Yes, It's Time To Pray For My Dead Nan Again

I'm pleased to say that a number of people have prayed for my Nan since I put up the following on this day last year.

Today is the 2nd anniversary of the death of Sarah Ward, my Grandmother (Nan). She was an Ulster (Northern Ireland) protestant, a methodist in fact. She had quite a hard life, moving a number of times as a small child, as her Father went in search of work.

I remember wondering how to tell her, at Christmas 1996, that I had just been Baptised as a Catholic the week before! I was not expecting it to go down too well, but while sitting in her flat in Cardiff thinking of what to say, she told me the most amazing thing. "I remember the Priest (Catholic) trying to come to our house in Kent when your Great Grandfather, my Dad, died. We told him to get back on his bike or we would throw a bucket of water at him!" I asked her why would the Catholic Priest come? And she told me that, "It was very sad, but Dad became a Catholic six months before he died, but he didn't have the chance to get the rest of us though!" I laughed, as I was so happy with the start of the story, and my Nan 'knew' then. She had spent 29 years telling me that I was just like my Great Grandfather! So I just said, "And me last week!" She replied, "I know, you're just like him".

She had mellowed over the years and was fine about it, to the point that when her Bible was stolen while in hospital, she asked me to get her a new one, knowing beyond doubt that it would be a Catholic Bible, and it was.

One of the last memories I have of my Nan, was arriving at the hospital a week or two before she died when no one else was there. Although she was 'totally out of it' I told her I was going to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet for her, she said just two words after me at one point, 'Our Father'. Well I cried and carried on.

It is one of the hard things about being a convert, when someone dies on your side of the Family, very few Masses & prayers will be offered for the repose of their souls.

So do say a prayer for my Nan. Thanks.

Please Pray For My Dead Nan

Today is the first anniversary of the death of Sarah Ward, my Grandmother (Nan). She was an Ulster (Northern Ireland) protestant, a methodist in fact. She had quite a hard life, moving a number of times as a small child, as her Father went in search of work.

I remember wondering how to tell her, at Christmas 1996, that I had just been Baptised as a Catholic the week before! I was not expecting it to go down too well, but while sitting in her flat in Cardiff thinking of what to say, she told me the most amazing thing. "I remember the Priest (Catholic) trying to come to our house in Kent when your Great Grandfather, my Dad, died. We told him to get back on his bike or we would throw a bucket of water at him!" I asked her why would the Catholic Priest come? And she told me that, "It was very sad, but Dad became a Catholic six months before he died, but he didn't have the chance to get the rest of us though!" I laughed, as I was so happy with the start of the story, and my Nan 'knew' then. She had spent 29 years telling me that I was just like my Great Grandfather! So I just said, "And me last week!" She replied, "I know, you're just like him".

She had mellowed over the years and was fine about it, to the point that when her Bible was stolen while in hospital, she asked me to get her a new one, knowing beyond doubt that it would be a Catholic Bible, and it was.

One of the last memories I have of my Nan, was arriving at the hospital a week or two before she died when no one else was there. Although she was 'totally out of it' I told her I was going to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet for her, she said just two words after me at one point, 'Our Father'. Well I cried and carried on.

It is one of the hard things about being a convert, when someone dies on your side of the Family, very few Masses & prayers will be offered for the repose of their souls.

So do say a prayer for my Nan. Thanks.

The Chaplet Of The Divine Mercy

1. Begin with the Sign of the Cross, 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and The Apostles Creed.

2. Then on the Our Father Beads say the following: Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Thy dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world. Or in Latin; PATER aeterne, offero tibi Corpus et Sanguinem, animam et divinitatem dilectissimi Filii Tui, Domini nostri, Iesu Christi, in propitiatione pro peccatis nostris et totius mundi.

3. On the 10 Hail Mary Beads say the following: For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Or in Latin; PRO DOLOROSA Eius passione, miserere nobis et totius mundi. (Repeat step 2 and 3 for all five decades).

4. Conclude with (three times): Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Or in Latin; SANCTUS Deus, Sanctus Fortis, Sanctus Immortalis, miserere nobis et totius mundi

In 1933, God gave Sister Faustina a striking vision of His Mercy, Sister tells us: "I saw a great light, with God the Father in the midst of it. Between this light and the earth I saw Jesus nailed to the Cross and in such a way that God, wanting to look upon the earth, had to look through Our Lord's wounds and I understood that God blessed the earth for the sake of Jesus."

Of another vision on Sept. 13, 1935, she writes: "I saw an Angel, the executor of God's wrath... about to strike the earth...I began to beg God earnestly for the world with words which I heard interiorly. As I prayed in this way, I saw the Angel's helplessness, and he could not carry out the just punishment...." The following day an inner voice taught her to say this prayer on ordinary rosary beads: "First say one 'Our Father', 'Hail Mary', and 'I believe'. Then on the large beads say the following words: 'Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Thy dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.' On the smaller beads you are to say the following words: 'For the sake of His sorrowful Passion have mercy on us and on the whole world.' In conclusion you are to say these words three times: 'Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world'.

Jesus said later to Sister Faustina: "Say unceasingly this chaplet that I have taught you. Anyone who says it will receive great Mercy at the hour of death. Priests will recommend it to sinners as the last hope. Even the most hardened sinner, if he recites this Chaplet even once, will receive grace from My Infinite Mercy. I want the whole world to know My Infinite Mercy. I want to give unimaginable graces to those who trust in My Mercy...." "....When they say this Chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying person not as the just judge but as the Merciful Savior".

Taken from EWTN