If you want an ally at the moment of your death, you need look no further than your Mother and my Mother and the Mother of Jesus.
St Mechtilde begged Our Lady for help during the last moments of her life. Mary said to her, “Yes, I will; but I want you, on your part, to pray three Hail Marys to me each day.” In the first Hail Mary you will ask that just as God the Father raised me up to a throne of glory, so too I may assist you on earth to drive away the power of the enemy.
In the Second Hail Mary you will ask that just as the Son of God filled me with wisdom and knowledge of the Holy Trinity, so too I may help you in the last moments of your life, filling you with wisdom.
In the third Hail Mary “you will ask that, just as the Holy Spirit filled me with the sweetness of His love … so also may I help you at the hour of your death, filling your soul with such gentleness of divine love that all the sorrow and bitterness of your death may be changed for you into delight."
The simple recitation of three Hail Marys a day, with the above intentions, can procure Mary’s help in that final hour. “ Mary would appear to them with such brightness and beauty that the mere sight of her would bring consolation and the joys of heaven.” (vCatholic.com).
A Moment with Maryshares many stories of Mary’s intercessory help. In one massive fire in Wisconsin in 1871, 2500 lives were lost. “In the middle of it all, the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Help and the fenced property surrounding it were untouched.” The five acres sat amid the charred landscape like an oasis in the desert.” Mary saved her children inside by deflecting the raging inferno.
Mary intercedes for Christians of all faiths. In 1896 King Menelick of Ethiopia received this letter: “I am a poor Italian woman whose son you hold prisoner. O great Emperor, have pity on an unfortunate woman and return her child to her! I ask you in the name of the Madonna!”
Menelick immediately freed the son and told him to say it was not Menelick who liberated him. “You see Mary is really my mother, and when my mother has said so, I cannot say no anymore. Go, and may our Lady protect you!” (A Moment with Mary).
In a 1920 story shared by A Moment with Mary Father Peter was trying to administer the last sacraments to a dying man. He prayed a rosary to Mary. When he approached, the man vehemently refused the final graces: “In the triple name of Satan, the answer is no!”
Father Peter spoke to Mary, “In our church we have many ex-votos with the inscription of ‘Mary has answered our prayer.’ If you let this poor sinner go to eternity without the last sacraments, I will set up a plaque with the inscription ‘Mary did not answer me’!”
Approaching the dying man one last time he presented him with a crucifix and asked, “Do you know the one who gave his life for men?” The dying man replied, “Our Lord Jesus Christ!” And kissed the crucifix, asked for communion and passed away peacefully. Father Peter placed a plaque in the church with “Mary always responds.”
