The flight seemed like it would never end. Of course it did. My brother picked me up and brought me to the hospital, to the bedside of my dad, who was living his final hours. A cancer had devastated his strong body in just days.
When I arrived, he recognized me immediately, but was unable to talk. I remained at his bedside praying silently, while various friends and family came by to make a visit.
Before leaving the hospital that night, I proposed to pray the Hail Mary together. He intoned the prayer with the thread of voice that remained; then he serenely said goodnight.
The next day his condition was worse. According to his desire, we asked the doctors to transport him home, because he wanted to end his life where he had always lived it.
He would be there only a few hours.
At a certain point I asked him if he wanted to pray the Rosary, and he signaled that this would make him happy. I made the sign of the cross, calmly and clearly, and we began: "Hail Mary...pray for us now and at the hour of our death."
"Now and at the hour of our death!!!"
These words gave us great comfort, and dad was even more serene knowing that the hour of death had arrived. After a little while I was afraid that the noise was bothering him, but he wanted us to continue to repeat: "Pray for us now, and at the hour of our death."
At the end of the Rosary, he kissed the crucifix on the end of the rosary, called us to himself, looked at us knowingly for a few minutes, and peacefully died.
He had already received the Sacraments, and now died in the comfort of the Mother he had so often called upon.
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