Dear Sick One

Dear Sick One,

I see suffering in you. Deep suffering. I see weakness, frailty, and sadness. It reminds me of my own suffering in many ways. 

I chose this ministry to bring you Christ, because as a sick person myself, I remember the early days of my illness. Unable to work. Bed ridden. Wires hooked up to me. Pained. Fatigued. Spent. Depressed. Despairing. Isolation. Shocked into nothingness. Medications of too many to remember. Then the slew of comorbidities. Because one disease affected a host of other things in the body too.

How could this happen? How could God do this to me and give me this life sentence? I am sure you have thought similar things.

I remember the cry of my heart for the Lord to heal me, for months and then for the first few years. I remember curling up on a bed and crying for a miracle, and knowing my life would not be the same ever again. Knowing each day would be a struggle. I remember becoming so dependent on Christ as my strength, that it led me to the Eucharist, and now it leads me there each day.

I could not make it through life chronically diseased each day without the Eucharist.

I am still sick in mind, body and spirit, but God has healed me little by little. I have progressed. He has led me to a stronger sense of wellness. I am able to work well and serve others. He has enabled me to live a fuller life than I did years ago. 

But every day is a challenge. A challenge few people see or appreciate because I don’t talk about it much. It’s become a part of who I am and I am more accepting of it than I used to be. I feel 64 in a 34 year old body. Tired, struggling, in pain, and uncertain of each day and how I will feel. It’s one day at a time, every day. That is how a sick person feels. I understand you. 

I know that Christ is my strength and hope. I know the Eucharist is the food that I need. The food that gives me life and sustains my life. I pray that He is for you what He has been for me. 

You may never get the cure. You may never get the miracle. But I pray that you are fed and strengthened by Jesus. I pray that through His Body given for you, some healing comes to you and makes that suffering a little bit easier.

God bless you.
Katie