From St Cyprian

Here's the first paragraph from the second reading at Matins yesterday. It's from a sermon by St Cyprian, and it is stinging. In a way it is also consoling, to see that Christians 1700 years ago were, well, just as pathetic of Christians as I am.

Our obligation is to do God's will, and not our own. We must remember this if the prayer that our Lord commanded us to say daily is to have any meaning on our lips. How unreasonable it is to pray that God's will be done, and then not promptly obey it when he calls us from this world! Instead we struggle and resist like self-willed slaves and are brought into the Lord's presence with sorrow and lamentation, not freely consenting to our departure, but constrained by necessity. And yet we expect to be rewarded with heavenly honors by him to whom we come against our will! When then do we pray for the kingdom of heaven to come if this earthly bondage pleases us? What is the point of praying so often for its early arrival if we would rather serve the devil here than reign with Christ.

Huy is well

Thank you so much to everyone who has been praying for my diocesan brother. Thanks in no small part, I'm sure, to your prayers, Huy has recovered sufficiently so as to return to his home. He was able to receive Christ in Holy Communion on 10 November, the first time for quite awhile. "He had a CAT scan on both his heart and his head and both came back showing no signs of injury during his odyssey", wrote one of our priests. He was allowed home this Wednesday, the 18th of November, to recover fully.

Thank you all so much for your prayers.

More Huy

Here is the latest update on Huy (from Saturday, 7 November). He's improved a great deal this week, and is no longer in the ICU.

He is doing very well in his hospital room.

He is completely off the ventilator. Praise God. He had great color in his face, his oxygen was at 100% and he is well on his way toward a full recovery. He wrote that at some point today (Saturday) he anticipates a modification to his trachea tube which will allow him to speak. He was in very good spirits.

New Huy update

On Tuesday, Huy had a tracheotomy. The procedure went well, but I understand the new situation (a trachea tube) is rather bothersome for him. He does, however, seem to be past the danger of imminent death. He is being weaned off the respirator. Please continue praying for his health.

Here is the latest update, from 31 October (written by a priest of our diocese):

In a bit of a surprise, Huy has come down with pneumonia in his left lung. The doctors feel like they caught it in time and are giving him a full dose of antibiotics. He had a fever of 104 degrees – but that has come down in the last day. Because of this set back I anointed Huy once again this afternoon.

On the positive side – yesterday Huy was off the respirator for four hours. Today he will be off the respirator and breathing on his own for two periods of four hours each. He continues to make slow progress. When off the respirator his breathing rate is high (45+ per minute). They would like to see it get below thirty – meaning he is taking deep breaths.