"Now and at the Hour of our Death..."

This afternoon I received an e-mail about a church friend, M.J. Curran, who is in the hospital actively dying from metasticized breast cancer. She is heavily medicated for pain, and the message I received indicates that she is highly agitated and angry when she wakes up.

I've always known M.J. to be a woman of great faith. She is in the process of raising two young men, one in high school and one in grade school. I cannot imagine how painful it must be for her to leave behind her children like this, when they need her so badly. And yet, it does appear that she is losing the battle, and that God is calling her home.

Please pray for the Curren family: her husband Mike, sons Ryan and Sean, daughter Colleen, and the rest of M.J.'s family ... and of course, M.J. herself.

Mother Mary, while you were in this world
you looked Death full in the face
time after time, you had to let go
as those you loved most in this world preceded you to heaven.

You understand the pain of sorrowing children,
you know what it is to endure.
Be especially close to my friend M.J. right now.

Soothe her mother's heart with your motherly heart,
and walk beside her as she approaches the gate.
Pray for her, and for her family,
and those of us who will miss her terribly,
now and at the hour of her death.

Mary, Mother of Sorrows, pray for us.