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Mar 25th, 2025
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 101
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 101 |
Please pray for me as I am going through a rough patch of calls that have taxed me emotionally and spiritually. As I can not provide details because of patient confidentiality, I have provided a poem instead.
I delivered a baby on the ambulance gurney;
I baptized a newborn whose life ended before it began.
I hugged a frightened child;
I was kissed by an intoxicated old man.
I held the hand of a teenage girl as she delivered a 3-pound baby;
I listened to the mournful squeak of a stretcher being wheeled to the morgue.
I gently stroked the fragile hand of a 102 year old woman;
I hesitated at the outreached hand of a 300 pound prisoner in handcuffs.
I trudged for 10 hours in my boots;
I had a teenager vomit on those same boots.
I rubbed the feverish body of a 14 year old cancer patient;
I cradled the ice-cold hand of a child hit by a car.
I was referred to as "an angel of mercy;"
I was called every four-letter word in the book.
I always see fear in people's eyes;
I never see joy or relief.
I listened to a tormented voice pleading for the preservation of life;
I heard the threatening words of one bent on self-destruction.
I spoke with the girl who was hoping she had the flu, not a pregnancy;
I see innocent people hurt or killed by a drunk driver, and the drunk driver is never hurt.
I marveled at the genius of a cardiologist;
I saw a 12 year old boy who shot himself in the head, and the gun was still loaded at his feet.
I talked in circles with a schizophrenic person;
I was horrified at the battered body of a child whose parents were incapable of love.
I gazed at a horribly burned body;
I shuddered at a cold water drowning.
I see women beaten up by their spouses, but they never press charges;
I walk into houses and do CPR with family watching over my shoulder in tears.
I arrive at serious auto accidents, and the first words I hear are, "Am I going to die?;"
I find out hours later they did die.
I listen to the repeated question, "Why?" from a family devastated by death;
I search my soul for the answers to their question.
This is just another day in EMS.
Please ask for the intersession of St. Michael the Archangel, as he is the patron of EMTs and Paramedics
Peace in Christ,
James
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,523 Likes: 26
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,523 Likes: 26 |
Christ is in our midst!
Having begun my journey into the Ordained ministry through tying down the night shift of an urban EMS unit--I know the pain.
Know that it is all absorbed by Him who continues to place His Sacrifice before us.
My favorite Eucharistic Canon is an adaptation of the Hippolytan Canon, the key phrase "He stretched forth His hands in suffering in order to free from suffering those who trust You."
Last edited by Thomas the Seeker; 09/06/09 12:02 AM. Reason: adding salutation
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 1,701 Likes: 6
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 1,701 Likes: 6 |
Thank you both for your work, your prayers, and may you be uplifted in His love.
Prayers .....through the intercession of St. Michael!
CS
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 71
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An verse to encourage you: I Cor. 15:58 - Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Prayers!
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Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 6,595 Likes: 1
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Prayers for you .
Remember that as you serve your fellow man you also serve He Who made you .
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 4,225 Likes: 1
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Prayers for comfort and strength...
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 2,532
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God bless you and sustain you in your work.
Lord, have mercy,
Christ, have mercy.
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 1,173 Likes: 1
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Prayers for strength to endure. Thank you for your ministry.
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 161
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My prayers for you, James. Whether you realize it or not, you are to be richly rewarded by Our Lord. It's obvious from the prayer you composed that way you perform your duties as an EMT means you're administering corporal works of mercy each and every day on the job.
May God bless you and comfort you in the spiritual and emotional trials you face. You're a much better man than I.
Sam
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Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 10,930
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God bless you brother!
My husband in training in Pastoral Care had seven code blues in one day. One thing for sure, God gives you what you need at that time.
Go with God in all you do, through the prayers of our Most Holy Theotokos, St. Joseph, and all the saints.
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,206 Likes: 1
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Christ is in our midst!
Thank you for your ministry.
I did a year of CPE in hospital settings 32 years ago. It was so much an experience of being at the foot of the cross. I'm sure it, one patient in particular, had an important role in my eventually coming into the Catholic Church.
Are you getting live support? First responders can be a very "macho" group and run the risk of dangerous burn out. I'm sure you know this intellectually. Please keep in contact with a good chaplain.
God be with you.
-Mary
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 101
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I thank you all for your prayers, I felt like I was on the verge of burn out. But, with support from everyone; I felt I have come through the most of it. What helped the most was the mystery of pennance and a good ear.
I was just at my first Byzantine Catholic Divine Liturgy in almost 6 months since I moved to Oklahoma, which really lifted my spirts and reconnected me with my Lord.
God Bless,
James
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Joined: Nov 2001
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,994 Likes: 10
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Joined: Apr 2009
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A prayer that I had saved in my file for the upcoming Festival of St. Luke the Physician and Evangelist:
O Lord Jesus Christ our God, Lover of Mankind, Physician of our souls and bodies, who didst bear the pain of our infirmities, and by whose wounds we are healed,
Who gave sight to the man born blind,
Who straightened the woman who was bent over for 18 years,
Who gave speech and sight to the mute demoniac,
Who not only forgave the paralytic his sins, but healed him to walk,
Who restored the withered hand of a troubled man,
Who stopped the flow of blood of her who bled for 12 years
Who raised Jairus' daughter to life
And brought the 4-day-dead Lazarus to life
And who heals every infirmity under the sun,
Do now, O Lord, give your grace to all those here gathered who have labored and studied hour upon hour, to go into all the world, and also to heal by the talent You have given to each of them.
Strengthen them, by your strength, to fear no evil or disease,
Enlighten them to do no evil by the works of their hands,
And preserve them and those they serve in peace,
For You are our God, and we know no other,
And to you we send up glory together with your Father who is from everlasting, and your most Holy, Good, and Life-creating Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Fr. John Parker
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