- Uncategorized (60)
- Saturday, May 31, 2008: Transitions
- Thursday, May 29, 2008: The love of a Grandmother
- Wednesday, May 28, 2008: Apocalypse Then and Now
- Sunday, May 25, 2008: The end of theology
- Friday, May 23, 2008: Meaning
- Thursday, May 22, 2008: Beginning and ending
- Wednesday, May 21, 2008: How and Why
- Monday, May 19, 2008: Watergate and Genesis
- Sunday, May 18, 2008: Knowledge and the Holy Spirit
- Friday, May 16, 2008: Intimacy and Fear
Important Links
In Sickness and in Health
I have been sick for a couple of days and to be honest I am a terrible sick person. I don’t like to take medicine to treat symptoms, I don’t understand why we don’t treat the illness instead of the symptom. If they would put me in a hotel room with popsicles, Coca-Cola and some chicken noodle soup, turn on the TV to ESPN or old movies and leave me alone until I am well it would be best for everyone concerned.
Sickness wasn’t part of the plan either. The thing we call the fall in Genesis 3 brought all this mess into play. The only thing good about being sick is that I spend more time praying than I normally do, most of it repetition for relief, but sometimes in there I can do a little bit of reflection. It generally takes me half a day to say, “OK, I am flat out and not going anywhere or doing anything so what do You want to talk about?”
Every time this happens (which is rarely) I am reminded how much time I spend being busy instead of being available, to God, to my family, to my parish… I realize that first day back when I try and do too much that those days spent apart from busy-ness are truly important and that into that time God has spoken and blessed me. Hearing his voice and responding to it rather than all the other voices that speak to us is critical. (see Genesis 3.17)
One Response to “In Sickness and in Health”
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Monday, April 14, 2008 at 17:38
J, I too am a horrible patient, but an even worse nurse. One Sunday a few weeks ago, my youngest came home from church and began throwing up. That night, the oldest started throwing up. The next day around noon, I got a call from the school nurse that the middle son was throwing up. I came home from a church meeting Monday night to find that my wife was throwing up. My first reaction was telling myself I needed to find a hotel for the night. I didn’t. I stayed home and cleaned up vomit, but my heart was not in it.
B