Love and sympathy are always possible – but that is not enough
The Quechua Indian guides the spoon to her mother’s mouth. For the old patient her daughter’s smile is just as important as the delicious noodle soup she is enjoying that comes directly from the hospital’s kitchen. The grey-haired lady has experienced life’s highs and lows. But now her strength is dwindling and without the oxygen she receives she would hardly be able to straighten her body.
5:30 p.m. dinner time. A lady on the intensive care unit is about to die. A massive pulmonary embolism and a serious pancreatitis are too much for her heart to cope with. Her closest relatives are sitting around her bed with tear-filled eyes. In the outpatient rooms the doctors are treating the final patients of the day. Was the long journey worth it? Everyone came full of hope to Curahuasi, but tomorrow some will return home sad, even heartbroken. Even modern medicine has its limits.
Illness, aging and death. A smile and a comforting word make our fate somewhat lighter. But only for a short while. But the true solution lies elsewhere. Everyone sitting in the morning services in the hospital church hears about God, who in the person of Jesus Christ, stretches out his hand of love to everyone. “I am going with you through your life and will be at your side when your final hour strikes!” is what he promised in the Book of all Books. “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.” This promise is for you, for me, for everyone living on this planet. There is no alternative to this comfort. /KDJ
