Issue 40.10
I am doubly blessed because I love what I do and I meet the neatest people in life. They are so inspiring and heroic in facing their illnesses and pending death.
One reason a person may qualify for hospice is they become too old to care for themselves and are unable to perform ADLs – Activities of Daily Living. When a person reaches this point they are often placed in a care facility so they may receive the care they need. Many of these dear folks are still very sharp mentally and able to carry on a conversation with others in meaningful ways. More importantly they are still able to express love to others and let their beautiful souls shine through the physical debility they are dealing with on a daily basis.
Through their pain and suffering we see a glimpse of who they really are. A common question that many of them often ask is: Why am I still here? Why doesn’t God just take me?
Only God can give the exact answer to that question but if I had to hazard a guess, the answer would be: because you are a light to others and you provide those of us who care for you an opportunity to learn to be more compassionate and loving with ourselves and with others.
On a recent visit to an elderly patient, I was surprised and delighted when she said she wanted to be an angel and didn’t know why God hadn’t taken her yet. I kiddingly told her: “Once you reach 90 years old, you automatically become an angel.” She went along with my kibitzing and said: “You mean I’ve been an angel for five years already and I didn’t even know it?”
“Life is like that sometimes. It moves so fast you don’t realize what’s happening to you. You’re still here to let your light shine on the rest of us,” I said. I assured her that God in His wisdom and good time would replace her physical angel form with a spiritual one with wings in just a little while. She smiled and thanked me for visiting and asked for prayers. After we prayed together, I left knowing I had truly met an angel today, and felt blessed by the occasion.
Who are the angels in your life that you can bless and be blessed by?
Luigi Persichetti is the chaplain for Southern Utah Home Care and Hospice and the minister of the Unity Church of Positive Living in St. George.