But it did. And I got up. I had somewhere to be...
Back in December, I had seen postings in some of the local Church bulletins and young adult listserv emails about a Minister of Care program - its purpose is to visit and give the Eucharist to people in the hospital or at different facilities in the downtown area. I had met with the director of the program before Christmas break, and she had set up a date (today) for me to shadow one of the "veteran" ministers.
When I got to the hospital, I was greeted by Jack (a gentleman in his late 60s, I'd guess) who warmly shook my hand and then proceeded to show me "the most important place in the building" - the cafeteria. Over a cup of coffee, Jack told me a little about himself, and I did likewise. (Although, I have to admit, he is quite a talker, so I did more of the listening.) He has been doing the ministry at that hospital for about three years.
Then, it was time to learn the ropes. He showed me how to check in, prepare the blessed hosts, and figure out what rooms to visit. (Today we were only assigned to 2 floors.)
On our "rounds," we met people of varying illnesses and attitudes. Most patients were optimistic, and they were enthusiastic to receive the body of Christ. I mainly observed as Jack did the prayers and gave the Eucharist. Even though he told me to "do as I say not as I do", I realized that he is well-suited for the ministry and I could learn a lot.
After introducing ourselves to the woman in the last room, she spoke to us about a priest who would be coming to visit at some point this weekend. When she said his name, it didn't take me long to realize that she was talking about the pastor of the Church associated with the school where I teach. It turns out she is the grandmother of one of the students in the other fourth grade classroom at the school. What a small world! She remarked that she couldn't wait to tell her granddaughter about how she had seen me at the hospital.
Overall, it was quite a good experience and one which I believe I would like to pursue. I will probably never see any of the patients I visited today again (except maybe the grandma of the student at my school), but it was a blessing to interact with them today.
It's true that it ended up taking about 3 hours of my morning (including travel time), but those were 3 hours well spent.
that is awesome about the connection to one of the students at your school. i bet that student and her family will be very grateful you were there. :)
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