As a Catholic sitting at the bedside of my dieing mother, father, and father-in-law, I can’t imagine a more powerful or consoling prayer.
When my father-in-law had a brain hemorrage and was lying in bed in a coma, one day went by, another night, another day, and we waited and waited for him to pass. Everything in our lives came to an abrupt halt and remained on hold. My hubby and I gathered some Catholic friends, stood around the bed, prayed this prayer. One of the friends is a nurse and she noticed a ‘change’ when we finished the prayer, and he was gone within 20 min. After waiting 5 days, and the nurses saying it could be any time, it seemed to us that God was waiting for that intercession. It’s hard to imagine a more peaceful ‘falling asleep’ than what we witnessed that evening. The grace I wish for all of us!