The most certain thing in life is death. Now the most uncertain thing in life is also death, because we don’t know when it catches us. Those few years of uncertainty we spend expecting a certain death, we call life.
The biggest blessing a man could get in this world is a happy death. Our eternal destiny is decided based on our spiritual disposition at the time of death. Every funeral is a reminder to the living, that they also should prepare for this ultimate encounter with death.
The Church exhorts her children to be in a state of preparedness at all times as death could visit them anytime. The first thing needed for a happy death is a good life that should precede it. It is natural that a tree will fall in that direction where it was leaning. In the same way, those who lean towards God in life will surely fall into the hands of God in death.
Often we see a tree being tied with a rope so as to make it fall in another direction rather than its natural orientation. God knows that we are weak and that our hearts are always tilted towards evil. So the Lord has, in his infinite mercy, given us a rope to tie us towards the direction of God so that at the time of death our soul reaches heaven safely. It is Mary, the Holy Mother of Jesus who is appointed as our last refuge at the time of death.
‘Hail Mary’ is perhaps the Christian Prayer most recited. It concludes with a supplication to the Holy Mother. ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.’
It is a prayer not for the saints alone but for sinners as well. It addresses two specific moments of our life, first the present moment and then the last moment before departing from this world. We beseech the intercession of Mary for every moment of our life with specific stress on the moment of death.
Unfortunately the importance of ‘Hail Mary’ as a prayer for happy death is not realized by many. Mary is the mediatrix for happy death too. It has been an old Christian tradition to say three ‘Hail Marys’ before going to bed. This was done to seek her help at the time of death.
Mary is aptly called the refuge of the dying. She protects us during life and also at the end of life. It has been our prayer that her name should be in our lips at all times, especially at the time of our death.
So do not forget to say ‘Hail Mary’ whenever we could spare a few seconds for it. And let our prayer be with the full conviction that it is a prayer for ‘now’ and ‘the hour of our death.’
May our prayers for the maternal protection of Mary during each moment of our life and more importantly at the moment of our death be heard in heaven. May it benefit those who are in immediate danger of death also. They too need our prayers.
Let us pray:
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
(www.v-catholic.com)
