Nurse seeking info on life/death issue

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SAINThoodSEEKER

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My girlfriend who is a nurse told me about a patient who is “actively dying” of cancer. The patient told her that she was “putting out the fire.” The patient is a Christian whose been suffering for the past several months (which is a few past her expected date of death). She has three children. She is not ready to pass yet because she wishes to help two of them into faith. On more than one occassion, she has mentioned that she was “putting out the fire” and she has had visions of her deceased father. Does anyone have any idea of what this means or symbolizes? Could this be an instance of her bearing some sort of burden for her children while still on Earth? Any help with this situation would help. Thanks and God bless you all.

**“But not the high priest [Christ] alone prays for those who pray sincerely, but also the angels . . . as also the souls of the saints who have already fallen asleep” (Prayer 11 [A.D. 233]).

Origen **
 
I am a hospice nurse and have seen countless people die. This woman may have been given some special graces, perhaps by way of the deceased relative who has visited her, and may recognize that her staying and suffering will somehow help her relatives. Her prayers and intentions will be very powerful at this time, especially if she has lived a virtuous life.

Dying people are often visited by deceased relatives, angels, or other supernatural phenonmenon in the form of dreams or visions. Some visions are very vivid. I have had patients tell me the angels came and told them they were coming for them the next night and to get ready. We believe these visions are meant
to prepare the person for their impending death.

I personally believe that the merits a person has acquired during life reach their fullness after they die. It can be a very intense,
life-changing, and often beautiful, albeit painful, moment for all involved. I would encourage your girlfriend to encourage her patient to verbalize as much as she is able. People often want to share it. If she is in a drug haze, she may be less inhibited to hold back. She could just be hallucinating, but this sounds different than that.
 
I have a Dad who was flying airplanes and playing golf on his birthday 7 months ago, and suddenly he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, ironically about on the same day that Diana Reeves died after six months. He was told he would be gone by the end of August. The power of prayer - and I asked absolutely EVERYONE to pray for my father, and if I thought it would help to ask Astronauts on the Space Station to pray too, (I know the female about to fly on Atlantis well from our Navy days together, and she is Ukranian Catholic) can not be overemphasized. My Dad is now told that 1) his cancer is in full remission, and 2) he could die from the common cold because of Chemo-therapy or from a meterorite on his head without notice, or even from a guy running a red light, so 3) don’t worry about how or when he is going to die. Worry about what happens next.

I was there when Terri Schiavo died, and people must remember that primarily we are creatures of God that are set apart from everything else on Earth. We have souls - eternal souls, and we will be ressurected in perfect eternal incorruptable bodies. Some of us will regret that, as these indestructable bodies, like our Catholic Church itself, will survive the fires of hell, and the netherworld will not prevail against them. In proper perspective, we must live our lives with soul over mind, and mind over body. So when I hear of cancer patients in so much pain, I feel the pain with them, but I beg them to put mind over body. With great effort and prayer, this can be done. Furthermore, they must put spirit over the mind. Terri Schiavo’s spirit - like many of the Autistic kids I work with - was much greater than her mind or body, and on this basis alone she deserved life and she deserved the dignity of her fellow humans. If only I could begin to tell the miracles Terri Schavo worked with those of us outside her Hospice as she died!

So obviously the goal is to get to heaven, with everything that happens on the way as not just a burden or a roadblock, but a great opportunity. Jesus Christ, though He suffered TREMENDOUSLY on Good Friday, is not a selfish God. It was just His nature to share with us His Cross, so that those of us who He felt worthy of carrying that burden of suffering with him - miniscule in comparison though it may be - would be the Simon the Cyrene through space and time to be there with Him on that day, as humanity would be redeemed to our Creator towards our ultimate purpose of being. How this relates to offsprings or visions of anything or anyone is not mine to decide, but do know that the last phone call the Dying Pope John Paul II made was to Monsignor Malanowski - I was there - as the Holy Father gave a Papal Absolution for Terri Schiavo, and he reminded all of us, even as he died suffering horribly that it is not how we die … but rather, how we live … now, and forever, Amen.
 
Thank you two for the great advice. I understand the most important part of this situation…obviously, as our faith teaches, we should keep our eyes on “the prize.” However, I was just curious and wondering if any others out there have experienced the same. Anyway, Johns72, were you literally “there” during the Schiavo ordeal and during JPII’s passing? If so, in what way? Thanks again.

**
“Let those who will, laugh and mock. I shall not be silent nor conceal the signs and wonders which were shown to me by the Lord many years before they came to pass, since he knows all things even before the world’s beginnings” (ibid., 45).

-Patrick of Ireland**
 
It’s a sidebar, but yes, I was there, and the proof is in pictures of me or by me here: endlesswonder.com/terrischiavo.html …

Those were some very bizarre weeks, with some very strange actors drawn to town by their agendas or by the attraction of the media spotlight. For the most part, our own local clergy stayed away even though busloads of priests and nuns came in from all over the world. Some Catholics - including our own Bishop did not see such a great sin in the way Terri died, and while Pope John Paul II was vocally and eloquently supporting Terri, communicating directly through Monsignor Malanowski and not the local Bishop, it was not popular locally for Catholics or non-Catholics to support Terri, and frankly, I’m surprised her family is still here - but they are. Someday I want to write a book to set the record straight, as the books by Michael Schiavo and the Schindler family don’t exactly tell the story fairly or accurately. I have asked Monsignor Malanowski to write a book, and he says he is doing just that … but Terri will be just a small chapter of a long career as a priest (he’s 85) that included being the personal Chaplain to Elvis when he was in the Army. As seen in one of the pictures with Jessie Jackson of all people, he retired a 3-star General. He was a very close friend and confidant to Pope John Paul II to the very end, and if you read the Funeral Leaflet you’ll see the connection to what was by then the Late Holy Father with the crushed Fisherman’s Ring. Monsignor Malanowski says Mass at St. Patrick Church during winter months through Easter at 7:30 a.m. Sundays - see stpatrick-largo.org if you’d like to contact them for confirmation of when he will be there.
 
This thread has me wanting to ask so many questions and has given me answers. I would like to know is it really true that dying people have visits from angels and relatives? I have heard that the opposite can happen if you are headed to hell people get scared as they die? is this true. I had an argument about that and I feel that that is not true. I believe that the rightous may be visited but this subject is something I never thought about much till I read this string. Please let me know thanks Scoob.
 
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