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Edie
Two years ago I began taking the Eucharist to a parishioner who had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was living in a local Nursing Home. She was in her early 70's, but had buried her husband some five years before, and their only daughter some thirty years before that.
I offered to visit her, taking sick communion to her twice a week thereafter.
She was absolutely radiant about knowing she was going to die, because in her own words the family would be reunited again. And she really was very happy about her coming final journey. Over the next few weeks she made all her final preparations for matters material, and then we worked together for the matters spiritual, talking much about God and prayer. She becaame a good friend, and I visited her twice a week through the good times, and the bad. In the final stages when she was on Morphine, her hallucinations became a way of life, and many's the conversation I've had with her, her daughter and her husband.
She finally died on 2 January two years ago, in the early hours of the morning, quietly in her room. I had taken the Eucharist to her the afternoon before, and she had received the Sacrament of the Sick on the Friday previous.
I assisted at her funeral, even to the graveside but never was I sad, because she wasn't sad about it and was looking forward to exploring the new country with her family, reunited once again.
When I brought her needs before the Lord in prayer, I always asked for the best outcomes for her - whatever the will of God was.
I only hope I can have as much faith in my final moments as she had.
Martin
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