I'd just like to ask for prayers for my friend Brian S., who I met my very first day as a catechumen at CMRI and we have been fast friends ever since.  He is now 82 years old and has been diagnosed with cancer.  He was going to take a more specific test on Monday before they figured out what they wanted to do, but I haven't heard back from him.  So I'm thinking now is the time to start praying.  

He has the most impressive dedication to the Virgin Mary I've ever seen from anyone; it's from the heart, 100%, no grandstanding.  And he's not so shabby when it comes to God either.  I remember him once talking about the Passion of Jesus and then saying "Michael, he did that for ME, do you understand?  For ME."  It wasn't the words that were striking, it was the sense you got that he really understood it, with the simplicity of a child, and was genuinely pained by it.  All this when I only intellectually understood it.  He has this hyper-awareness of his sins that I have never seen from anyone.  

Something else that impresses me about him is that, despite being almost five decades my senior, he would listen to me as if I had something to tell him -- and he believes that I did.  Shamefully, at the beginning I was quite rude and loudmouthed but he never fought back, never raised a peep, though he was a very belligerent guy in his day and still has that nature.  But he had overcome it.

I just wanted to paint a little picture which might aid you in your prayers.  Though he is getting up there, he still has a lot to offer.  Not the least of which is that he's one of the few people who has been solid for me every step of the way.  Though we don't talk all that often, the thought of him dying is pretty chilling, we have a deep connection that I don't have with anyone else.

   Prayers for your dear friend Brian.

Raoul,

I will remember your friend in my prayers.  

I hope that you have some more precious time with him on this earth, but we will also pray that he has a holy death in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary with all the comforts of our precious Catholic Faith, the Last Sacraments when his time comes.    

Do you know by any chance if he has made the Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary, as taught by St. Louis Marie de Montfort in True Devotion to Jesus through Mary?  

The 2nd of May is the Feast Day of St. Peregrine Laziosi, Confessor, in the [traditional] Calendar proper to the Servite Order. It ranks as a Double of the Second Class and has a proper Office. He is the celestial Patron of all who are afflicted with cancer.

Here is a rough translation of the Collect as found in the Servite Breviary:

O God, Who didst marvelously grant unto blessed Peregrine an Angel for a companion, the Mother of God for teacher, and Jesus as the Physician unto [the healing of] a foul ulcer: grant by his merits, we implore, that we may singularly love [our] holy Angel [Guardian], the Virgin and the Savior upon the earth, and praise them in the heavens. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who together with Thee doth live and reign in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, throughout all ages of ages. Amen.

Please be assured of my prayers  

Merci à tous !  I greatly appreciate each response.

I haven't heard anything yet.  This isn't looking good.  If anyone is still praying, his main desire is to avoid purgatory, he is terrifed of purgatory.  So pray that the Virgin Mary intercedes with God and he is forgiven for all his sins.

Prayers for this good man.