Last night, Katherine and I took the kids to a parish event and we ran into the priest who visited Thomas in the hospital on New Years Eve and anointed him with holy oil, "Oleum Infirmorum" (James 5:14).
Normally such anointings are not done on children prior to the age of reason, as they are primarily used for the remission of sin. There is another grace supplied by this holy oil however which is the quieting of fear of death. It is worth noting that Thomas, from about age 4 (well before his diagnosis), when he first learned about death, he would cry in our arms in fear of death, which would separate him from his earthly parents. This fear is typical of his age, but at the same time it was more pronounced with Thomas than any of our other children.
On that particular night six months ago, Thomas was in a lot of pain and in grave danger of death. He had just had a emergency CT scan which revealed pockets of bile fluid trapped behind his liver and a pleural effusion around both of his lungs. Our surgeon told us that even with heavy pain meds, this was causing Thomas incredible pain and could be fatal. Emergency surgery was scheduled.
In the quiet before surgery, this priest arrived out of the blue (dragged unwittingly by guardian angels no doubt). He was in the hospital for another patient and a secret underground network of Catholic nurses leapt into action and steered him into Thomas's room.
So last night at the parish event when I saw this priest, I told Thomas the story and Thomas said that he wanted to meet him. Thomas whispered to me that he wanted to show the priest how he could walk again.
God be praised.
"Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him." (James 5:14-15)
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