The Final Moments

My mother just told me about something I find touching.

In her parish, there was a 91 y/o lady. She came down with pneumonia and had to go into the hospital last week. On Thursday or Friday, she suffered a mild heart attack. On Saturday, her family called in her priest. He came in and was with her, with family present, and spoke to her. She was all loopy on morphine, and he had to shake her a bit to wake her up and get her attention. He told her that the doctors said she was dying, and that he was going to give her last rites and say the prayers for the dying. 15 minutes after he did this and left, she passed away.

I find this an act of compassion and fortitude. For her and her family, religion meant a great deal. This priest making sure she heard the final prayers of her life probably gave her and her family some measure of comfort. I can only imagine what tending the dying is like, but I don't imagine doing what he did was easy. But how nice that he was able to do this for her, to help close the circle of her life (in Christianity from baptism to the last rites).