The Laying On of Hands

The Acts of the Apostles is an amazing book.  Some people have said that it should have been called "The Acts of the Holy Spirit," and indeed, it is truly the story of how the Holy Spirit acted through human instruments.  Peter, James, John, and the rest had no "planning sessions" or committee meetings to decide how to go about doing what Jesus told them to do.  Rather, they had a novena -- nine days of collective prayer -- awaiting the Promised "Gift of the Father" that Jesus had told them about.  "Don't do anything; don't go anywhere," He said, "until you receive the gift my Father promised, about which you have heard me speak...in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:4).

When the Holy Spirit descended, the Apostles simply had to hold on to His coattails, things moved so fast.  The first day, 3000 people accepted the message and were baptized.  These people, visitors to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost, returned to their homes throughout Mesopotamia, Asia, Egypt, Rome, Arabia, etc., filled with the Holy Spirit and the knowledge of Jesus Christ -- without a lot of catechesis!  The Spirit Himself taught them, just as Jesus said, "Unless you are born again of water and the Holy Spirit, you cannot see the kingdom of God."  These 3000 converts were the first church, the first missionaries, as they returned home filled with the Good News.  By the time the Apostles began to spread out from Jerusalem, there were pockets of new Christians all over the known world, baptized in and by the Holy Spirit, and awaiting further instruction from the Apostles. 

Last night, when I returned home from class, I noticed that I had missed a call from a Vietnamese woman who had been a powerful influence during my 2010 experience of lung cancer.  She was the one who admitted me to the hospital, after a previous day of chaos and confusion, when it seemed that not a single hospital of the five she called had me registered for surgery the next day.   It was late in the afternoon when I received the call to report to the hospital for pre-opt work; I lived 45 minutes away from the hospital, and knew that if I arrived after 4:00 pm, the pre-opt work could not be done.  I could barely make it on time, even speeding.  When I arrived, it was 3:50, and the hospital had no record of me.  Khanh told me, "don't worry; God sent you to my desk.  I will take care of you."  She ran to the back and requested the staff to remain overtime to process my tests. While they waited, she called every hospital in the region.  Nada.  She could not reach my doctor; he was gone for the day.  Meanwhile, the staff waited.  By the time my doctor could be reached and agree to admit me to Northshore Hospital, it was 5:00 pm.  (He had registered me at another hospital, but they had lost the paperwork.  Since I arrived at the hospital he had mentioned in the office, he agreed to perform the surgery there.)  Needless to say, I was extremely grateful to Khanh for her calm and professional handling of the situation, as well as her repeated confidence that I would be okay.

In our conversation last night, Khanh asked what class I was teaching.  Then she said to me, "I need to come to your class; I am a 'cheater Catholic'."  She went on to tell me that she had been married for 23 years to a devout Catholic man; her religion was ancestor-worship.  Whenever she went to church with him, she felt she was wasting her time, and she was bored.  When her husband was dying of cancer, however, knowing that he had prayed all their married life for her conversion, she wanted to be baptized as a gift to him.  She told me that he was such a good and generous man all their life, and that she admired his faith.  She had no lessons in Catholicism; she had almost no instruction at all.  Her husband's pastor agreed to baptize and confirm Khanh immediately.  Her husband and a nun at the church were her sponsors.  Khanh told me that as Father Rareshide baptized and confirmed her, her husband and the nun lifted their hands over her in prayer.  As they did so, immediately, for the first time in her life, she, in her words, "felt full."  "Miss Gayle," she said last night, "until that moment, I never realized that I had felt empty my whole life.  But now I felt full."

Khanh's ministry to "her" cancer patients (the ones God sends to her desk) is amazing!  Her stories sound just like the ones in the Acts of the Apostles.  She prayed every morning and every night and "a hundred times a day" for her patients.  She visited each one of them before her shift at the hospital began each day, and she spent an hour in the chapel each morning praying for them.  When she looked into their eyes, she could see their soul and what they were experiencing.  One evening, she visited a man who had esophageal cancer, one of the hardest to treat and cure.  He was completely depressed, sitting in total darkness.  The next day, the man's family came to her desk, asking what she had done the evening before.  After she left him, his depression lifted, and he returned to his normal personality.  Today, despite the fact that 99% of esophageal cancer patients die from the disease, he is still alive, and his cancer is gone!

When Khanh tells me she needs to learn about Catholicism, I tell her that she already knows everything she needs to know -- the love and the power of God, taught to her by the Holy Spirit at the "Laying on of hands."  Her instruction was about the same as the apostles gave to the 3000 on Pentecost, and it was enough!  I should write a book about Khanh's ministry as a hospital admit clerk.  Through her compassion and prayers, the Holy Spirit has touched hundreds of cancer patients with comfort, courage, and healing.  I was blessed to be one of the people God sent to her desk.  From the fullness she has received, she has given to so many others.  From the "laying on of hands" she received, she has "laid hands" on everyone she has met.  The same Holy Spirit Who acted in the Acts of the Apostles continues His action even today through human hands and hearts!