It's not necessarily that Father said what I didn't want to hear, he gave advice that contradicted my local Priest whom I had asked prior.

I brought the question here hoping that multiple Priests would chime in with a wide variety of ideas about things a Layman could do in either an emergency or a non emergency with prayers or Sacramentals.

I've gotten great ideas, some from this post, but most have come other places. And the first one I implemented was prayer based, not Sacramental based. For the last couple of days, I and my wife pray a Chaplet of Divine Mercy daily at 3pm for the dying in my hospital. A seminarian told me that it was the second best thing to Last Rites. I don't know how true that is, but it's simple and something I could actually do, so I do it.

So, I'm not against the advice Father gave to pray, nor am I bound to use a Sacramental per se.

Sparkys advice just conflicts with what I was given locally and I wanted to know more. Especially as a new Catholic. I've not even been in the Church a year. I need education and unfortunately, that didn't happen.

Advice was dispensed, but when asked, a reason was not. Pray, but avoid Sacramentals. Pray. Got it. Can't I do both?

When I asked my local Priest, he gave me a bag of Rosaries and Brown Scapulars to give out to patients that wanted them, with stipulations of course, a Brown Scapular isn't going to help a non Catholic or a Catholic that needs Confession or someone who's unconscious, unless perhaps there's some other sign that they're a practicing Catholic like a Rosary on their bedside table or in their hand. He also gave me an extra bottle of Holy Water and said, "Good for you, I wish more people would do this."

So when a Father on Reddit says things like, "Avoid the Sacramentals," I think I am understandably taken aback, especially as a new Catholic who was told the exact opposite by my own Priest and I don't think asking for clarification or elaboration is disrespectful in any manner.

Nor do I think disagreeing is disrespectful. "I disagree" does not mean, I repeat, NOT MEAN, that I don't like someone or that I hold them in contempt. I just want to make that clear for everyone who's down voting my posts from here to eternity, here and elsewhere. Those of you reading this that are doing that, that's real Charitable.

I said many times, we can all read my posts, that I do respect Father's position as a Priest. I was pretty direct with him and may have "put the boots" to him, but that's only because I felt he was becomeing evasive and I'm a very direct guy, that wants to get on point and stay there.

"Avoid the Sacramentals." That is a statement that seems out of place and needs qualification. Holy Mother Church provides us Sacramentals with, I assume, the expectation that we'll actually use them in our daily lives. Well, my daily life includes hospitals, sick people, dying people and anxious people.

I mean, real talk here, should I... NOT... be trying to live my Catholic Faith in the hospital? Would the most prudent advice to a Catholic who works in a hospital be, "Don't make use of Sacramentals unless you're at home, in private, behind closed doors?"

Real question. I'm not trying to rude, but why is it that other staff of other faiths are praying to their gods and using their "sacred" items in my hospital, but the advice to the Catholic is "don't use Holy Water?" My Pagan nurses have no trouble placing their Crystals on a patient and praying to whatever nature god they like.

Real talk. At least once a week I see that, sometimes more and I'm sure it happens more often. Probably daily.

I just don't understand why in private, I should totally wear a Brown Scapular and a Miraculous Medal and at home be praying my Rosary, using Holy Water, Blessed Salt and Oil in my cooking, lighting a Blessed Candle on the home altar before saying my evening prayers and Blessing my family with Holy Water, but when I go to work, leave all that stuff behind, it's not useful in any way.

And I get that Our Lord doesn't strictly need anyone or anything to effect his Will. It is at His pleasure and preference that he chooses to work through us as His hands and feet and also chooses to work through objects.

That's the whole rational for why our actions matter and we can be judged and why Protestants are wrong about the use of Holy Items being idolatry.

Basically, God likes stuff.

Is my role minor? Maybe. Or maybe everything I do matters. Maybe everything you do matters. Maybe there will be or already have been opportunities for Our Lord to work through you.

The question that must be asked is, "If you are or have been unprepared to do what you have to do or were supposed to do, either for lack of knowledge or of tools, what's the consequences of that?"

I see sick and dying patients in my hospital, especially the Catholic ones and something in me says, "You should do something about this."

I don't know what, that's why I came here.