A lovely reader of Ann’s blog wrote in with some backstory concerning the photo at the top of my blog. The photo, taken in 1956, was of 8 a.m. morning payers at Leeds General Infirmary in the UK. I am sad to report that the conduct of today’s nurses (and all medical providers for that matter) is not up to the same standard.
I am in possession several prayer books for nurses, and I’d like to quote one here:
“Nursing is more than a profession or occupation. Nursing is a sublime vocation. The nurse is called by a Loving God to assist Him in repairing the ruins in the Temple of God, caused my illness, physical or mental. The Ideal Nurse, therefore, must realize that she is working with Christ. Hence, she must be Christ-minded. She must spiritualize all of her activities, recalling that she is continuing the work to which our Blessed Savior devoted much of His time. Moreover, the Ideal Nurse must regard the sick as Christ saw them, members of His Own Mystical Body. He identified Himself with the sick: ‘As long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me.'”
I think this applies all medical care providers, not just nurses. If you are a respiratory therapist, pharmacist, physician assistant, radiology tech, scrub tech, EMT, paramedic, or physician (not an exhaustive list), start praying for your patients. Start meditating on the Passion of Our Lord, taking yourself to the “bedside” of Our Crucified Lord. And may we be always mindful of our vocation, caring for the sick as we would Our Lord.
I have fallen short of this many times. May God have mercy on me.
And may you, dear reader, pray for all of us who minister to the sick. We must reclaim the health professions for Christ.
To these Harvard med students: check your pride. This is not the flex you think it is.
This music video by Harvard Medical School made me lose my will to live pic.twitter.com/gAVz1RdW4J
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 5, 2024