When the Homily is about Immunology

My Absence...
On Thursday I went to the hospital for abdominal surgery and am now in the process of recovering.On the night prior to this Susan and I attended Vespers and Fr. Thomas offered prayers for healing and then annointed me with Holy Oil taken from the tomb of St. John (Maximovitch) The Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco. My wife encouraged me to get a new book for my stay in the hospital, and choose Being as Communion by John D. Zizioulas. I am told it is an excellent venture into personhood, the Church, and salvation. I am anxious to delve into it deeper as I recover further.

I was further blessed to have Fr. Thomas visit me on Friday and again pray for and annoint me, coincidently he happens to be a PA in the ER of the hosptial I was staying in! A number of hosptial staff noticed him (with cassock and stole) and the icons/prayer rope at my bedside which I had brought and initiated discussions with me regarding Orthodoxy. One guy asked me if I was Russian and I smiled saying "No, I'm a convert to Orthodoxy." Apparently he'd never met someone like me before. I won't be the last I warned him...Orthodoxy is growing and america is just beginning to discover the treasures she holds. One of my nurses really opened up to me and we talked at length about how she lost her faith and had become an agnostic. But, she said that things had been happening in her life that really seemed to be leading her toward Christ again. We agreed to stay in touch.