extra prayers

This morning, I attended 6:30 Mass at my parish, which I do on a regular basis. The homily was about obedience, and how it's a bad word in today's society - and not just to teenagers.   But it is what we need to strive for.  And with obedience to God's will in our lives comes freedom!

Anyway, things were going along quite routinely until after the homily.  At that point in the Mass, Father offers a prayer of petition - not really the standard "prayers of the faithful" where we respond.  But he offers a prayer, usually tying in whatever he has just spoken about in the homily and asking God's help and blessing upon us. He was about half way through today, when there was the sound of someone falling.  An elderly lady in the front pew had fainted.

He went immediately to her (as did several other people) and someone called 9-1-1.  She regained consciousness fairly quickly, and Father said, "Cher-heart, I don't want to scare you, but I'm going to give you the Sacarment of the Sick."  He got the key, unlocked the ambry, and got the oil that he needed to anoint her.  Meanwhile, most of us are still standing there, as we were when she fell.  At some point, the lady in front of me knelt, and I figured that was a good thing to do - extra prayers never hurt.  And I suppose if you're going to pass out, church is as good a place as any to be.

Eventually we sat and waited for the ambulance to arrive.  The fire department arrived first, and the ambulance a bit later.  They did their thing, found some things that concerned them, and gave her a ride to the hospital.

After about 20 minutes or so, Mass continued right where it had left off.  The prayer offered after the homily changed a little bit; the lady in the front row was the beneficiary of those petitions.  I only saw one person leave during the emergency, and Father thanked us for staying.  I stayed because I really need Jesus this week.  And maybe not just this week, but every week.

My kidlets were tardy for school as a result of my tardiness, but I explained this to the person writing tardy slips, and she excused them.

Last year, after a CPR class, I had suggested to Father that he check into getting one of the AED (Automated External Defibrillator) Units since we have a large population of elderly people.  He said he would be too tempted to use it on people that didn't need it!  Might have to mention it again..  My CPR is a little rusty.