My home in
Rochester, MN, is, of course, near the world-renowned Mayo Clinic. The clinic was started by a pair of
physicians, the Mayo brothers, Charlie and Will, and others in 1889, but the
history goes all the way back to Civil War times. The history also includes the Sisters of St.
Francis, a teaching order centered in Rochester. The superior in 1889, Sister Alfred, actually
asked the Mayo family to build the first hospital. St. Mary’s Hospital was subsequently
built. Today, this hospital is one of
two major Mayo Clinic hospitals in the city, the other being the Methodist Hospital.
The Mayo
Clinic is on my mind today because my wife and I have become Eucharistic
minister volunteers at Methodist Hospital, which is the one closest to our
house. One day each month, Lois and I,
working as a team, bring the Bread of Life to approximately half of the
Catholic patients in this hospital. The
entire operation actually involves quite a number of volunteers, since it is
done every day at both hospitals, and is overseen by two Catholic chaplains
(priests). It gives us much satisfaction
to be involved in this way because the people we serve are so happy to be
receiving Our Lord that they are sometimes on the verge of tears.
Yesterday,
for example, when we arrived at a patient’s room, he was in the bathroom and said
could we please wait or come back later.
Talking to him through the closed door, I told him that there would be
another volunteer that would come by the next day. This is what we had been trained to say in a
situation like this because there are so many patients to see and it is easy to
lose track of which patient in which room made this request to “come
back.” But he was so persistent that we
decided to wait for him. I’m glad we
did, because he seemed to be so “on fire” for the Eucharist. After we completed our prayers and after
giving him the host, he was tearful in thanking us. Many of the patients we see seem to have this
kind of faith. They are so grateful for
the opportunity to be fed by Christ’s body while in the hospital.
As you
might expect, the Mayo Clinic has strict hygiene rules. At the very least, the volunteers must use
hand sanitizer both before entering and after leaving a patient’s room. In some cases, we must wear gloves. In still other cases, we must don a hospital
gown and this gown must be put on correctly with the gloves so that no skin is
exposed. Sometimes, we must wear a face
mask. When finished, we must clean the
pyx (the small hinged metal case by which we transport the hosts) as well as the folder
containing the list of the floors and sections to be visited, using the hand sanitizer gel. It is easy to see why the
Mayo Clinic has the reputation that it has.
There are
other details that I could describe, but I think you get the picture. The Catholic Faith is alive and well in this
city, and our experience as Eucharistic Ministers attests to the fact. It is a wonderful thing to be part of the
whole operation. My prayer for
today: Lord, your people are so aware of
your love for them. Please, in your holy
name and in your great compassion, grant your grateful people many blessings
during their time in the hospital so that they and their families may continue
to be “on fire” with love for you after they are discharged. Amen.
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