When the Homily is about Immunology

In the face of sickness and death

Any long term readers of the blog will no doubt recall my talking about emotional experiences with patients in the elevator. Sometimes we'd talk and sometimes we wouldn't. Their mere presence was enough to educate and change me...even if just for a few moments.

People facing some of the most serious cancers known to medicine are to be found wandering the halls of this place, and for many they are searching for a miracle.

Yesterday a man who could not possibly have been older than me needed me to hold the elevator doors open until the alarm bells rang because he was unable to move himself and his walker fast enoough to get on in a "timely" manner. Completely winded by his 10 foot walk, he thanked me and apologized...I told him in no uncertain terms that no apology was neccesary. He looked terrible...emaciated, weak, unstable...suffering.

Never have I felt so strong a desire to lean over, put my arm around somone (in this case a total stranger) and say "Christ is Risen!" But who could have known how such a thing would be greeted? Oh, but how wonderful that message is (must be)in the face of suffering and death. I am sad for those who do not know it...for those who do not understand it. And I am sad for myself, for I clearly do not fully LIVE it.

How to share the joy and mystery of Pascha with someone dying who you happen to ride an elevator with? Prayer?