The Heart

Today is the Feast of a Saint who had visions of Jesus and His Sacred Heart. This month of October, The Church emphasizes the great needed to respect life, the sanctity of every human heartbeat. In a few weeks, my family will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my father’s successful open heart surgery, when a surgeon repaired the arteries of his heart. Meanwhile, I’m still processing the fact that my mother also has a heart condition, praying that God will protect every beat of her heart.

Therefore, I’m sharing a reflection from almost a decade ago, again asking a vital question that should not be dismissed.

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My father’s life was literally in his hands.

My beloved dad’s heart was exposed, vulnerable, his life’s blood pulsing between the fingers of Dr. Westbrook. And with his education, his training, and his skill, as well as his promise to do no harm, the doctor saved my dad’s life.

Thank God!

My father personally thanked Dr. Westbrook and told him that he has “God-guided hands”. The surgeon replied to this saying that he didn’t know if he would go that far, and then talked about how doctors are educated and trained…

But, it’s okay, Dr. Westbrook, you don’t need to go that far – we’re going there for you. You don’t need to know something in order for it to be true. What’s true is true, no matter what we believe or disbelieve.

And the truth, the fact, is that there would be no Dr. Westbrook without God. There would be no education and training of doctors, no human knowledge and skills, and even no Mr. Westbrook. There would be no lives to save – there would be no life at all without God. And whenever we, as God created people, use our God-given gifts in the protection and nurturing of life, we are cooperating with God and with God’s intention for good. If, however, we use our gifts and ourselves for the endangering and destruction of life, then we are going against Our Creator, against the good of others and of ourselves. For, no matter what, we can neither deny nor run away from the fact that God has made us and that God is the Author of all Life.

I think of Dr. Westbrook’s hands… and the hands of all the surgeons and doctors in the world… They have the ability to mend, to repair, to save, to cooperate with the protection and nurturing of life. How many of those hands are, instead, making incisions to deliberately stop beating hearts? How many God created people are inventing and performing procedures for the specific purpose of ending human life? Doctors take oaths to do no harm and, yet, so many of them legally kill every day. What happened?

I think of those skilled hands holding the life of a tiny human being and, instead of safeguarding the lifeblood in that person as Dr. Westbrook did, those skilled hands stop the flow and snuff out the life. Life that is vulnerable, that cannot fight back, they bring to an end. This is their chosen profession. This is what they choose to do every day.

And my heart breaks for them. Somehow, many of them have convinced themselves that they are doing something good – but how? How can anyone call oneself a doctor, promising to do no harm, and literally hold a lifeless body as a success?

To all doctors, nurses, and technicians whose job it is to meet human beings when they are most vulnerable and to cause their deaths, know that I will be praying for you, so that you do not use your personal God-given gifts and God-given opportunities to destroy life. May your eyes and your minds – and your hearts – be open to protect and nurture life.

We are vulnerably in your hands.

© 2015, 2025 Christina Chase

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Feature Photo by Miriam G on Unsplash