The Mercy of Deathbed and the Power of the Rosary

Some of Father Sebastian Walshe’s greatest experiences as a priest is going to people’s deathbeds and giving them the sacraments. [...]

“I have so much optimism as a priest when I talk to parents whose children have been away from the faith and there seems to be no hope,” he said in a talk, “The Grace of Deathbed Conversions,” for The Coming Home Network International.

A most powerful prayer for conversions is the Rosary, according to Father Walshe, because when we pray the many Hail Mary’s of the Rosary, we ask Our Lady to pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

“That’s pretty much the two defining moments in everyone’s life,” he said. “The present is all you have, and then the moment you especially want our Lady to pray for you is at the moment of our death. That is a moment of supreme importance and that is when our lady is most present to every soul, literally at the hour of their death.”

St. Faustina talked about the miracles of Divine Mercy that happen even when it seems like there’s no hope, according to Father Walshe. He explained that the devil is frustrated when he is unable to snatch a soul from heaven at the moment of death.

“That’s why you say the Rosary and ask our Lady over and over to pray for us now and at the hour of our death, and there’s no way she can fail you,” Father Walshe said. “She loves you more than your human mother, just like God loves you more than your human father. The Rosary is the greatest prayer we can pray for the conversions of ourselves and for others.”

There was a holy nun named Venerable Sister Mary Potter (1847-1913) who founded a religious order dedicated to prayer for the dying. “There is none [work] greater, none more salutary for the saving of souls and people in heaven,” she wrote in her book, Devotion for the Dying: Mary’s Call to her Loving Children.

Potter recommended offering sacrifices and putting sinners into the heart of Our Blessed Mother, praying to her and the Holy Spirit and invoking the Most Precious Blood of Jesus.

Patti Maguire Armstrong, December 13, 2022

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