Bringing communion to the elderly

[jeanine]

i have been bringing communion to a 102 year old woman, helen, for about 1 year now, if you would meet her you would think she was in her 70’s by the way she looks, acts, speaks and gets around (she lives on her own!) God bless her! i really love our visits, sometimes my girls and i will hang out with her for over an hour.

one of my friends from church and a Sister friend of mine asked if i would assist in bringing communion to the nursing home up the street for the first fridays. i have thought long and hard about this. i get very upset when i see someone sick and dying. i get very emotioanlly attached to people and i feel very bad for the suffering, that it is almost a weakness on my part that i cant get over that. in fact, another friend actually told me that i was selfish not to take on this responsibility. i do great with helen (my 102 year old friend) because she is in such great shape, although i know what the inevitable will bring.

today i went along with my friend to the nursing home and felt tremendous anxiety and cried several times during prayer with some individuals. there was one man that was sound asleep and rather sick that my friend roused and roused and kept insisting that he recieve. he could not stay awake for the Our Father and she finally woke him enough to give him 1/2 host. i thought that was very upsetting. i was so afraid he was going to choke.

my dilema is 2 fold. should i go on the next first friday, trying to overcome MY problems and help to serve these poor elderly folks who do not have much in their lives right now, and secondly, was it wrong to insist that a sleeping/sick person receive?

sorry for such a wordy post, but this only happended today and i am emotionally drained.

thank you for words of wisdom, i could use it!
God bless

 

[Catholic_Heart]

HI…I work with the elderly, and know how attached you can get, and how it hurts to see them failing. I have been doing this work since December, and have to admit that I am surprised that I like it. My first client that was also a hospice client was the best experience of my life.

It’s Ok to cry with those you pray with and for…I do it nearly every time…The emotions are just too strong…So…Please put that worry aside.

**As for whether the deeply sleeping person should have been roused, I will say that I probably would have left him alone after one two attempts had failed. The possibility of choking is very real for someone in that condition…Perhaps a small piece of the host would have been better than a half…I’m talking SMALL. **

I would try this ministry for a few weeks, and see if you like it…If after a reasonable time you feel it is not for you, say so, and don’t feel bad about it. We are all called to different things…

Hope this helped.

 

[Deacon_Tony560]

This can be a very difficult ministry, but remember what Jesus said about those who help the least of his brothers and sisters. There are many who have no one to visit them and bring them the Eucharist.

Deacon Tony

 

[Kielbasi]

today i went along with my friend to the nursing home and felt tremendous anxiety and cried several times during prayer with some individuals. there was one man that was sound asleep and rather sick that my friend roused and roused and kept insisting that he recieve. he could not stay awake for the Our Father and she finally woke him enough to give him 1/2 host. i thought that was very upsetting. i was so afraid he was going to choke.

If someone is really not with in, not full conscious, it probably isn’t that good of an idea to try and give him communion.

It would have probably been better to just pray with and for your friend in the nursing home bed and leave giving communion for another visit on another day when he is in a more cognizant mood

 

[puzzleannie]

I hope you do continue with this beautiful ministry, which does take a lot of courage, in no small part because of the emotions you describe. It would be a very chilling thing if someone did continue to visit these beautiful elderly people week after week and failed to form relationships and fail to grieve for their disabilities, suffering and death.