Hospital Heebie-Geebies

Bringing a mother’s love to those who are sick  

Luke 1:39-56  

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”   

          One of the hardest sacraments for priests to learn to administer is the Anointing of the Sick. Quite often that occurs in a hospital, and visiting the sick in a hospital gives many priests the heebie-geebies. The visit is sometimes in the ICU and the patient may be in great pain. Sometimes the patient is sedated with medications and there are awkward silences. At yet other times the patient may be angry or resentful with God for this cross of illness and suffering, and the priest gets the blame. Almost always the patient or the family asks the agonizing question, “Why??” to which, of course, there is no satisfactory answer. That’s what a priest has to look forward to every time we get a call from the hospital.   

          I still remember the day it hit me how to visit someone sick in the hospital. I asked myself, “What would I want most if I were in the hospital?” The answer came immediately and instinctively, “I would want my momma!” And that’s the attitude I try to carry into each hospital room: I’m not just a priest but I’m also a “mother,” indeed, every priest represents Holy Mother Church. And moms know how to care for a sick child: they speak lovingly, they caress hands and arms, they sit silently while the sick child sleeps. Anyone who has ever been sick in the history of the world has wanted their momma, and I try to show the sick person a mother’s love.

          Today we celebrate the Feast of the Visitation, and what happens in the gospel? A mother visits a sick child. Mary rushes to spend time with her cousin Elizabeth due to Elizabeth’s very late pregnancy. But notice how Elizabeth greets Mary, she says: “And how does this happen that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” In other words, Elizabeth sees Mary not just as a cousin but as a spiritual mother. Elizabeth, like all sick people from the time of Adam and Eve, have wanted their mother when they were ill. And there is no better mother than Mary. Indeed, Elizabeth was the first to grasp the meaning of Jesus’ words from the Cross when he would say: “Behold your mother.” Whenever you’re sick, you want your momma, especially the love your spiritual Mother Mary.

          My friends, sooner or later, we all have to visit someone who’s sick in the hospital. Do you get the hospital heebie-geebies? I’m so proud of our army of Eucharistic Ministers to the Sick, who take Communion daily to the hospital. But someday your mother will be ill, or your father will become sick, or a grandparent will be rushed to the ER. And you will have to visit the sick. Let me suggest you ask yourself what you’d like if you were in that hospital room. And I bet you dollars to donuts, you’ll say, “I want my momma!” In that moment try to be Holy Mother Church to the sick person, even if you are also a son or daughter to them. Sit in the silence, speak words of comfort and care, let them know they are not alone: show them the love of a mother. Why?  Because there has never been a patient in the history of the world who has not wanted their mother when they were sick.   

          Praised be Jesus Christ!