The devil and your last hour

[lakotak]

I have been reading the Diary of St. Faustina and in Notebook V,according to her Jesus made the following statement,"**My daughter, write down these words: All those souls who will glorify My mercy and spread its worship, encouraging other to trust in My mercy, will not experience terror at the hour of death, My mercy will shield them in the final battle…"
**
I guess my thought here, when I read this, was why would a God that loved a soul allow Satan to come to it at a time when it is least able to resist. I am sure the least able of anytime in the soul’s life. I guess I am having a problem reconciling God’s Love and what torment He will allow in the final hour or hours on this earth from the devil. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[spencer2]

We all have to be tested to see if we are worthy.

 

[uxordepp]

I think it is quite clear in the diary passage quoted that souls who glorify God’s mercy are protected from torment at the time of death.

God loves us and wants us to be with Him for eternity. But the choice to go is up to us. God is merciful and just, therefore if we do not glorify Him in life, we cannot count on His help as we’re dying. But that is a path we’ve chosen for ourselves.

Because God is merciful, He will be the ultimate judge of our souls. Someone who had all the appearances of evil in life may be given God’s protection for reasons we on earth do not understand.

That is God’s prerogative.

My thoughts are to do my best to follow God, help others to do their best, and leave the rest up to God, knowing that He loves us more than we can imagine.

 

[lakotak]

We all have to be tested to see if we are worthy.

It seems that we are tested our whole life. Our whole life is a life of spiritual battle, and yet I have to wonder how many of us in pain and suffering in our last hour will be able to win over Satan if God really does let the devil loose on us at that time. I know, I had an experience of the devil once, and I was absolutely terrified and spent 3 hours trembling under the covers. In that terrified state, I could not even think to call on God to help me. I realized that afterwords. So I guess that is why I wonder how many of us would really be able to even call out to God for help. I still cannot reconcile a loving God, letting something as vile as Satan loose on a soul in the most weakest of moments, our dying.

 

[BonnieP]

Four years ago, I had an out-patient procedure gone wrong! Once home that night, I began to run 105 fever and was delirious and halucinating because of the horrific pain. By the time I was in the ER, I went into a coma. During the coma, I furiously and physically fought the devil with my own hands, all the while praying the Our Father in my mind! Eventually, I defeated the devil and the Doctors had told my husband I had sepsis, was not expected to “make” it, and the coma lasted for 10 days. I was moved to the CCU. All of my organs ceased to function. My priest was called twice. The second time he came, he and my husband prayed the “Chaplet of Divine Mercy”. Sometime later, while in the coma, I had another vision of Jesus’ beautiful hand pulling mine across my body, as if to say “you may go back now”! 15 days after the initial event, I was released from the hospital with 2 months of rehab.
So, I believe that if you Believe in and are faithful to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and Trust fully in The Trinity, that if the devil comes to you at your hour of death, Jesus is there to save you for Himself!

 

[Samson01]

Four years ago, I had an out-patient procedure gone wrong! Once home that night, I began to run 105 fever and was delirious and halucinating because of the horrific pain. By the time I was in the ER, I went into a coma. During the coma, I furiously and physically fought the devil with my own hands, all the while praying the Our Father in my mind! Eventually, I defeated the devil and the Doctors had told my husband I had sepsis, was not expected to “make” it, and the coma lasted for 10 days. I was moved to the CCU. All of my organs ceased to function. My priest was called twice. The second time he came, he and my husband prayed the “Chaplet of Divine Mercy”. Sometime later, while in the coma, I had another vision of Jesus’ beautiful hand pulling mine across my body, as if to say “you may go back now”! 15 days after the initial event, I was released from the hospital with 2 months of rehab.
So, I believe that if you Believe in and are faithful to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and Trust fully in The Trinity, that if the devil comes to you at your hour of death, Jesus is there to save you for Himself!

I had a bad experience during chemo as well and havn’t had much help in the dirscernment process with it. Thanks for speaking up about this. Could you tell me how it all started, the dying process that is? Pm me if you want. Thank you.

 

[lakotak]

Four years ago, I had an out-patient procedure gone wrong! Once home that night, I began to run 105 fever and was delirious and halucinating because of the horrific pain. By the time I was in the ER, I went into a coma. During the coma, I furiously and physically fought the devil with my own hands, all the while praying the Our Father in my mind! Eventually, I defeated the devil and the Doctors had told my husband I had sepsis, was not expected to “make” it, and the coma lasted for 10 days. I was moved to the CCU. All of my organs ceased to function. My priest was called twice. The second time he came, he and my husband prayed the “Chaplet of Divine Mercy”. Sometime later, while in the coma, I had another vision of Jesus’ beautiful hand pulling mine across my body, as if to say “you may go back now”! 15 days after the initial event, I was released from the hospital with 2 months of rehab.
So, I believe that if you Believe in and are faithful to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and Trust fully in The Trinity, that if the devil comes to you at your hour of death, Jesus is there to save you for Himself!

