Author Topic: My parents need your prayers (Read 1535 times)

MariaCatherine · « **on:** May 04, 2014, 09:37:22 PM »

My mother has dementia and is in a nursing home. My father is depressed. They're both elderly, and neither is Catholic. Thank you for your prayers.

holysoulsacademy · « **Reply #1 on:** May 04, 2014, 09:58:15 PM »

Pray to St. Dymphna, she's the patron saint for such conditions.
Pray to the holy souls who suffered with those conditions who are in purgatory right now, especially those who have no one to pray for them.
Gain as many plenary indulgences for the merit of a neglected, ignored, or abandoned purgatorial soul, and petition them to pray for your parents upon their entry into Heaven.
Purgatorial Souls are eternally grateful to those who prayed for them.

We shall include them in our family rosary.

shin · « **Reply #2 on:** May 04, 2014, 10:25:06 PM »

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us, now and at the hour of our death.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us, now and at the hour of our death.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us, now and at the hour of our death.

Cantarella · « **Reply #3 on:** May 04, 2014, 10:27:14 PM »

Your parents are in my prayers, dear Maria Catherine.

shin · « **Reply #4 on:** May 04, 2014, 10:30:37 PM »

Give them Green Scapulars and say the Green Scapular prayer for them if you haven't already.

poche · « **Reply #5 on:** May 04, 2014, 11:20:34 PM »

MariaCatherine · « **Reply #6 on:** May 05, 2014, 09:07:47 AM »

(Can't upvote you anymore, Shin! Thanks!)

Sigismund · « **Reply #7 on:** May 05, 2014, 06:03:49 PM »

Stubborn · « **Reply #8 on:** May 06, 2014, 04:50:43 AM »

shin · « **Reply #9 on:** May 06, 2014, 07:47:40 AM »

Prayers.. prayers!

PerEvangelicaDicta · « **Reply #10 on:** May 06, 2014, 03:24:36 PM »

Quote from: shin

Give them Green Scapulars and say the Green Scapular prayer for them if you haven't already.

^^ this is critical.
Our family has an almost identical situation, dear MariaCatherine. Our trad priest really emphasized putting a Green Scapular in their room somwhere - if they cannot/will not wear it - and the family offer the Green Scapular prayers on their behalf.
He also advised to put a crucifix, pictures, statures, etc all over the room. As you know, with dementia, there are occasional lucid moments. If you can do this for your father also, all the better, but he may resist.
When you visit, speak constantly of God and redemption and pray with them as often as you can.
Since they are not Catholic, you have to create an opportunity for them to convert, and implore the Holy Ghost for their enlightenment. Never give up Hope!

Lastly, you probably already do this - offer their suffering for their salvation, since they do not know to do so.

andysloan · « **Reply #11 on:** May 06, 2014, 04:49:21 PM »

The Holy Right Shoulder Wound of Our Lord Jesus Christ

It is related in the annals of Clairvaux that St. Bernard asked our Lord which was His greatest unrecorded suffering, and our Lord answered: "I had on My shoulder, while I bore My Cross on the Way of Sorrows, a grievous wound, which was more painful than the others, and which is not recorded by men. Honor this wound with thy devotion, and I will grant thee whatsoever thou dost ask through its virtue and merit. And in regard to all those who shall venerate this wound, I will remit to them all their venial sins, and will no longer remember their mortal sins."

PRAYER TO THE WOUND ON THE SHOULDER

O most loving Jesus, meek lamb of God, I, a miserable sinner,
salute and worship the most sacred Wound of Thy Shoulder
on which Thou didst bear Thy heavy Cross, which so
tore Thy flesh and laid bare Thy bones as to inflict on Thee
an anguish greater than any other wound of Thy most blessed body.
I adore Thee, O Jesus most sorrowful; I praise and glorify Thee,
and give Thee thanks for this most sacred and painful
Wound, beseeching Thee by that exceeding pain, and by
the crushing burden of Thy heavy Cross, to be merciful to me,
a sinner, and to forgive me all my mortal and venial sins, and
to lead me on toward Heaven along the Way of the Cross. Amen.

Imprimatur:
THOMAS D. BEAVEN
Bishop of Springfield

SPLINTERS FROM THE CROSS

Little headaches, little heartaches
Little griefs of every day,
Little trials and vexations,
How they throng around our way!
One great Cross, immense and heavy,
So it seems to our weak will,
Might be borne with resignation,
But these many small ones kill,
Yet all life is formed of small things,
Little leaves, make up the trees,
Many tiny drops of water
Blending, make the mighty seas.
Let us not then by impatience
Mar the beauty of the whole,
But for love of Jesus bear all
In the silence of our soul.
Asking Him for grace sufficient
To sustain us through each loss,
And to treasure each small offering
As a splinter from His Cross.

