“I have no worries: God is there”

While putting my computer in order, I found a note that I had written after a bicycle accident, about ten years ago: a beautiful experience of the “sacrament of the brother”.

That day, I returned by bike from daily mass, as usual. A blank in my memory… Lying on the tarmac, I regain consciousness in the middle of delicate passers-by who call the firefighters. Their kindness goes so far as to secure my bike with my lock before taking me away. In the emergency room, multiple x-rays. I’m in pain, but the staff is there, competent. My friend Élisabeth, who has been informed, is authorized to stay by my side for a few minutes.

It’s 10 p.m. I will have surgery tomorrow morning. Already ? Yes: I was diagnosed with four fractures of the upper tibia and a shattered knee. I have no worries: God is there. Real presence. Who comes to wash me in the morning? The young student caregiver to whom I lend a room in my home while she studies! I only have my purse. She can bring me some business. Kindness from the surgeon who explained to me the seriousness of the fractures. I remain confident. Providence is watching. The treatments follow each other. Each face reflects for me the love that comes from further away. My roommate, poor and worried? This is an opportunity to listen and encourage. God is present.

On the way to the rehabilitation center, the paramedics handle me delicately, like a baby. The parade of caregivers, smiling, patient, attentive to my dilapidated health, reminds me of my vocation as a nurse. On my little radio, RCF tells me “Joy is shared”*. One friend washes my clothes, another brings me strawberries, my brother, a bottle of wine (forbidden, but I hide it). Lots of nice faces getting to know each other. My daily communion at mass? If no one suggested it to me, if I did not ask for it, it is undoubtedly because Christ was there, in this room. Illness, death too, brings people together. Like the Eucharist! Are we not talking about the sacrament of the brother, equivalent to the sacrament of the altar according to an ancient tradition?

Remembering these moments makes me happy. God loves people, and it’s not complicated to look at them the same way.

* Signature slogan of RCF (French-speaking Christian Radio).