You sit down in your favorite prayer space and close your eyes. You allow yourself to take a few slow deliberate breaths in and out peacefully entering into meditative prayer. Again you call out to the Holy Spirit, "Lead me into the desert."
As you enter the desert, you notice something unusual in the distance. It’s difficult to make out, so you slowly walk towards it. After a few steps you feel the familiar hand on your shoulder. You stop and smile at Dominic.
“I am glad you were able to take some steps without me," Dominic says with a smile. “Where are you going?”
“I’m trying to figure out what that is over there. It almost looks like a bed. But what would that be doing in the middle of the desert?”
“Well let’s go see," says Dominic.
After a 10 minute walk in the hot, shifting sand, you begin to see things more clearly. “Dominic, that is a hospital bed and there is someone in it!” You start running towards the bed when suddenly you run face first into a clear glass wall. You take a few steps back, and begin to rub your forehead. "What just happened?"
Dominic does not seemed surprised at all. "It looks like you just ran into a wall. Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine. But why is there a glass wall here?" You place your hands against the glass. "Dominic that's a hospital bed. What is that person doing there? I don't understand? What is going on?"
"You are peering into an isolation room. This patient is very sick and also contagious. He is not allowed to have visitors--not even his own family. Day after day his body becomes weaker from the virus, and the loneliness of the isolation weighs heavily on his heart and mind. Come, there is something else I want you to see."
As you follow Dominic around two of the clear glass walls your heart goes out to the man in the bed. He looks so frail. You notice the oxygen tube around the his face, the IV bags and lines going into his body, and the untouched tray of food next to him. As you round the next corner, you notice a cord exiting the room and entering into a box. Dominic opens the lid of the box revealing several torn and weathered paper hearts.
You try to make some sense of the situation. "Dominic, I don't understand what you are showing me?"
"That one phone cord is the only connection to his loved ones. The patient's loved ones feel trapped and helpless because they can't enter the room to take care of him. The situation is breaking everyone's heart."
"Is no one taking care of him then?"
"The doctors and nurses are doing everything they can. But he is not the only one. There are too many just like him." Just then rows and rows of beds appear before you.
"This is terrible! What can I do to help?"
"That is exactly what the Lord would like to discuss with you. He needs you to help." Dominic takes hold of your hand and says, "Come, the Lord is waiting for us, His great Mercy will open the door."
-Susan
