Acts 18:23-28 / John 16:23-28 (2021)
Mention the word "hospital" and immediately some thoughts come to mind.
Thoughts like illness, pain, loneliness, suffering and even death. The mood is certainly depressive.
But like what Jesus said, He came not for the healthy but for the sick, and to call not the virtuous but sinners.
So in a sense, the hospitals are places of grace, and places where prayers are often answered.
Whenever I am called to visit the sick in the hospital, I will usually bring along more than one host for communion.
Because very often, when I am on the way to that patient's ward, I will be stopped along the way and asked to visit someone else.
And very often, the patient or the family members will say the similar thing - they have been praying for some spiritual strengthening or for a priest to come along, and then God answered their prayers when they saw me.
Well, that's what Jesus said in the gospel - Ask and you will receive, and so your joy will be complete.
Jesus may have ascended to the Father but He is still with us till the end of time.
His presence will be felt in the way our prayers are answered.
So no matter how depressive or desperate or despondent the situation may be, prayer is the answer.
Life is fragile, but it can be handled with prayer.