I had perfect attendance back in my high school days. I went four years without missing a class. I’ve been blessed with good health for a long time… until recently. A few days after returning from our mission trip to Perú, I started losing my voice. I didn’t think much of it; I thought that I was just tired. But after two days it just got worse. Along with a sore throat, congestion, headaches, and coughing, I thought I had… you know what… COVID. (I have been blessed to avoid that, as well). After too many sleepless nights, I finally went to urgent care and found out that it was laryngitis. I didn’t realize laryngitis was a lot more than just losing your voice. I tested negative for COVID twice, so that was a relief. After five days of prednisone, I’m finally feeling closer to normal.
For those who knew that I was sick, thanks so much for your prayers and the chicken matza ball soup! Thanks so much to Fr Chance for covering the wedding for me on Saturday. And thanks to Andrea for making numerous phone calls looking for other priests at the last minute to help with confessions and Mass over the weekend.
I’m learning that I can’t take my health for granted and that I may not bounce back as quickly as I used to. I used my downtime to pray and today’s second reading from the letter to the Hebrews is worth remembering: “My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him. . . Endure your trials as ‘discipline’. . . At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy, but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.”
I can’t wait to find out what that ‘peaceful fruit of righteousness’ tastes like! Maybe even better than chicken matza ball soup!
Rev. Mark Zacker
Pastor