The Christian meaning of death is revealed in the light of the Paschal Mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ in whom resides our only hope. The Christian who dies in Christ Jesus is 'away from the body and at home with the Lord' (2 Cor 5:8)."
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1681
The following prayers may be recited with the dying person, alternating with times of silence. Sometimes, the same prayer should be repeated many times. The Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be are also appropriate. The dying person may be signed on the forehead with the cross, as was done at Baptism.
When the family first gathers around the body, before or after it is prepared for burial, all or some of the following prayers may be used. It is most fitting that, where possible, family members take part in preparing the body for burial.
The Lord God lives in his holy temple yet abides in our midst.
Since in Baptism, N. became God's temple
and the Spirit of God lived in him/her,
with reverence we bless his/her mortal body.
It all began with (what I thought would be) a non-controversial post on Facebook, later replicated on Twitter. You\u2019d think, after a decade of controversial posting, that I\u2019d know better, but I\u2019m still surprised at certain reactions. Here\u2019s how it ran:
\u201CCajetan says that the only remedy in the case of a heretical pope is to pray and to have others pray that he will die!\u201D (Beno\u00EEt-Dominique de la Soujeole, O.P., Introduction to the Mystery of the Church [Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2014], 612). Why are people so wimpy and so easily offended nowadays? If you say this kind of thing in 2024, you can lose your job at a Catholic school. But Cajetan was one of our great theologians, and Soujeole is no lightweight either. Clearly, they are right to say this, and we should have the fortitude to pray for an urgent remedy to an out-of-control disease. To do anything less is to fail in love for Christ and His Church.
Although many understood what I was saying, others quickly attacked me for my \u201Clack of charity\u201D towards the Holy Father, as if to say \u201CHow dare you say that someone could or should pray for his death?\u201D One particularly noisy YouTuber thought he was being clever when he posted:
Honest question. Would Peter also say people can pray for the early death of dissenter philosophers who constantly bash the pope, or does this road only go one way. Either way, I won\u2019t be praying for the early demise of anyone \u2013 I\u2019m just wondering if there is consistency here.
But this was a silly reaction. Of course he can pray for my death\u2014if he thinks I am a notorious heresiarch who will lead millions astray into eternal perdition. If he\u2019s wrong about that, then such a prayer won\u2019t be answered as prayed. And even if he were right in thinking so, the prayer might still not be answered as prayed, but in some other and better way. In the end, it is God alone who will decide whether and how to answer anyone\u2019s prayer. For hyperpapalist podcasters, I pray only that the scales fall from their eyes about Pope Francis, whom extensive evidence has convinced me is a notorious heresiarch leading millions astray, and therefore, one from whom I beg the Lord to deliver us in His mercy.
Another reaction was positively over-the-top. This YouTuber devoted a podcast to explaining how Kamala Harris and Peter Kwasniewski are \u2014 get this \u2014 \u201Cagents of death.\u201D Kamala, because she supports abortion; me, because I said we could pray for the pope\u2019s death. I\u2019ll come back to that fellow later.
The plot follows a retired ninja warrior, now married to an American woman, moves to Los Angeles at his wife's request in order to begin a new life for their two sons. Shortly after their arrival, he is mistakenly drawn into a protracted conflict with an L.A. crime boss and his vicious henchmen. He is forced by a series of brutal circumstances to come out of retirement and bring the criminals to justice.
At the insistence of his American-born wife, Aiko, Yokohama salaryman Akira Saito decides to immigrate from Japan to the United States to raise their two sons Takeshi and Tomoya. Unbeknownst to his family, Akira is in fact a highly skilled ninja, who had faithfully protected the secrets of his temple minded by his adoptive father and sensei, Koga. Years before, Akira's brother, Shoji (also raised and trained by Koga) sought to steal from the temple while in disguise, forcing Akira to engage him in battle and kill him. Akira's meditation on this matter is disrupted by an attack from Koga to encourage him to wipe the guilt from his mind before it kills him. Akira announces his intentions to move to America to start a new life, to put the shadows of the ninja behind him. Koga makes him swear never to reveal their secrets, and gives him a ninja helmet as a gift, while reminding him he can never leave his shadows behind.
