The Sacrament of the Sick
The last two weeks have been challenging to say the least. About two weeks ago, I had to have emergency surgery to remove my appendix. Pretty common, I know, but still, surgery is scary! I'm never really sick, and I'd never been to surgery or even admitted to the hospital before. I was scared, to say the least. But I was also in pain and sick, and so I could ignore the fear in order to just let the surgeon do his work. Somehow the hospital didn't get a record that I was Roman Catholic, and so no chaplains visited me, until a few days later when they visited the other person in my room. Fr. Jim brought her communion, then asked me who I was and offered me the Sacrament of the Sick and Eucharist. He anointed me, said the words, and I burst into tears, my first since the surgery. I was so immediately relieved, and also suddenly aware of how frightened I had been for days. I felt God's presence with me, the warmth and love flooding over me with the ...