A loved one is dying

Such a situation causes distress. However, Christian faith offers much hope. We believe that through prayer we can unite with a loved one who is about to pass away.

Don Paul Denizot
Rector

A loved one is dying and I can’t be at his (her) bedside…

Prayer enables to unite with people, the living and the dead. Thus, through prayer and love, I can similarly unite with people who are about to pass away.

Despite physical distance keeping us apart, I can touch my loved one’s heart by asking the Lord to comfort him (her), bring him (her) solace, and let him (her) know that I love him (her).

Indeed we believe that the love we have for one another and that bonds us together, comes from God, and that relationship remain alive, despite distance, separation, grief, and even beyond death.

This is the very testimony of Saint Faustina who used to pray for – and was spiritually attending to – the agonizing. She got them to trust in Divine Mercy as they prepared to pass away.   

Alike St Faustina, I too can pray to God to spiritually reach someone (a kin or a stranger) who is on the verge of dying: “Lord, help me unite with him (her) in my presently difficult situation; I petition on his (her) behalf, seeking to help bring him (her) comfort, consolation, and peace; pray receive him (her) in your Kingdom.”

Moreover, praying through of the communion of saints, we believe that the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, the angels, and all the saints will attend to our beloved as he (she) is about to meet with Love Itself.
Love is stronger than death.

(…) How one would love to still be able to exchange a few loving words with one’s spouse, child, father or mother, grand-parent, brother, sister, friend who has passed away… Don’t we all at times long to tell them about our daily lives, to ask them for a piece of advice! Beside some might still nurture regrets or remorse: “If only I had told him (her) that I loved him (her), forgave him (her), or asked him (her) for forgiveness. It’s too late now!” Such figuring could lead to a kind of resignation and even to despair.

Confronted with death, a common reaction is to search for answers and hints. One can neither resign oneself to the ultimate victory of death nor forsake the loving bonds that one had entertained. “Dead for good, who can ever assert it?” wrote Marcel Proust.

Deep within, one cannot but hope in the after life, whereby one will be reunited with departed loved ones.

Highlights by Fr. Paul Denizot, rector of the shrine of Our Lady of Deliverance of the Holy Souls in Montligeon, interviewed by RCF, Guillaume Desanges.

Nowadays, death seems to have disappeared from the scene.

Nowadays, death seems to have disappeared from our landscape. Even in the midst of the global and unprecedented health crisis, one tends to deal with it from a technical, scientific, statistical, standpoint.

One tends to not think about one’s death and finitude, yet one thing is certain: one day I will die. What if facing it enabled us to live?

It is never too late to express gratitude to or ask for forgiveness from a deceased…

Christians believe that, through prayer, one can still express one’s gratitude to a deceased person, or ask for his (her) forgiveness.

Let us thank him (her) for what he (she) meant to us, for what he (she) imparted, etc.

We can pray for forgiveness, for the wrongs we may have caused them, or for our lack of love.

Moreover, we can also express our forgiveness for his (her) lack of love, or for the wounds he (she) may have caused us.

So essential for the living too!

Click & download the card. Fill it in, and return it by postal or electronic mail to
sanctuaire@montligeon.org
We’ll place it in the appropriate box beside the high altar.

“Sorry/Thank you” card

Enrolling people in the spiritual Fraternity of Our Lady of Deliverance of the poor souls means having the perpetual Mass celebrated at the shrine on a daily basis offered for them too.

Ever since 1884, the shrine prays for the deceased

The celebration of Mass is at the core of all that takes place at the shrine. Initiated in 1884, praying for the dead, and especially for all the deceased recommended to the Fraternity of Our Lady of Deliverance of the poor souls in purgatory, also known as Our Lady of Montligeon. One can enroll oneself or a loved one – deceased or living – in the Fraternity.

Our Lady of Deliverance,
Have compassion on all our departed,
Especially those who are most in need of the Lord’s mercy.
Intercede for all those who have gone before us
And may the purifying love of God lead them to full deliverance.
May our prayer, united with the prayer of the whole Church,
Obtain for them joy beyond all their desires,
And bring consolation and relief to our loved ones
in their suffering and distress. 
Mother of the Church, help us, pilgrims on earth,
to be better in living each day of our journey towards the Resurrection.
Help us to become of the Unseen God,
Heal the wounds of heart and soul.
Seeking already what the eye cannot see. 
Grant us the grace to become apostles of hope,
like those who keep vigil awaiting the dawn.
Refuge of sinners and Queen of all Saints,
Gather us all together one day, 
in our Father’s House,
For the eternal Easter,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
In the unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our Lady of Montligeon, pray for the Souls in Purgatory.

Imprimatur: + Msgr J.-C. Boulanger – 31st May 2007