Thank you for sharing your story. It still makes me wonder why in the condition your were in you had to go through this battle. Perhaps, there is just no answer, but the question still remains. I had never experienced the state of being terrified, but that night I did. I could not even think of God, all I could do was pull the cover over my heard and tremble til dawn. I was a wreck for at least a week. I still cannot understand why I could not think to call out to God, maybe shock. I don’t know.

 

[Samson01]

Thank you for sharing your story. It still makes me wonder why in the condition your were in you had to go through this battle. Perhaps, there is just no answer, but the question still remains. I had never experienced the state of being terrified, but that night I did. I could not even think of God, all I could do was pull the cover over my heard and tremble til dawn. I was a wreck for at least a week. I still cannot understand why I could not think to call out to God, maybe shock. I don’t know.

Could it be we practice our whole life detaching for this final fight as not to be too distracted when the Lord comes, if called on? Any thoughts.

 

[BonnieP]

Thank you for sharing your story. It still makes me wonder why in the condition your were in you had to go through this battle. Perhaps, there is just no answer, but the question still remains. I had never experienced the state of being terrified, but that night I did. I could not even think of God, all I could do was pull the cover over my heard and tremble til dawn. I was a wreck for at least a week. I still cannot understand why I could not think to call out to God, maybe shock. I don’t know.

Being in the condition that I was, I had no coherent thoughts, much less of Jesus or death. The only thing, I think, is that HE is so ingrained in me and my Trust in Him so great, that in the end of it all, He came to my rescue!

I have no other explanation for this. One day I will find out!

---

I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I do know who holds tomorrow!

 

[Victorious]

I guess my thought here, when I read this, was why would a God that loved a soul allow Satan to come to it at a time when it is least able to resist. I am sure the least able of anytime in the soul’s life. I guess I am having a problem reconciling God’s Love and what torment He will allow in the final hour or hours on this earth from the devil. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Being in the condition that I was, I had no coherent thoughts, much less of Jesus or death. The only thing, I think, is that HE is so ingrained in me and my Trust in Him so great, that in the end of it all, He came to my rescue!

BonnieP’s response holds the key to the answer to Lakotak’s question. God knows that, because we will be weak and vulnerable at the hour of our death, the devil is going to do his best to make us rebel and stumble at the end of our road, so He offers us all the grace we need to pass safely through that hour. But we have to ask for that grace; and we have to spend our lives preparing for death by living a good life in accordance with His will. We will die as we have lived. We must cultivate a regular habit of prayer, and we must never stop asking God to grant us the graces of final perseverance and a happy death. St. Alphonsus Liguori says these are graces God will not give us unless we ask for them, for which reason prayer is absolutely essential to salvation. He goes so far as to say that he who prays is certainly saved, and he who does not pray is certainly damned. All the blessed in heaven, he says (except infants) are there because they prayed; and all the condemned souls in hell are there because they did not pray.

In Preparation for Death (I think this is also published under another title by TAN Books), St. Alphonsus compares the hour of death to being told that we are going to be put on trial for our lives, our liberty, and everything we own: we would be insane to wait until the night before court to prepare our case, so how can we delude ourselves into thinking we can safely wait until we are on our deathbeds before we make our peace with God?

 

[lakotak]

BonnieP’s response holds the key to the answer to Lakotak’s question. God knows that, because we will be weak and vulnerable at the hour of our death, the devil is going to do his best to make us rebel and stumble at the end of our road, so He offers us all the grace we need to pass safely through that hour. But we have to ask for that grace; and we have to spend our lives preparing for death by living a good life in accordance with His will. We will die as we have lived. We must cultivate a regular habit of prayer, and we must never stop asking God to grant us the graces of final perseverance and a happy death. St. Alphonsus Liguori says these are graces God will not give us unless we ask for them, for which reason prayer is absolutely essential to salvation. He goes so far as to say that he who prays is certainly saved, and he who does not pray is certainly damned. All the blessed in heaven, he says (except infants) are there because they prayed; and all the condemned souls in hell are there because they did not pray.

In Preparation for Death (I think this is also published under another title by TAN Books), St. Alphonsus compares the hour of death to being told that we are going to be put on trial for our lives, our liberty, and everything we own: we would be insane to wait until the night before court to prepare our case, so how can we delude ourselves into thinking we can safely wait until we are on our deathbeds before we make our peace with God?

Thank you for you valuable insight. I guess I really never thought about it in these terms. I go to Mass each day, pray the Rosary and pray mostly for others, souls in purgatory, etc., but I seldom really pray for myself. I guess I really didn’t realize that this is something that one must pray for. I just thought that if you tried to do God’s Will as best that you can, I just didn’t think of having to pray to God not to let the devil overwhelm me in my final hours when I would be the weakest. I guess I will start including this in a prayer for myself.
Again, thank you all for your helpful insights.