God bless!

shin · « **Reply #12 on:** May 07, 2014, 08:59:44 PM »

I've given and prayed the Green Scapular prayer for family members for years.

It's a real gift from God! He pulls the lost sheep in before the end.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us, now and at the hour of our death.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us, now and at the hour of our death.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us, now and at the hour of our death.

MariaCatherine · « **Reply #13 on:** May 08, 2014, 10:09:49 AM »

Quote from: PerEvangelicaDicta

Our family has an almost identical situation, dear MariaCatherine. Our trad priest really emphasized putting a Green Scapular in their room somwhere - if they cannot/will not wear it - and the family offer the Green Scapular prayers on their behalf.

He also advised to put a crucifix, pictures, statures, etc all over the room. As you know, with dementia, there are occasional lucid moments. If you can do this for your father also, all the better, but he may resist.
When you visit, speak constantly of God and redemption and pray with them as often as you can.
Since they are not Catholic, you have to create an opportunity for them to convert, and implore the Holy Ghost for their enlightenment. Never give up Hope!

Lastly, you probably already do this - offer their suffering for their salvation, since they do not know to do so.

Thanks for encouraging me!

My only disagreement with what you wrote is to the advice to speak constantly of God. If I get the impression that my talking about the faith is causing their necks to get stiff I change the subject. Sometimes I can say quite a lot before this happens, and sometimes it happens with the first mention. I admit I'm not sure what the best thing is to do when I see this, except of course to stay hopeful, pray, and never get discouraged.

PerEvangelicaDicta · « **Reply #14 on:** May 08, 2014, 12:17:20 PM »

Quote from: MariaCatherine

Quote from: PerEvangelicaDicta
Our family has an almost identical situation, dear MariaCatherine. Our trad priest really emphasized putting a Green Scapular in their room somwhere - if they cannot/will not wear it - and the family offer the Green Scapular prayers on their behalf.

He also advised to put a crucifix, pictures, statures, etc all over the room. As you know, with dementia, there are occasional lucid moments. If you can do this for your father also, all the better, but he may resist.
When you visit, speak constantly of God and redemption and pray with them as often as you can.
Since they are not Catholic, you have to create an opportunity for them to convert, and implore the Holy Ghost for their enlightenment. Never give up Hope!

Lastly, you probably already do this - offer their suffering for their salvation, since they do not know to do so.

Thanks for encouraging me!

My only disagreement with what you wrote is to the advice to speak constantly of God. If I get the impression that my talking about the faith is causing their necks to get stiff I change the subject. Sometimes I can say quite a lot before this happens, and sometimes it happens with the first mention. I admit I'm not sure what the best thing is to do when I see this, except of course to stay hopeful, pray, and never get discouraged.

Good point, my friend. They are your parents and you know best how to approach.
Our mother's dementia has progressed to a point where we can speak to her about the Faith pretty contantly (she's now in a nursing home) We incorporate it into all our encounters, even looking at pictures together; i.e., "look at how beautiful your garden flowers are in this picture Mom - God's creation is magnificent, isn't it?" or "your look healthy - our Blessed Mother is protecting youl!" - then we'll show her an Our Lady of Grace holy card pic and put it in her hand. That kind of thing. We relate everything to Jesus, Mary, the angels, etc.
A while before we leave, we sit with her and put a picture of the Sacred Heart in her hands, and speak to her of the Catholic Faith more specifically, but in very simple terms. She may or may not be oblivious,, still having pretty lucid moments, if brief. Regardless, we won't give up.
Now if we tried this with her before this stage of dementia, she would have conked us on the head...

Our father, perhaps like yours, is more difficult to approach because he does not have dementia. I so know what you mean about the stiff neck reaction.

Our gifts to him/them for many years are exclusively Catholic paintings, statues/garden statures etc. Luckily, they did not put them away, but around the house. Again, just trying to create an opportunities for their conversion. As our priest advised, we carried this to the nursing home, and populated her room with all sorts of Catholic items. She can't look anywhere without seeing something holy, by gum! :smash-pc:

It's ironic. Remember in the "old days" when trad Catholic parents would worry about the souls of their errant adult children? And here many of us trad Catholic children are, worrying about the souls of our errant parents!