An unusual discovery

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An unusual discovery

Author: Testimony,
"Love One Another!" 39/2017
Testimonies

I had never before been with someone at the time of their death, and I didn’t know how to comport myself.

An unusual discovery

My name is Emilia and I’m a nursing student. I’d like to share my testimony about an event that took place in my life, and which I will never forget.

The incident took place a year ago. I was in practical training along with some friends. There was a patient in the intensive care unit who, as I later found out, was dying. He had been in serious condition; his breathing was weak and he was wheezing. It was the first time I had ever been with anyone at the point of death, and I didn’t know how to react. I knew that I certainly couldn’t just stand there and watch passively. I was wondering what kind of prayers are normally said under such circumstances. I wanted to pray the rosary, but in as much as this would take a certain amount of time, I looked for a shorter prayer. Completely unconsciously I reached for the rosary that I always kept in the pocket of my nursing gown, crossed myself, and started to recite the Chaplet of Divine Mercy under my breath. My colleagues were standing behind me talking with each other, and as I finished the chaplet with the words: “Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world!”, the patient calmed down and his breathing relaxed. It was so pronounced that my colleagues, who were standing behind me, interrupted their conversation and asked surprisedly what had happened. I won’t deny that I was startled myself. I told them that I had simply been praying, and the patient relaxed. When I returned home, I couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened. I started to look for information both about what it meant to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for the dying, and how one should conduct oneself in the presence of the dying. What I found in St. Faustina’s Diary seriously choked me up!

“It pleases Me to grant everything they ask of Me by saying the Chaplet. When hardened sinners say it, I will fill their souls with peace, and the hour of their death will be a happy one. Write this for the benefit of distressed souls: When a soul sees and realizes the gravity of its sins, when the whole abyss of the misery into which it immersed itself is displayed before its eyes, let it not despair, but with trust, let it throw itself into the arms of my Mercy, as a child into the arms of its beloved mother. […] No soul that has called upon my Mercy has been disappointed or brought to shame. I delight particularly in a soul which has placed its trust in My goodness. Write that when they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying person, I will stand between My Father and the dying person not as the just Judge, but as the merciful Savior” (Diary 1541). 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 […] When this chaplet is said by the bedside of a dying person, God’s anger is placated, unfathomable mercy envelopes the soul” (Diary 811). “Oh how much we should pray for the dying! Let us take advantage of mercy while there is still time for mercy” (Diary 1035).

After reading these words I was speechless! I hadn’t known that this was such a powerful prayer! Even today when I read these words, my eyes fill with tears! “I saw” what a miracle divine mercy is. Jesus! I, Emilka, trust in You limitlessly!

Since that memorable event in the hospital I often pray the chaplet at the side of the sick and the dying. I encourage you who are reading this testimony to pray for poor sinners, and also for me and my family, for my patients, and for everyone with whom God brings me into contact along the way, for sanctity in life, that the merciful God might open to them the gates of heaven.

I would like to add that sometimes I put a rosary in the hands of the sick; especially stroke victims who are paralyzed and can’t speak. Often upon seeing the rosary, they burst into such sorrowful tears that they cry like children. And I… I cry with them.

By this testimony I would like to thank the Lord God that I am able to share in the exceptional grace of being a nurse. I thank God for my patients. I anticipate that this profession, even though it is ill-paid on earth, reaps great reward in heaven. If we discern our calling well, it can put us on a straight path to heaven. I would like to be a good nurse.

Emilka

Source: https://loamagazine.org/archive/2017/2017-39/an-unusual-discovery

The article was published with the permission from "Love One Another!" in April 2021.