After the catastrophe that happened last night, today was a totally different day. I visited this afternoon with an elderly parishioner and this was indeed a moment of blessing. Let me explain first a bit of background.
A few months ago, the parish Liturgy committee agreed to add a new wrinkle to the established practice of inviting parishioners to contribute gifts during Advent for those in need. For many years now, we have conducted a campaign focusing on knitted garments for children, but this year we chose to turn our attention to the elderly of the parish. It's amazing to see how well the response to this invitaiton is going. We have identified a number of parishioners who are either sick or alone and will share some of our blessings (hopefully) with them this year.
One such gentleman is currently resident in the local hospice. I've gotten to know him (and his wife) over the past number of months, and discovered earlier this year that they were both transferrred to the hospice because they were both suffering from grave illness. His wife has since returned Home, but his journey is not yet complete. I'm told that it won't be long though, so I chose today to visit with him and to deliver his Christmas gift from our parish a few days in advance of Christmas. As I stood at his bedside, others from the nursing staff and his sister also gathered around. He was not strong enough to open the gift I presented, but asked others to help. I'm sure he was happy (at least he was very courteous and generous with his expressions of gratitude for our gift).
I couldn't help thinking that it's quite probable that he won't be on this side of the curtain in just a few days time, and this was very possibly the best gift we could have offered to him. I know that this encounter was already a wonderful Christmas gift for me. I blessed him as I left, not quite sure whether we will meet again in this world ... maybe.
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