Lean on the Lord
Catholic Prayers for When You're Facing a Terminal Illness
Sign In or Register Now to see if this title is available for request.
Buy on Bookshop.org Buy on WaterstonesSend NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 30 Oct 2026 | Archive Date Not set
Talking about this book? Use #LeanontheLord #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
A compassionate Catholic prayer book for anyone facing terminal illness, serious suffering, or end-of-life care.
When illness, uncertainty, or the fear of death enters your life or the life of someone you love, prayer can become a source of peace, strength, and hope.
Lean on the Lord: Catholic Prayers for When You’re Facing a Terminal Illness is a comforting Catholic prayer resource created for patients, caregivers, family members, hospice workers, chaplains, and anyone accompanying a loved one through serious illness or the dying process.
Written by palliative care physician Natalie King, MD—author of the award-winning Intensive Caring—this resource is shaped by years of accompanying patients and families through the emotional and spiritual realties of dying. With pastoral sensitivity and clinical insight, Dr. King provides prayers that speak to fear, grief, uncertainty, and the desire for God’s presence.
This Catholic prayer book includes
- Catholic prayers for terminal illness, suffering, and dying;
- comforting prayers for caregivers, spouses, family members, and loved ones;
- devotions for facing fear, anxiety, grief, loneliness, and emotional exhaustion;
- scripture passages and reflections for finding peace in suffering;
- traditional Catholic prayers for the dying and for the hour of death;
- meditations on the Rosary, novenas, and prayers from the saints; and
- spiritual support for hospice care, palliative care, and end-of-life accompaniment.
Featuring prayers from the saints, novenas, meditations on the Rosary, and beloved biblical passages, this collection is thoughtfully organized around key moments in the terminal illness and dying process, making it easy to find the right prayer at the right time.
Ideal for Catholic patients, families, parish ministries, hospice workers, chaplains, priests, nurses, and caregivers, Lean on the Lord is both a personal prayer book and a practical ministry resource. It can also be used alongside Dr. King’s book Intensive Caring: A Practical Handbook for Catholics about Serious Illness and End-of-Life Care.
In moments when words are difficult to find, let this little Catholic prayer book be a safe haven where you and loved ones can meet God’s boundless mercy, tender love, and everlasting peace.
Advance Praise
“I walked with my wife, Teri, as a caregiver and friend through her journey with Alzheimer’s, and I now confront my own diagnosis of Parkinson’s. I find myself turning to the Lord daily for strength. Lean on the Lord is a wonderful little book for those of us facing death—our own or a loved one’s. Chapter 4, in particular, ‘When Fearing the Future,’ is especially meaningful to me as I navigate my own uncertainties. This book is a compassionate companion for anyone facing the mysteries of suffering. Prayer offers the best antidote to loss and depression because it nurtures hope even in the shadows of death. The prayers in Lean on the Lord help both patients and caregivers manage present challenges and prepare for what lies ahead.”
John Bosio
Author of Joined by Grace and Raising a Catholic Family Today
“These prayers give voice to the many cries of the heart we experience in the midst of serious illness and uncertainty. They help to alleviate the tension of not knowing how to pray in this new moment of our lives. Lean on the Lord will free you to bring all that you are experiencing to the Lord, laying the groundwork for your deepest self to know the comfort of being held in God’s loving embrace. I can’t wait to share this wonderful book with patients, their loved ones, and my fellow health-care ministers!”
Sr. M. Benedicta Duna, OSF
Mission services coordinator at Franciscan Health Crown Point
“Lean on the Lord is like a quiver full of arrows with each prayer a direct shot from our heart to the Lord’s. You are not alone. This prayer book reminds us to incline our minds and hearts to the one who knows us best. For caregivers walking loved ones into the arms of Jesus and for those facing death, each prayer hits the mark, nudging us toward the hope and peace that only comes from the Lord. We are thrilled to see this lovely book made available to Catholic patients, their loved ones, and all who care for them.”
Debra Kelsey-Davis and Kelly Johnson
Authors of The Caregiver’s Companion
“What a great and essential book of prayers to soothe the soul in the times of existential suffering that often arise as one nears death. This is a most welcome salve for healing. I am deeply grateful to Dr. Natalie King for this tool of care, which I will place in my doctor’s bag and bring to the bedside for my patients, their families, and other loved ones. These prayers can help provide relief from fears and anxieties—and that is crucial to caring for the whole person.”
Deacon Alan Rastrelli, MD
Attending physician at Emmaus Catholic Hospice in Greenwood Village, Colorado
“Dr. Natalie King is an amazingly gifted physician and a courageous believer who truly loves the Lord and the patients she serves. Lean on the Lord is a wonderful book of prayers for patients, families and loved ones, and care providers who are working through end-of-life questions, concerns, and fears in the light of faith. King’s experience caring for dying patients and her immense compassion make this a truly effective spiritual companion for Catholics facing death—their own or another’s.”
Fr. John J. Raphael
Pastor at Christ the King Catholic Church in Nashville, Tennessee
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781646804764 |
| PRICE | $13.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 128 |