<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">Hospital Chaplain </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">In the other room,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">that only masked nurses and doctors can enter,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">he hears with the ears of his heart the last breaths of the dying.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">The family, in the emptiness of the waiting room, clings to him even though they may not touch.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">How do you comfort- in another room, or from six feet away?</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">Only a presence that is prayer</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">can fill that distance with the breath of love</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">that is the one breath, </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">shared breath, </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">first and last and living and dying and waiting </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">and right now.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">May the dying one sense the presence of his loved ones filling that almost empty room.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">And may they accompany </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">with attention and awe and broken-open hearts</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">the work of letting go.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"><br class=""></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">May you be there,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">helpless,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">and so helpful,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">to patients and families and staff and all -</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">an emptied instrument through which</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;"><i class="">ruach </i>breath of Spirit blows unimpeded</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size: large;">a vessel of that ununderstandable peace.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Ruah Bull</div></div></div></body></html>