In Houston, the Saitos meet with Sam Green, the widowed owner of a closed restaurant and apartment that Akira and Aiko have bought. After the sale is completed, the cigar store area of the building is broken into by police Sgt. Trumble, a corrupt cop, along with his partner Sgt. Joe Daly. Both work for local mobster Mr. Newman. Daly removes loose floor boards and puts a large white box underneath, containing the Van Adda necklace. However, he reconsiders and double-crosses the mob, taking the necklace. The next day Newman's enforcer, Limehouse Willie, waits until the building is deserted, only to discover the necklace is gone. Seeing Sam Green's packed luggage in his car, Willie incorrectly surmises that he is skipping town with the jewels. He brutally kills Green, even though he does not find the necklace. His suspicion now falls on the Saito family.
The next day, as Akira and Aiko enjoy their first day of business as "Aiko's Japanese Restaurant", Tomoya and Takeshi go out to the local store and are confronted by local bullies eyeing Takeshi's bicycle. Tomoya, who has a red belt in karate, defends his younger brother and beats up the bullies. During the fight, Willie abducts Tomoya and leaves Takeshi with a broken nose when he tries to stop him. Willie phones Akira demanding that he deliver the necklace (of which he knows nothing) to Pier 25 in exchange for his son's life. Curious, he goes into the cigar store and finds the broken door lock, the loose floor boards, and a grey thread from Daly's suit jacket, which shows Daly is left-handed.
Akira arrives empty-handed at the pier and boards one of the ships and is restrained by Willie and his men. Akira's claims that it was a left-handed man in a grey suit that took the necklace. Willie cuts him across the chest and threatens his son with a blow torch. Akira smashes the light above his head and uses his ninja skills to escape with Tomoya. He listens to Aiko and goes to the police the next day. Meanwhile, although Willie is convinced that the necklace is not with the Saitos, Newman still wants them eliminated because of what they know.
At the precinct, Akira speaks with Lt. Anderson. Both Trumble and Daly are there as he identifies Willie from mug shots. Anderson can do nothing to keep him away from the Saitos without evidence, so Akira agrees to help him obtain it. Daly informs Newman and is assured Willie will clean up his mess, but also says they need to have "a little chat".
At the Saitos' apartment, Takeshi accidentally kicks his soccer ball out the window, and Tomoya goes out to recover it. Aiko chases after him and both are run down by Newman's thugs stationed outside in their car. Akira arrives seconds afterwards and recognizes the thugs from the night before and gives chase in his car, then on foot. The resulting struggle results in both men being killed. Tomoya is on life support at the hospital, while Aiko is bruised but still being kept overnight for observation. Anderson arranges for police protection to guard them.
Akira sneaks on board Willie's yacht during a party and cuts the power and sneaks up behind him. With a knife to Willie's throat, he warns him to stay away from the Saitos or he "will pray for death". Akira has vanished by the time the lights come back on. Ignoring the threat, Willie sneaks into the hospital and murders Aiko, but is stopped by Anderson and his men before he can also kill Tomoya. He is able to escape during the confusion. Akira returns to the hospital to have a moment with his wife's body. He swears he will make Willie and his men pay for destroying their dreams by returning to the ninja shadow world. He takes Tomoya out of hospital care against Anderson's warnings that they cannot guarantee police protection if he does so.
Akira relocates the boys to a warehouse. Behind closed doors, he performs rituals that signify his return to the ways of ninjitsu, and, with a makeshift forge, he creates a new ninja-to sword blade. In full ninja garb, Akira prays to Aiko's spirit before donning the helmet his father gave him. He attacks Newman's mansion, dispatching Newman and all his henchmen in what quickly becomes an all-out massacre. Willie is able to escape, but Akira later confronts him when Willie shows up at the warehouse. They fight a protracted duel to the death until Willie ultimately winds up being pinned through his wrists by Akira to a long buzzsaw platform. He opens his mask and Willie recognizes him before Akira turns on the buzzsaw and begins slowly walking away. Willie then begins to beg him to kill him (openly praying for death) as the spinning blade draws in the mobster and slowly slices the screaming Willie in half.
In the final sequence, Akira and his sons are visiting Aiko's grave. As they are leaving, they are approached by Anderson, who discusses the massacre, mentioning that it is rumoured that the assassin was a ninja and asks if they still exist. Akira denies this with Takeshi confirming it and saying the detective has been watching too many ninja movies. Anderson wishes Akira good luck, but as he leaves he tells him that if he sees the ninja to tell him that the police do not want to see him again. He then tosses him a shuriken left behind at the crime scene (it is implied that he knows Akira is the ninja in question). They bow respectfully and part company as the credits begin.
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