September 6, 2006--Just Being There
Tomorrow--back to Iran and other miseries.
But today, the day after Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer and the real beginning of the congressional election campaigns (when people, as they say, “begin to pay attention”—it should only be) in addition to being the day to stash the white pants and shoes, today is also the beginning of the end of the regular baseball season. When pennants and wild cards are determined and speculation about MVPs gets serious.
So as my paean to the beginning of the end of this long season, let me tell you about Sister Marian.
The NY Times found her at 5:30 one morning when she began making her daily rounds at St. Rose’s Home for terminally ill patients. (Full story below.) She wakes them, bathes them, feeds them, and, perhaps most important, speaks to them about the serious things that are most obviously on their minds.
She gets just one day a month off and on that day thinks about her beloved Atlanta Braves. She became devoted to them during her 22 year assignment to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cancer Home in Atlanta. The Home is within walking distance of the ballpark and when she could she would take in a game or two.
She was born in Brooklyn and as a girl expected to marry and have children, but then when she was about 25, she heard God call her to her work with the sick and dying. And thus, after joining the Dominican Sisters, she found herself in Atlanta where, over the years, she went from not knowing one player from another to a full-fledged fanatic with a Braves wristwatch that has a tomahawk on the dial. She does not, however, have one of those styrofoam tomahawks and is not enthusiastic about the famous Chop.
In New York, she did get to see her beloved Braves earlier this summer when they played an interleague game against the Yankees, but did not have the time off to get to Shea Stadium this past weekend when the Braves were again in town. She did, however, during her breaks at the Home in Lower Manhattan (in addition to tending to her patients she prays five time a day), she did catch snippets of the game on the radio. We must assume she was quite happy yesterday when the Braves one-hit the Mets.
She does of course have life in perspective—they refer to their patients as “guests” and says, “We must make our guests glad they crossed the threshold that is to be their last boundary. We must love them.”
She adds, “Some patients are so sick that they can’t communicate, but they can look at you. And just seeing you, they know God is taking care of them through you. Sometimes you don’t have to speak. It’s just being there.”
But today, the day after Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer and the real beginning of the congressional election campaigns (when people, as they say, “begin to pay attention”—it should only be) in addition to being the day to stash the white pants and shoes, today is also the beginning of the end of the regular baseball season. When pennants and wild cards are determined and speculation about MVPs gets serious.
So as my paean to the beginning of the end of this long season, let me tell you about Sister Marian.
The NY Times found her at 5:30 one morning when she began making her daily rounds at St. Rose’s Home for terminally ill patients. (Full story below.) She wakes them, bathes them, feeds them, and, perhaps most important, speaks to them about the serious things that are most obviously on their minds.
She gets just one day a month off and on that day thinks about her beloved Atlanta Braves. She became devoted to them during her 22 year assignment to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cancer Home in Atlanta. The Home is within walking distance of the ballpark and when she could she would take in a game or two.
She was born in Brooklyn and as a girl expected to marry and have children, but then when she was about 25, she heard God call her to her work with the sick and dying. And thus, after joining the Dominican Sisters, she found herself in Atlanta where, over the years, she went from not knowing one player from another to a full-fledged fanatic with a Braves wristwatch that has a tomahawk on the dial. She does not, however, have one of those styrofoam tomahawks and is not enthusiastic about the famous Chop.
In New York, she did get to see her beloved Braves earlier this summer when they played an interleague game against the Yankees, but did not have the time off to get to Shea Stadium this past weekend when the Braves were again in town. She did, however, during her breaks at the Home in Lower Manhattan (in addition to tending to her patients she prays five time a day), she did catch snippets of the game on the radio. We must assume she was quite happy yesterday when the Braves one-hit the Mets.
She does of course have life in perspective—they refer to their patients as “guests” and says, “We must make our guests glad they crossed the threshold that is to be their last boundary. We must love them.”
She adds, “Some patients are so sick that they can’t communicate, but they can look at you. And just seeing you, they know God is taking care of them through you. Sometimes you don’t have to speak. It’s just being there.”
posted by Steven Zwerling at
10:14 AM
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