apply the power of Our Savior’s suffering and death as an atoning sacrifice of His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity at the moment when it’s most needed.
Recourse to The Divine Mercy
The Divine Mercy Chaplet is the most appropriate prayer for the victims who may not otherwise be rescued or able to be assisted. Recourse to The Divine Mercy through the Chaplet becomes the last hope of salvation for the dying, healing for the wounded, and a consolation for the grieving.
Jesus promises to bestow a powerful final grace of mercy for the dying when others intercede for them. Saint Faustina wrote:
I often attend upon the dying, and through entreaties obtain for them trust in God’s mercy, and I implore God for an abundance of divine grace, which is always victorious. God’s mercy sometimes touches the sinner at the last moment in a wondrous and mysterious way. Outwardly, it seems as if everything were lost, but it is not so. The soul, illumined by a ray of God’s powerful final grace, turns to God in the last moment with such a power of love that, in an instant, it receives from God forgiveness of sin and punishment, while outwardly it shows no sign either of repentance or of contrition, because souls [at that stage] no longer react to external things. Oh, how beyond comprehension is God’s mercy! Although a person is at the point of death, the merciful God gives the soul that interior vivid moment, so that if the soul is willing, it has the possibility of returning to God (Diary, 1698).
Realizing that God’s mercy is infinite and incomprehensible, what St. Faustina is telling us is that God directly intervenes with the soul, giving the soul the last chance for true contrition and salvation, despite the fact that no sacramental Confession or the Anointing of the Sick was possible.
Short prayers for mercy
It is at such times we can also pray short Divine Mercy prayers for mercy on behalf of the victims and their families, such as, "Jesus, be merciful!" or, "Jesus, I trust in You!" or, "O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus, as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You" (Diary, 187).
Likewise, we can pray the Rosary on behalf of the dying. In reciting the Hail Mary, we ask our Immaculate Mother to pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death. She obtains for us mercy and grace through her Divine Son.
Let Jesus’ words console us:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be" (Jn 14:1-6).
Jesus, I Trust in You!
Photo by catholicmasses.org
{shopmercy-ad}
