Sunday, December 21, 2008

A Spiritual Rescue


This weekend has been amazing so far! I am obviously not the one writing the story of my life because things keep happening to me that continue to make me stand in awe of God's creativity...and His very unique timing.

I had lost a significant degree of hope this week, a first time experience in my life, and it was scary. But God swooped in (in a very real, sacramental way) that I didn't expect and certainly thought I didn't deserve.

Almost inadvertently, I received the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick yesterday, not because I was on my death bed (where it has traditionally been conducted), but because it was offered to me at a healing Mass this weekend -- and I accepted. I realized that while I didn't need a physical healing, I certainly needed an emotional one. The girl who had always had faith finally needed a booster shot, and who was I to pretend like I didn't need God's healing?

So the priest laid his hands on my head and prayed, and then another priest put a special chrism on my forehead and on my hands. My mother and grandmother received the sacrament as well, and it was for their purposes that we went to the mass in the first place.

I was going just as a supportive bystander, but when I realized that everyone in attendance was gratefully accepting the sacrament, I was beginning to feel excluded if I were to pass on it. I spoke to a lovely priest afterward who assured me that it was fine for me to take the sacrament because, as he said, "We all need God's healing!"

Anyway, something in me has definitely changed for the better. I feel as if I was spiritually rescued through that experience. And I feel embarrassed to admit that I didn't even realize that I needed rescuing.