Last night, a gift of grace!
"Merici" came to die
From nearby nursing home
Our doctors did their best
Her heart and lungs were spent
With ninety-four long years
Merici’s hour drew near
Without a single kin
No family / friend appeared
An echo from the past
“My God! My God! Oh, why
Have You forsaken me?!”
I whisper in hear ear
I stroke her clammy hand
My sacred space, beside her
Heart rate first read sixty
The monitor’s slow descent…
To forty…down…to…naught
Merici’s voyage to God
Unseen, unshared, unmourned
Except for privileged me
“Be kind, accepting, Lord!
Forgive her any fault!
Embrace her! Again! For me!”
I voice a hope-filled prayer:
Our middle name is “Weakness”
But Thine is truly “Mercy!”
After more than sixty years of priesthood, forty-two spent at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, Father Frank Keenan, C.P. retired from active ministry a couple of years ago and now resides in a local nursing home where he writes poetry and gladly shares stories of his life as a Passionist.
Great post. Thanks so much. “Our middle name is weakness, but thine is Mercy.” Beautiful.
Victor Hoagland