Our current situation leaves no one indifferent or unaffected. Some are very afraid of infection, others are worried about their jobs and simple survival, while others lay sick in a COVID ward or are about to die. My name is Sr. Magdalena Marie, R.S.M., and I am a member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan. In my apostolate I work as a resident of psychiatry at the Center for Mental Health in the hospital of Erbach (a city in the Odenwald region of Germany). In the course of the “CORONA crisis” I volunteered to work in Internal Medicine, which I have experienced before as a privilege.
Caring for the body and the soul
In the CORONA tent, erected outside but connected to the hospital, numerous patients come daily with suspected CORONA infections or with an already manifested disease whose condition has deteriorated significantly. Many are frightened: “What will happen next?” “Will my loved ones at home be taken care of?” “Will I overcome COVID or succumb to it?” In addition to initial “physical” care, our spirit also requires attention and accompaniment. Today, perhaps more than ever, people need others who can be guides, as many have “lost” access to God or may never have had it in the first place.
Being a spiritual companion in times of the CORONA pandemic means above all “hearing the call” and being present when fear is great. This means gentle assistance when the patient has never been taught to pray, when prayer seems inaccessible or when there is the decline in strength. Medically, it means perceiving the call to change or to adjust medications, and to explain the disease process to the patient and concerned family members.
My medical colleagues from the COVID wards notify me when someone wants pastoral care or is in the last hours of his/her life. Thankfully, we have enough protective gear that facilitate these additional contacts easily.
suffering finds its answer in God who became fully human as Emmanuel—God with us
Some patients ask if God has abandoned them. It is a legitimate question that even Jesus asked on the Cross. We may say with a certainty borne of faith that nothing happens without God´s knowledge, nor outside of His plan of love and mercy. The question “why” in suffering is very personal and finds its answer in God who became fully human as Emmanuel—God with us. In moments of following the cross of the sickbed, patients often experience that as they carry their cross in suffering and fear, it is Christ Who carries them. In addition, many are very grateful to receive a Miraculous Medal or a Rosary – at least to hold on to.
“We are sent in Christ’s stead” (2 Corinthians 5:20). This Bible quote brings to mind the Good Samaritan. After others ignored the injured man’s suffering, a traveler came from Samaria. When the Samaritan saw him, he showed compassion (Luke 10:33). Quite a few around us have been affected by the virus. What are we doing? The current pandemic, permitted by God, is a call not simply to move on, but to bind up the wounds of the sick in our midst – perhaps by shopping for a sick person, giving a kind word, or sending a card to an affected family. But above all, we may promise that we will remember the sick person, who is walking through a dark valley, in our prayers. We may assure them that they need fear no evil, for God is with them. (cf. Psalm 23). With God’s grace, we can all do things during this pandemic so that the experience of illness may blossom into a new awakening of faith and trust in God.
Editor’s Note:
This article was written by Sr. Magdalena Marie, R.S.M., who serves as a Psychiatrist in Germany, during one of her residency placements in 2020.
See other COVID-19 stories:
Healing: The Role of Religion during the Pandemic
Serving in a Pandemic: A Witness to Mercy
