The L.A.S.T. word

The L.A.S.T. Word

By Sister Mary Rose Reddy, DMML

“Do not harm yourself, for we are all here” (Acts 16:28).

"Do not harm yourself, for we are all here."
 (Acts 16:28)

With these words St. Paul prevented his jailer from committing suicide.  Suicide is not the last word; mercy is.  As part of our mission for the healing of families, the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Healing Love are launching the Lifeline Against Suicide Team (L.A.S.T.). 

It is very simple to join the Team, especially if you already pray a daily Rosary and/or a Divine Mercy chaplet.  L.A.S.T. uses the international Rosary as a model.  Each decade is for a different continent.  For example you might pray the first decade for Africa, the second for Australia and all the island countries, the third for Europe, the fourth for North and South America, and the fifth for Asia. All you have to do is add (mentally) an intention before each decade that people in that area tempted to suicide will be prevented from doing so, and that those who have already committed suicide will receive God’s Mercy.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives.  By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance.  The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives” (CCC 2283). 

When my childhood friend Rosemary committed suicide in 1990 it seemed that nothing would ever be alright again.  I had become a religious Sister and moved to Connecticut in 1980 and Rosemary and I had gradually fallen out of contact; but she was the kind of lifelong friend with whom I could pick up a conversation as if we had only seen each other the day before, no matter how many years had actually gone by. 

Because her favorite color was yellow, I titled the poem I wrote on the day of Rosemary’s funeral “Yellow Roses.”   The poem was a prayer asking God to have mercy on her soul.

For several months after her death I continued to grieve.  The thought that her soul might have been lost was a great anguish to me. I kept wishing that I had stayed in contact with her and that I might have been able to help her somehow. 

Then God in His Mercy began to show me that I could still help her.  I considered that “God is Love” (1 John 4:8); He loves Rosemary much more than I do, and He desires her salvation.  His Mercy is Infinite and at the moment when she realized the terrible mistake that she had made, if she turned to Jesus for mercy, she certainly would have received it.  I was greatly consoled by a saying of Saint Padre Pio, "For the Lord, the past does not exist; the future does not exist. Everything is an eternal present...even now I can pray for the happy death of my great- grandfather!"  I knew that this meant that I could pray now for Rosemary to be open to receive God’s Mercy at the moment of her death because everything is present to God.  At the moment of her death, God already saw my future prayer for Rosemary.

On the Palm Sunday after Rosemary’s death, I said to her, “If you are either in Purgatory or in Heaven, then I want you to give me a sign in one week.  It doesn’t matter what it is; but I need to know for sure that it is from you.” Exactly one week later, on Easter Sunday, I was at another convent.  I happened to be looking through a drawer filled with free holy cards.  Seeing one of my favorite pictures of Our Lady on the cover of a greeting card I took the card out and opened it.  Inside was a picture of yellow roses and the words, “Behold I am alive and I live forevermore.”

If you would like to formally join the Lifeline Against Suicide Team (L.A.S.T.), then please e-mail your name to Sister Mary Rose at: lastacts1628@gmail.com.  Also if you have any witness stories of how L.A.S.T. has helped someone, please feel free to send them to us.