{"id":4848,"date":"2021-04-11T23:57:13","date_gmt":"2021-04-11T23:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=4848"},"modified":"2021-04-12T00:01:54","modified_gmt":"2021-04-12T00:01:54","slug":"sunshine-holy-water-and-a-trip-to-the-emergency-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/sunshine-holy-water-and-a-trip-to-the-emergency-room\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunshine, Holy Water and a Trip to the Emergency Room"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Between Saturday’s sunshine and today’s patches of green grass, I’ve enjoyed this weekend. For the most part.<\/p>\n

I picked up a bottle from the first of this year’s holy water last Sunday, following up with blessing the house on Tuesday. I hadn’t done that for quite some time.<\/p>\n

About holy water: it’s a sacramental, a reminder of baptism. Sacramentals aren’t sacraments, they’re “sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments<\/span>,” and those are topics I’ll save for another day. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1667<\/a>–1676<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Early Friday evening, my wife told me that she was taking our son to the emergency room. And then they were out the door. A few hours later, I’d picked him up and driven him home.<\/p>\n

The incident wasn’t exactly good news. But it wasn’t all bad news either. Thanks to tests they ran at the hospital, he’s got data that says something was going wrong. Given time, we may figure out what’s been causing the issue(s).<\/p>\n

So, on the whole, I’d say this has been a good week.<\/p>\n

One more thing. Two, actually.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Eligible and Willing to Wait<\/h4>\n

\"The<\/a>For one thing, I checked the hospital’s ‘your medical information’ online service. Seems that I’ve been eligible for COVID-19 vaccine since late February. I figure that’s due to my age, and maybe health issues.<\/p>\n

Maybe I’ll get the shot at my next scheduled appointment, next month.<\/p>\n

I’m in no hurry, at least partly because I don’t get out much, and am careful when I do. The odds of my catching the disease are non-zero, but slim.<\/p>\n

<\/a>More, or Less, of the Same<\/h4>\n

<\/a>Now, my usual list of vaguely-related stuff:<\/p>\n