Father,
I wanted to update you regarding the elbow injury I sustained on the Appalachian Trail. Unfortunately, the MRI and subsequent orthopedic evaluation revealed considerably more damage than originally understood, including bone damage, infection and significant tendon injuries.
My orthopedic surgeon has now instructed me not to use my right arm. I am facing a series of surgeries over the coming months to treat the infection, repair the damaged bone and ultimately reattach the tendon.The restrictions correlate to serving the Altar at Mass.
- No procession with the elevated Book of the Gospels to Altar.
- No elevated Book of the Gospels to the Ambo.
- No elevation of Chalice.
- No holding and administering Holy Communion.
I will keep you posted.
For a while, circumstances force the question from what a deacon does back to what a deacon is when he cannot do very much at all.
Best regards,
Deacon Gerry
Oh I think once a deacon always a deacon! 😉It’s not in what you do but who you are, for the rest there are the altar boys right? Actually do they still exist? Are there altar girls too nowadays?
Yes, both altar girls and boys and the new Pope is reaffirming that (some neo-conservatives want to reverse the change). ISA 1:17
learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
So the work goes on 🙂
May the Good Lord Bless each of your surgeries and therapies, so your alter functions may be fully restored. You are healthy and motivated. A fitness instructor recently told me that after 60 there are just some things that break down in our bodies that we don’t anticipate. You have hiked multiple countries and continents, so you have a leg up on most folks in their 60’s. Then, there are outliers like this guy who demonstrates some of the treacherous terrain where you fell: https://www.pbs.org/video/new-heights-1788547697/
I remember Grey Beard! He’s all the talk on the trail.