Clergy Corner

I remember a time wherein I was called to a home of an elderly couple to hear their confessions. They were married 70+ years and they had to be in their nineties. And so, I walked into the house and after being warmly welcomed, Rose told Harry to go and get his confession heard first. I noticed that Rose was confined to a wheelchair, and before Harry led me out of the room, He made sure his wife was comfortable. Very tenderly caring for her is what I noticed. It was very sweet of him to do so. Anyhow, we proceed to walk through the kitchen to the back door and Harry starts talking to me when Rose calls out, “Go outside because I can still hear you!’ Harry responds, “We’re going, we’re going for God’s sake”

Once outside, Harry informs me that he did not want to go to confession but he had a very important question to ask me. He tells me that unbeknownst to his wife, he is dying from esophageal cancer. He then shows me two X-rays and I could not believe the amount of damage. He then told me that the nurses want to put him on medication for pain and he told them “Never”. He said this because he didn’t know how to take care of his wife if he was all drugged up. He asked me what to do. I asked him, “how long has he been feeling this bad?” He said, for a while. But it only really hurts him badly when he picks her up and moves her in or out of his bed. He tries not to moan or cry so as not to alarm her.

I just reminded him that God would really show him the right thing to do. I told him honestly that I could not advise him in his serious dilemma. But I said God can. So, I asked him to pray and we did. I never felt so hopeless. But when he agreed to pray the Rosary, I could see that his faith would show him the way.

The following week I visited and gave them communion. A week after that, I went to them again, but something was very different. Their daughter greeted me and told me that her father took a turn for the worse. No one still had any idea what Harry was going through. Anyway, I stuck my head into their bedroom and they were praying the rosary which I didn’t want to interrupt. It was such a sacred moment. When they finished, I said hello and asked them what were they doing in bed so late? Rose told me that Harry didn’t feel well enough to get out of bed. And since he didn’t feel good, she not going to leave his side because all of the moments wherein he never left her alone. Again, Harry wanted to be there for his wife.

Sad to say, but within a few days, Harry passed. At his funeral, I put a chair on the floor right in front of Rose’s wheelchair and talked about the inspiration of Harry’s and her love story. How much it was a witness to all who know them because it certainly and absolutely shows us how all things are possible in God. They found the pearl of great price through the sacrificial love they were called to live. And that gift is powerful and continues to warm my heart today, some twenty-five years later. There is nothing in this life that will bring us love and peace and joy as when we allow God to work us from impossible situations to possible and great successes in all things. May God be praised and adored at every moment. Please know the gem of His greattness.

Love and prayers.
Fr. Chris