I greet you this season of our blessed Theotokos. We trust that you had a very blessed feast day.

A couple of weeks ago I recently was asked to attend a meeting at a local crisis unit. It was a lock down unit at a Psychiatric Ward in the local hospital. Many of the people who are in this program have had drug, alcohol, mental and emotional distress. Many of them were heavily medicated to help them get over the crises they are facing in their lives. It was a unique mixture of people, some were mothers who were expecting their first child. There were some that were grandma’s, businessmen and street people. We are not allowed to ask how they ended up in the Psychiatric Ward, but it was very obvious that the people I was speaking to had come to a crisis point in their lives.

As I was speaking to this group, I wondered to myself if I was communicating with them. Sad to say, many of them were so medicated it was obvious that they had a hard time listening. One was a young man who appeared normal, but was suffering from a manic depressive attack. He could not sit still for anything. In fact, he was a bit disruptive and I had to work hard to be heard around his disruptions. As we say in the prayer to the Holy Spirit, "you who are in all places and fill all things," I was trusting the Holy Spirit would communicate beyond my words and effort.

Last week I was astonished to meet again the young man who was disruptive. He was normal and in his right mind. I asked him if he remembered me and his reply was. . . "yes." He went on to say he remembered the content of my talk even though it was a bit cloudy. He asked me if he had been disruptive, and I smiled and said. . . "just a little."

I am certain we never know how the Holy Spirit may work. Without the work of the Holy Spirit, all that we do are like the words of the prophet Ezekiel who said:

"And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live." (Ezekiel 37:3-5)

Please remember prisoners in your prayers, and may the beauty of heaven consume you,

Fr. David Ogan