Thank you! It’s great to have some support. Forgot to add in my original post that a couple weeks ago I had asked one of my fellow EM’s if there was a need for another EM for visitations, & he said “no” and listed all the places & times he made visits & said that I could be used once in awhile if need be. Told me how he had one day off from visitations.That is the reason why I again hesitated on going forward with my plan, as I felt discouraged. I think that it also may be partly jealously. When I asked my priest to be a EM, and asked him if I could still be a lector, he said yes. But when most of the other EM’s and lectors found out about it, they weren’t happy. Some of them came out and told me that I couldn’t do both because they weren’t allowed to. Evidently, some had asked the priest years ago, but he told them no. But nevertheless, it is still at the discretion of the priest, any parish priest. He thought I was up to the task & could handle both, which I am doing fine. But the jealously and anger of my fellow church members really upset me for weeks, & nothing really upsets me. You’d think they’d all be happy that someone like me would be so eager to get involved in church ministry, but apparently I learned it the hard way. And I’m 51, the youngest of the lost, as most are in their 80’s. But when I saw the notice in my church bulletin, it gave me much encouragement. Seems fortuitous that I just happened to come across the notice. And I called the church secretary and asked her if there was a need for visitations, & she gave me a definitive “yes”, esp. at a hospital only a couple miles away and on the bus line. I don’t drive and visitations would be difficult, if not impossible, were not some of the institutions not on or near the bus line. And it also seems that I’m fighting an uphill battle because not only because of the EM I mentioned, evidently not wanting me to make visitations by what he said and his attitude, but because my wife is against me doing visits. I must add that I don’t drive because I have a seizure disorder, but medicines have kept my seizures under control. But I don’t think that it should make me housebound, but my wife insists that I cannot go anywhere unless she drives me. So, when I mentioned EM visitations, she also discouraged me by saying: “If you volunteer for something, that means you’re volunteering me ( meaning her)”. But I don’t see why taking a 10 minute bus ride to an hospital which is in need of EM’s would cause her so much concern. I’m disabled, but not housebound. She may be genuinely worried for me, but much of it has to do with the fact that she is anti-Catholic & lets me know of it frequently. But in my heart and soul I feel that this is a calling, as unworthy as I am, but right now I am very optimistic. She’s out of town right now, & won’t be back home till Thursday. I’m preparing myself to tell her that I not only ventured out of the house, but also went to a EM training course (Where I’ve got to go is only a 10-15 minute bus ride, and boy, she’ll be furious! LOL! Seriously! But I know that she’ll come around someday. Maybe it’s God’s Will that encourages me now.
