Glenn reports:

Sunday, May 12, 2013 10:15 am

  

Today, May 12th, I visited Bernie at Nazareth House. When I arrived at about 10:15AM, he was sitting reclined in a chair in the TV room, with his eyes closed. I knelt beside him and said his name. He said: "who is this". I said "Glenn" and he said: "would you come back this afternoon?".

Since I had just driven 40 miles, and couldn't just wait around there, I asked him if I could visit for a few minutes and he said, "Just a few minutes." He did keep his eyes open. I asked him if I could pray with him and he said yes. We both made the sign of the cross and I prayed that he wouldn't suffer pain and that God would keep his spirits up. When I was finished, he said something like "Goodbye" or something indicating he was done visiting, so I told him I'd pray for him and left, noticing that he closed his eyes again.

I was hesitant to just leave and felt that I should have asked him what he'd like me to pray for, so I went back to the TV room, knelt beside his chair and said his name. He opened his eyes and I asked him what

he'd like me to pray for. Without hesitation, he said: "peace". I then told him I was sorry I hadn't visited him earlier, was keeping up on his situation by reading Mike's blog, and that I would pray for peace for him. I gently touched his shoulder while we talked and then his forearm, to try to convey love. My hope is that he felt some love and benefitted in some way from the visit, even if it wasn't readily apparent.

On the way out, I stopped at his room (#14), met his roommate Jack, introduced myself and asked him if he and Bernie talked. He said that Bernie was very quiet and didn't talk much. I deduced that he had only known Bernie since he came back to Nazareth House a few weeks ago.

Glenn Cohen