“I do will it. Be made clean.”
The call came on a Monday night
just before one of my sessions a couple of weeks ago.
On Monday nights, I try to prepare the final remarks
for my Tuesday night retreat sessions;
I had just finished dinner and
the call came from one of my former parishioners at Holy Spirit
that her mother was dying and she had asked
to see Fr. Brendan before the end of the day.
I sat in my chair and said, “Lord, ahhhh. I need the time to prepare.”
But I knew this woman so well and she had requested me.
She was an Irish lady, a widow and had been a widow for some time.
I knew I had to go and I got in the car and
called the family on the way down.
They explained the situation.
She was at Good Samaritan Hospital,
beginning to fail and that she had only a couple of days left.
And she had asked to see me.
And they said, “Oh and by the way,
she doesn’t really know she is dying yet.
Could you give her the last rites.”
I got to the hospital and the nurses were expecting me.
They know me quite well there because I’ve been there for the last 16 years.
They said, “Father we have sanitized her hands
and we sanitized her forehead.
And remember you’ve got 8 to 10 minutes only, you know the rules.”
I put on my face mask and shield but just before I went in, she said,
“Oh, she is not alert and she is not really awake at all
but we have prepared her for you to do the anointing
because you anoint the forehead and hands so we sanitized all of those.”
I went in, got my oil ready and I stood beside her bed;
I touched her hand and said,
“Eileen, it’s Fr. Brendan.”
Her eyes opened wide and she lit up,
“Arrah, sure I knew you would come.
Aren’t you a gorgeous young man now that you did that for me?
You’re lovely now. Very good.”
As if nothing was wrong! And then she started to talk about how things were “Arrah, sure, I’ll be coming out of here any day now. I’m fine. Sure. It’s just a wee set back, you know, a wee set back.”
I slowly broke it to her that it was a little more than a set back
and that I would like to give her the anointing of the sick
along with the prayer of commendation of the dying
just in case that she goes before I see her again,
knowing well that she would not make more than a few days.
I said that beautiful prayer, which I so often have read:
“Go forth now Christian soul.
I commend you, my dear sister,
to almighty God,
and entrust you to your Creator.
May you return to him
who formed you from the dust of the earth.
May holy Mary, the angels, and all the saints
come to meet you as you go forth from this life.
May Christ who was crucified for you
bring you freedom and peace.
May Christ who died for you
admit you into his garden of paradise.
May Christ, the true Shepherd,
acknowledge you as one of his flock.
May you see the Redeemer face to face,
and enjoy the vision of God for ever.
Go forth now. And when the Lord comes out to meet you,
may you go out and meet him.”
It is a beautiful prayer and usually at the end of it,
I ask the person to say hello to God for me.
I did do that but then I asked her, I said,
“Eileen, will you say hello to my mother for me?”
And she said, “Arrah sure. I will. Sure, I remember her well.
You know I made her a promise, you know,
that I would take care of you and I would look after you.
And I think I have done well, haven’t I?”
And I said, “You have.”
You see, Eileen would make me soda bread and scones regularly.
When I lost a lot of weight, which I was trying to do,
she was the one who suggested that she would take in all my clothes
and make me look better
because all the clothes were flopping on me.
She said, “Oh you look ridiculous!
You look like you are wearing your father’s clothes!
Let me sew up those clothes.”
So my pants, my sweaters, my shirts; anything and she did it.
She is a seamstress. So she did great work.
So that night as I bid her farewell,
knowing that it would be the last time that I would see her,
she squeezed my hand and said,
“Thank you for coming. I will say hello to your mother.”
She closed her eyes and that next day,
she died with her family around her.
The power of a touch can never be underestimated.
It woke her up from her slumber, and
allowed her to go back to her eternal slumber.
I do not think there is a time in our history
where we have not acknowledged
the power of touch more than today
in the middle of this COVID crisis.
Who among us now does not miss
the touch of our relatives and our friends?
Indeed the only time we are allowed to touch patients at the hospital
is when in fact they are dying.
And they need that touch if only one last time.
Jesus, in today’s gospel, knew the power of touch.
And it wasn’t just a symbol.
It was the power of healing.
I do not think we could ever identify to scripture
more than we do with today’s passage of the leper.
Even though we do not have leprosy
everyone is terrified of getting the coronavirus.
We are not touching one another.
What do we do when we cannot touch and we know we need it?
We are so desperate for the ordinary touch,
shaking a hand, pat on the shoulder, a hug from a loved one.
Boy, do we not miss those moments now more than ever!
What are we to do?
We can be creative.
First of all, the power of eye contact for me
has become very much accentuated;
even though we are wearing face masks that when eyes meet,
there is somewhat of a touch.
It may not be a physical touch but when our eyes meet,
they seem to say something more like I wish I could touch you.
I know that normally, we bump elbows,
which is one thing people have done.
It is a brief touch but helpful.
Recently I started to bump forearms.
I know that when you bump a forearm,
you can spend a little extra time there albeit an extra second or two
but if you look at each other eye-to-eye and
hold that forearm just for two seconds,
it feels almost like a hug.
When we do that with the face mask on
and we do not talk so you don’t want to spread any aerosol,
it is powerful and can be a meaningful touch.
We know the power of using the computer and
the zoom, face time or all those other different apps
where you can see each other.
They seem to be so important right now.
Now I know we get tired of them from the business point of view
where we are always on line
but when in our personal life,
it is so wonderful to be able to talk to that person.
I call my sister in Ireland every week and we FaceTime one another.
And it is wonderful.
I can see the home I grew up in.
I can see my brother-in-law in the background.
We can see each other as we talk.
I know it is not touch
but it feels a whole lot closer than just a phone call.
We need to get a little bit creative with how we touch people
insofar as not physically touching them
but remaining in touch with them.
These are difficult times.
They are times when we have to be creative.
But here is what Jesus does in today’s gospel in touching the leper,
he replaces the place where he is.
The leper was the one who was on the outside;
not allowed to come into the village
and then Jesus touches him and
because of that everybody knows that he is the healer.
Now Jesus has to be on the outside.
Sometimes when we reach out to other people,
we are not liked for it;
like when we reach across the proverbial aisle
to talk and to listen to those who have different opinions than us.
It is important that we reach across that aisle
and we learn to listen and to touch not physically
but to touch them by our willingness to hear them.
We need to hear each other.
We need to listen to each other.
Today, as we come to the table of the Lord
to offer praise and thanks.
May we also recall the many moments
where physical touch has played an important role in our life;
in our family; our extended friends;
and not to lament that we do not have it
but to celebrate when we did have it.
And now look for new, creative ways to reach out to touch people
and in all things to let them know that we love them;
that we care for them and that no matter what,
we will be there for them even at the last breath.
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
