"Dear children! In this time of grace, pray with me for the good to win in you and around you. In a special way, little children, pray united with Jesus on His Way of the Cross. Into your prayers put this humanity which wanders without God and without His love. Be prayer, be light, and be witnesses to all those whom you meet, little children, so that the merciful God may have mercy toward you. Thank you for having responded to my call."
Featured article from November's Spirit of Medjugorje
Praying for Grandma's Soul
By June Klins
Fr. Chris Alar, M.I.C., gave an excellent talk in August at a
conference in Buffalo, New York, about Divine Mercy, and at
one point, his talk brought me to tears. Father talked about a
discussion he had as a young man (we will call him "Chris"
because he was not a priest at that time) in 2003 with a priest
regarding his grandmother's suicide in 1993. Chris told this
priest that he was worried about his grandmother's soul,
especially because in her last year of life she had stopped
receiving the Sacraments and had turned her back on God
and the Church. The priest told him to go home and pray the
Divine Mercy Chaplet for the salvation of his grandmother's
soul.
Chris, whose profession at that time was engineering,
questioned the priest, "Father, I don't understand. My
grandmother has been judged. There is nothing I can do to
change that." The priest repeated his instructions to pray
the Chaplet for her soul. Chris told the priest he did not want
to be difficult, but he just did not understand. The priest said,
"God knew back in 1993 that you would be here in 2003, and
you would pray this Chaplet for your grandmother, and those
graces will be allowed through the mercy of God to be taken
back and showered upon the soul of your grandmother at
the moment of her judgment to help her. This is why we need
to pray for our loved ones and our families and our friends."
Chris lamented that his grandmother had fallen away
from the Church before she died, so Father pointed out that
paragraph 1486 of St. Faustina's Diary says that Jesus comes
to every soul three times at the moment of death. If the soul
rejects Him after the first time, He goes away. But He comes
back a second time. If the soul rejects Him again, He'll go,
but He'll come back a third time. If the soul rejects Him a
third time, the soul is lost forever.
Chris was elated to hear this, since he felt his grandmother
would never have rejected Jesus, because she was a good
person. But then Father seemed to throw a monkey wrench
at him, asserting, "We die in the state that we live." He
explained that if we turn our backs on God, we will not
recognize Him when He comes. Chris was crestfallen at that
thought, since his grandmother had, in fact, turned her back
on God. But the priest continued, "Without your prayers, She
may not recognize Him, but with your prayers upon her soul
at the moment of her judgment – because God is outside of
time (there is no past or future for God, just one eternal now),
He can take those graces from your prayers and shower
them down on your grandmother, so maybe, just maybe, it's
enough grace for her to turn around and say, 'Yes' to God."
Father said that this is why St. John Paul II and others call
us "mini co-redeemers." We are the Body of Christ and it is
very important for us to pray for one another. Prayers can
make a difference. A demon once told St. John Vianney that
80,000 souls avoided hell due to his prayers and sufferings.
This is why we should offer up our prayers and suffering.
Father continued, referencing paragraph 1698 of the
Diary – which says that God's mercy sometimes touches
souls at the last moment. Chris began to cry at the thought
of such a merciful God. He decided right then and there to
spend the rest of his life spreading this message of hope. And
that he does. Chris joined the Marians of the Immaculate
Conception, was ordained a few years ago, and is now the
director of the Association of Marian Helpers.
Editor's note: If you would like to hear Father's entire
talk, you can order the CD called "Divine Mercy 101" by
calling 1-800-462-7426, or visit the website marian.org. The
reason Father's talk brought me to tears is because I started
a website in 2011 to pray for souls who have committed suicide
(https://sites.google.com/site/divinemercyforlostsouls). A friend
and I were talking about this right before Father's talk, so it was a
confirmation.