Bishop and author William Willimon tells of an encounter he once had with a dying woman:

She was in the last stages of lung cancer, gasping day after day for breath. It was obvious she was in great pain and exhausted from fighting. She clutched a crucifix daily, given to her by her grandmother when she was a girl, carved by a monk in Europe. It was a symbol of all that her Catholic faith meant to her.

When I entered the room that afternoon, I could see she was very near the end.

"Would you like me to pray for you?" I asked. "Would you like me to summon a priest?"

With her last ounce of energy, she held out the crucifix toward me, which depicted the body of Christ nailed to the cross. She said, "Thank you—but I have a Priest."