Recently I was told by my oncologist that I would need to receive cranial radiation. To say his words terrified me would be a huge understatement.
I am a wife and mother of four children. Having lived with cancer for two years now, I thought I could handle anything, but as I listened to the list of possible side effects --- brain swelling, paralysis, memory loss, death --- the terror only grew within me. In my two-year battle I had turned to God in prayer with each new "hurdle," but now I found myself lost in despair. I could not even find the words to pray.
Then something happened that changed everything: A priest offered to anoint me. I had been anointed before during this illness, but I knew I was up against a new battle, so I accepted his offer, thinking it "couldn't hurt." But what I underestimated was the incredible power of the Sacrament.
Never before in any of my anointings had I felt such an overwhelming sense of the presence of God. I can't tell you anything about the anointing --- not the prayers or the Scripture reading or the Holy Oil --- only that I knew without a doubt God had taken hold of my life. In an instant the fear was gone and peace took over my heart.
Sometimes we ask for a "cure" when what we really need is a "healing." We need to remember that it is not the outcome that proves God is with us, but what happens along the way.
So much is written these days about the things priests have "done wrong." I wrote this letter as a word of sincere thanks to our priests and a reminder to all that there is so much that the majority of our priests "do right." They bring Christ to us through the Sacraments in a way that no one else can. And to bring Christ into the heart of someone who is afraid to die --- is there any greater act a priest can do? Therese Corsaro attends St. Mary Church in Palmdale, and teaches kindergarten at St. Mary School.
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