Sainthood Sunday: St. Luke

The "Beloved Physician" and author of one of the gospels, I felt it was appropriate to talk about him today, given my exerience of the past three days.

I had written an entire blog entry that I just deleted as completely inadequate to describe what I have been through in the last three days.

There has been pain.

There has been suffering.

There has also been great joy.

There has also been life.

The surgery went better than anyone had hoped. The kidney was perfect for a transplant and has been functioning at the highest level. It actually started working the instant they connected it to my brother's artery. He was out of ICU within a day. I was able to leave the hospital after two nights and he will leave after four nights. It could not have gone better. Some at the hospital are pleasantly surprised. I am not, given the number of prayers and messages about prayer I received.

I think that calls for me to reflect on the gift that is modern medicine. It is so important for us to use the gifts that God has given to their fullest.

That is why we are able to do things like kidney donation.

That is why we are able to perform surgeries to remove cancers.

There is so much more we can do.

If you have a gift for helping others, or you are considering a career in medicine, recognize that God has given you that gift for a reason, and we need saints who are doctors and nurses.

To everyone involved in my brother's transplant, thank you for using the gifts that God gave you to the best of your ability.

Thank you God for allowing me to donate my kidney to my brother so that he can enjoy life without the drawbacks of kidney failure. Please allow him to make a swift and full recovery.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers, masses, donations, and well-wishes. Each and every single prayer made a world of difference and continues to.

In the coming week I am going to take a break from posting on the site so that I can recover. I am going to post some of the most popular articles from the last year.

Continue to choose sainthood, and know that I am praying for you!