Home of the Mother

The Final Battle

Continuation from H.M. Magazine 118

The Servant Sisters (Ecuador)

It has been a few days since I ran into a friend that I had not seen in a long time. We greeted each other and talked…At one point in the conversation, she asked me what had happened to the lady who was mentioned in the article in our magazine, entitled “The Final Battle.” Mrs. Carmen was very sick and the enemy had her trapped by a sacriligeous oath, making her uncapable of forgiving her children and letting herself receive forgiveness from God. We had asked for prayers for her. My friend commented that she had been praying a lot for her, for her conversion.

Certainly Mrs. Carmen was touched by the grace of God and I don’t doubt that the constant prayers of so many people, including those from various other countries, that were offered for her softened and prepared her soul so that the Lord could work in her. How great is the power of prayer!

I would like to tell you all of the infinite mercy that God had with this soul. Blessed be God forever.

We could do nothing more than pray for her, go to visit her once in a while, speak to her, make her laugh, and most importantly, pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet with her, to which she was always disposed. She would always take our hand and squeeze it, as if she were saying, “Don’t leave me.” And when we left, she would repeat, “Don’t forget about me.” After a few months like this, one day as we were passing by her house, we thought about stopping in quickly to see how she was, even though we didn’t have much time.

We found her resting, as always. Her family told us that her situation had worsened. Her memory was failing and she was very weak. They thought that she had very little time left to live. We were surprised that when we approached her, she recognized us perfectly and with a hardly intelligible voice, called us “the little mothers.” When we left the house, we quickly went to tell a priest to bring the holy oils immediately and we went again to her house. The priest tried to talk with her, to have her make a confession, but it was impossible as she was only saying incoherent things and he didn’t understand her. Finally, after praying with her, the priest gave her the Anointing of the Sick and conditional absolution, with the hope that the sacrament would open her interiorly to forgive. Before we left, the priest spoke to the family, asking that they would call her estranged children, inviting them to dialogue as brothers and sisters and to forgive. Seeing the peace among her children might facilitate forgiveness in the heart of Mrs. Carmen.

After a few weeks, we went to see her again. We found her much better than before. She even sat up in the bed where she was. She recognized us perfectly and we were able to talk with her because she had regained the use of reason. Her face reflected much peace and tranquility. One of her daughters told us that in the end, her brothers and sisters had come and, kneeling down in front of their mother, they had repented of all the damage they had caused and had asked forgiveness. At first it was hard for her to forgive. They asked her to give them a kiss, to show her forgiveness, and in the end she gave them one. When we spoke to her, we asked her if she wanted to go to confession and she said that she did.

Can you imagine our joy and our gratitude to God?

The next day, we returned to her house with the priest and our Lord hidden in the Eucharist. The priest was amazed to see how much better Mrs. Carmen was doing. Our Lord had gotten her to reconcile herself with Him. Her mind was lucid. Repentant, she received God’s forgiveness and later the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and the most holy Body of Christ. How many graces for a soul in such great need! It really impressed me to see the power of God acting through the hands of the priest, the same hands of Jesus that cured. Witnessing all this with such emotion, we could do no more than give thanks to the Lord for His infinite patience and mercy. We could see a lot of joy and innocence in the old woman’s face. She seemed like an eighty-six-year-old child.

Thank you, Lord, for having granted us the grace to see the conversion of this soul, for having allowed us to experience your love and mercy.

Thanks to all of you, as well, for your prayers. What does it matter if you know her or not? All of us are within the great family of the Church and we have to help each other to get to heaven. All prayers reach the Heart of God and He makes them bear fruit. May He be praised!