Bright Friday. Holy Martyrs Theodulus and Agathopedes and Those with Them (c. 305).
Bright Week. No fasting or abstention from foods.
Acts 3:1-8. John 2:12-22.
Read Acts 3:1-8
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
was called to a local hospital to anoint a man who had been declared brain-dead in the neurological ward. I met the man’s daughter and her husband by his bed. This married couple looked forlorn knowing that her father was about to die and that they were simply helpless to do anything about it. The daughter was weeping. I explained quickly what the Holy Mystery of Anointing was all about, and with their agreement, started the ritual. As I began to anoint this man on his forehead, his eyes and his nose, his eyes began to blink and to open. I continued anointing his mouth and ears and chest. And then he looked at his daughter and said her name just as I anointed his hands. The daughter gasped along with her husband (as did I, a little) as I finished by anointing this man’s feet. I suggested to the son-in-law that he get a nurse right away. I continued with the prayer with the Gospel over the man’s head for the forgiveness of sins. A nurse walked in and gasped and ran back out to get some doctors. I finished the ritual as the doctors came in finding this brain-dead man speaking with his daughter. I quietly left giving praise to God.
A few months later, I met this daughter at a formal dinner, and I asked how her father was. She began to weep and explain that her father had recently passed. I expressed my sympathies to her. She took my hands and told me that it was a miracle that her father “came back to life” and that during that short time the two of them were able to reconcile over differences held for many years. Her tears were not of sorrow but of intense gratitude, of joy.
Just as the lame man was healed at the Beautiful Gate, recounted in today’s selection from Acts, the Lord continues to heal people through the prayers of the Church, of her minsters, and the prayers of ordinary everyday run-of-the-mill Christians—you and me. We ought not be surprised that miracles happen today. Let us continue to prayer for those who are sick and also use the natural means to heal their conditions through the many ministries that the Church provides to the world today!