There are no Ordinary People

As we ramp up to Easter Sunday during this season of COVID-19, it is odd indeed to carry on in the work we do.  But it is also a good time to be reminded that we, who are ministering to our patients and residents, are not just involved in medical procedures and decisions.  We are also very much involved in work that is quite literally—transcendent.  It is transcendent because we are serving people, and people are the crown of God’s creation.  C.S. Lewis, in his classic text, The Weight of Glory puts it this way:

“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations–these are mortal…But it is immortals (people) whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit–immortal horrors or everlasting splendors…Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.

Lewis goes on to write:  “…it is a serious thing…to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one of these destinations.”

Strong words and a much needed reminder that if it’s true people are not mere mortals (and it is true!) we are, as Lewis writes, serving and walking along side immortals!  Something to consider on this day as we approach Easter Sunday.

Prayer:  Grant us we pray, Almighty God, that we who serve others, be reminded that each individual we encounter is holy.  That each person bears your image and likeness.  May we come along side one another, serving one another, with the same sacrificial love that you gave us.  We thank you for the people in our lives.  Bless them this day we pray, Amen.oes here