{"id":1342,"date":"2014-09-11T01:05:20","date_gmt":"2014-09-11T01:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1342"},"modified":"2014-09-01T18:23:23","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T18:23:23","slug":"chronic-illness-worship-and-contagion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/09\/chronic-illness-worship-and-contagion.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: Worship and Contagion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>My immune system is, once again, in overdrive and making new and serious antibodies, among them to my retinas. I’ve had to begin a more aggressive form of treatment, and it will make me more susceptible to infection. As a lupus patient, I am usually much more conscious of avoiding infections than, perhaps, more healthy people are. But this new medication poses more potential problems, which are requiring creative thinking and adapting.<\/p>\n

Of course, being out in crowds, especially during flu season, is something I don’t do much of. Movie-going? Hmm…popcorn at home. Shopping? Off- off-hours. Church? Ooh, this one can be difficult, but I’m finding a way…<\/p>\n

It would be part true but also part irresponsible to say that you can never get sick from others at church. True, God blesses us abundantly when we worship as a community, and the outpouring of support and positive love from our fellow believers is powerful spiritual and emotional medicine! But whether at church or the grocery store, one person’s hacking, germ-laden cough is a lupus patient’s nightmare!<\/p>\n

With my new course of medication, I’ve alerted everyone I’m close to at church about how I must stay away from close contact. I’ve explained that, if someone close to me is ill, I have to remove myself. I’ve also asked for an accommodation so that I can receive Holy Communion more safely (even if Eucharistic ministers use hand sanitizer before distributing Holy Communion, someone along the line of Communion-goers could always pass along one of those dreaded bugs) . My pastor provided me with a pyx and a supply of unconsecrated hosts. Before mass, I put one of the hosts in the pyx, which looks much like a round pill box, and give it to the celebrant. The host inside the pyx is consecrated with the rest of the hosts and then handed to me, unopened, at communion. I use a sanitizing wipe on the pyx, open it, and take the host from it myself.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, we don’t think about asking for accommodation at our churches. But our brothers and sisters in faith are only too willing to help us cope with whatever health challenges we face – if we only ask!<\/p>\n

Blessings for the day,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My immune system is, once again, in overdrive and making new and serious antibodies, among them to my retinas. I’ve had to begin a more aggressive form of treatment, and it will make me more susceptible to infection. As a lupus patient, I am usually much more conscious of avoiding infections than, perhaps, more healthy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43,4,379,95],"tags":[29,44,1219,19,1220,1218],"class_list":["post-1342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-lupus-2","category-prayers","tag-chronic-illness","tag-chronic-pain","tag-contagion","tag-illness","tag-medications","tag-worship-and-illness"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Illness: Worship and Contagion - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/09\/chronic-illness-worship-and-contagion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness: Worship and Contagion - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My immune system is, once again, in overdrive and making new and serious antibodies, among them to my retinas. 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1342"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1343,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342\/revisions\/1343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}