“I was sick and you cared for me.”

—Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25 : 36

What is more Christian than to care for someone who is sick? The sick we will always have with us, and caring for them is one of Jesus’s corporal works of mercy. By caring for the sick, Jesus assures us, we will be judged worthy to enter His Kingdom on the last day (Matthew 25:45–46). Caring for someone who is sick can be a blessing, not just to the one who is sick but to the caregiver as well. The following story about Bella, is a beautiful example of the double blessing of caring for someone who is sick.

One hot summer day, a young couple and their four-year-old daughter, Bella, were on their way to the mountains for a few weeks’ vacation. Suddenly, a huge truck in the oncoming lane collided head-on with the family’s small car. The couple was injured seriously, and little Bella sustained many fractures.

They were immediately taken to the nearest hospital.

Martha, the nurse who was assigned to Bella, was a single woman. She understood Bella’s fear and insecurity and became very devoted to her. When Martha finished her shift, instead of going home, she would volunteer to stay with Bella at night. When Bella was able to be moved, Martha put her in a wheelchair and took her to visit her parents every day. After many months of hospitalization, the whole family was discharged.

Before they left the hospital, the parents thanked Martha, profusely, for her devoted and loving care and invited her to visit them. Bella would not let go of Martha and insisted that she come to live with them. Martha did not want to be parted from her little Bella either, but her life was in the children’s ward of the hospital. She could not think of leaving.

Little Bella finally understood, and loved Martha even more.

Over thirty years passed. One winter Martha, who was now in her seventies, became seriously ill with pneumonia and was hospitalized in the geriatric ward of a hospital near her home. There was a certain nurse on duty who noticed that Martha had very few visitors. She did everything she could to give her special care, and she saw that she was a sensitive, and grateful person.

One quiet night when the nurse was sitting beside Martha’s bed, she confided in her as to what had prompted her to become a nurse. When she was four years old, she explained, and when she and her parents had been injured in an automobile accident, there had been a wonderful nurse who brought her back to health with her loving, caring devotion. As she grew older, she determined that one day she, too, would become a nurse and help others.

When the nurse had finished her story, Martha said softly, “Bella, we are together again, but this time you are nursing me!” Bella’s eyes opened wide as she stared at Martha, suddenly recognizing her. “Is it really you?” she cried, tears running down her cheeks. “How many times I have thought about you and prayed that someday we would meet again!”

When Martha recovered from her illness, Bella just packed up Martha’s belongings and took her home with her. Martha lives with Bella, and Bella’s husband and children welcomed her, like one of their very own, into their home as a most special grandmother.

—Fr. Hugh Duffy