While preparing for mass at the senior center a little while ago, I quietly watched as folks began gathering. It brought to mind my own mother, held prisoner by Alzheimer’s disease. I thought about her life, the years of marriage she spent with my father, and the eight children she gave life to and raised. I thought of her faithfulness to God and the Church.

I thought about how Jesus often used marriage as an analogy for His relationship with us and the Church; about how He was the groom and we His bride. Then I remembered this little story I recently read. I don’t know the author or the authenticity of the details, but it is worth the time it takes to read:

It was early morning, about 8:30 AM, when an elderly gentleman in his 80’s arrived at the hospital to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said that he was in a hurry because he had another appointment at 9:30. The nurse on duty took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing that it would be over an hour before someone would be able to see him.

The nurse saw him looking at his watch and decided, since she wasn’t busy with other patients to evaluate his wound. Upon examination, she found the wound well healed, so she talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, she asked him if he had another doctor’s appointment that morn-ing, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told her no, he didn’t have another doctor’s appointment; but he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife.

The nurse inquired about his wife’s health. He told her that she had been there for a while and that she was victim of Alzheimer’s disease. As they talked, the nurse asked if his wife would be upset if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer new who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.

The nurse being a bit surprised asked him, “and you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?”

He smiled as he patted the nurse on the hand and said, “She doesn’t know me; but I know who she is”!

I thought about how in a broken world our lives can get messy. I thought about how we can get lost in our own struggles and sinfulness; but remembered God’s love, His un-conditional and Habitual grace that is always there for us. 


We can trust in Him, He who takes away the sins of the world and took us to be His own.

My prayer for you is that you can know that God knows who you are, and that knowledge blesses your life with His grace.

Dn. Mike DeWitte