everyone’s mother

I received an e-mail from a friend who asked that I look in on a patient at a cancer hospital that I visit. Her friend received a bone marrow transplant in May but her body rejected it. Since then, she's been in ICU several times with infections. My heart broke when I read, “She’s been there much too long. Many other patients have come and gone and seem to be doing well, but in her case, it’s quite different.”

This morning I went to her room and was greeted at the door by her husband. As we chatted, I donned a sterile paper robe and latex gloves and went inside.

I told his wife I was there to pray the rosary with her and to ask Jesus for a miracle through the intercession of His Mother. “But, I’m not Catholic,” she answered weakly. I assured her that Mary is still her Mother - still God’s Mother - and that she is loved dearly by both of them. She smiled at me with hope. I set my hand on top of hers and began to pray and without hesitation, she set her other hand on mine. Her eyes were closed in peace as was her husband’s, while they followed along in silence.

Afterward, I noticed a little olive wood "hand cross" on her bed tray. I told her I had one just like it and reached into my purse for it. A dear friend of mine had given it to me weeks earlier. We put our crosses in the palms of our hands and grasped their comforting smoothness with our fingers as I explained how she could offer her suffering for the hurting souls at Heaven’s gate. She told me she'd lost her wooden cross a couple of days ago but at the end of the day discovered it under her back; she’d been laying on it all day. Her husband said he immediately thought of how his wife had been nailed to that cross for hours like Jesus was; how she and her Lord had gone through their pain as one. She smiled as he shared the story.

Before my visit, I had asked Our Lady to help me make known the might of her Son. In return, she made known to me the extent of His intimacy with us by the magnitude of our faith, hope and courageous spirit.

"The Lord is near to all who call upon Him” Psalm 145:18.

Elizabeth