Divine Mercy and Eternity

This morning I got up, vowing to do more penance, pray more, etc., trying to fininsh Lent with a "bang!" So it didn't really surpise me this morning that I had such a strong desire to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Over the last couple days, I felt like I was supposed to be doing the novena, but that does not begin until next Friday. In looking back, I have prayed the chaplet every day, anyway, but I was not offering up any intentions in particular such as that with the official novena.

This morning's prompt was particularly strong, and hit sometime around 6:30 to 7 am. I was busy getting ready for work and "didn't have time" to pray the Chaplet, but I planned to do so en route to work.

As I got into my car and headed off down the road, I was thinking about St. Faustina's diary and about the benefit of Divine Mercy for the dying. The diary described how the Chaplet brought great refreshment to those who were in their final moments and how those who are tormented become suddenly at peace and die in a much better state.

I prayed the Chaplet, wondering why I was thinking about dying persons when no one I knew was dying. But I didn't know what to offer the chaplet for so I put that offering in God's hands to address.

This morning was very busy and I am the only person handling our workload from the weekend and today as my co-workers are all at various trainings. I don't know why that happened especially on a Monday, but it's out of my hands. So I was plugging away while people were filling up my voice mail.

One of the messages was from my brother. He never calls me at work, and his tone was serious. Ignoring all my needy customers, I called my brother.

I knew what the news would be before he actually said it, and in fact he didn't say it but talked around it.

Grandma, our last grandmother, passed away this morning. We were unaware of it, but about two weeks ago she was diagnosed with late-term terminal cancer. They tried to treat it, and this morning she took her last breath and granted her soul back to God. The funeral is this week and I'm not sure I can make it but that's another story.

I remembered the sudden propmptimg to pray Divine Mercy right NOW which I had largely ignored, so I asked my brother about her time of death.

8:05 am Eastern Time, making it 7:05 am Central time. Meaning the Holy Spirit prompted me to pray for grandma as she was dying and I ignored the request.

*

I thanked my brother for calling me and tried to go about my business. After all, I was the only one to do the work, and leaving suddenly was not good...our customers needed help, too.

But I could not keep my composure, especially when I considered that I was told to pray for her which might have eased her last moments, but I did not. I prayed the chaplet after she had already died.

Finally I gathered up my purse and I headed to a nearby adoration chapel so that I could pour my grief out to Jesus. While I was in the chapel, I sensed the Blessed Mother very close by and I offered another Divine Mercy for my Grandma's soul.

I returned to work having prayed for the strength to get through the rest of the day. I headed to the bathroom to clean myself up and try to appear presentable. Two managers walked in (neither of them my manager) and tried to console me and told me that I should go home. It took them to talk this sense into me.

I was so busy worrying about all the work that needed to be done to really realize that I had a right to leave when such an emergency was presented. I was so busy being a Martha that I did not realize it was time to be Mary.

Of course my Manager gave me permission to leave and told me not to worry about what needed to be done. They would take care of any incoming calls.

I've learned a few lessons today that I want to impart to you all as you also journey to Calvary during this last week of lent:

* If you are prompted to pray, even if you don't know who you are praying for or why, don't ask questions and don't delay. If you cannot stop doing something, then pray as you do it. Even if you don't know the why and what and who, God does, so trust him and offer what he asks you to offer in the spirit of obedience.

* "Martha, Martha, you are worried about many things. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her...". Don't be a Martha. Take time to pray, especially when it's obvious that that's what you need to do. Don't worry about the work, the lack of personnnell, etc. God has his hand over that, too. Take time to sit at Jesus' feet and pray.

* If you are grieving, unite your grief with Jesus and look at Calvary and the Passion of Christ from the eyes of the grieving Blessed Mother. Maybe you will understand Jesus in a whole new way.

* If you are suffering, offer your suffering, no matter how small, as penance for each wound Christ bore for all of us. Remember that Jesus was not ONLY crucified, but he suffered many small injuries also, to include bruises and scratches. The smallest penance is still penance and is much greater in the eyes of God than we realize.

I ask you all to keep my grandmother and our family in your prayers.

God bless you this Holy Week.