It was a day of resurrection for the Cambridge Rehabilitation & Nursing Center on Holy Saturday, April 3, 2021.
For the first time after more than a year, the center, finally, held a prayer service with Saint Egidio’s community in Boston.
In the beginning, the idea was to meet outside but the quite chilly weather didn’t allow that.
So, staff personal and Saint Egidio’s members opted to hold the meeting inside.
There were about 10 guests plus 7 members of the community. Although another 10 members of the community came, they couldn’t join the meeting because of the small room.
Fr. Michael Harrington, pastor of St. Mary of the Annunciation in Cambridge, was present at the service, proclaimed the Gospel, and interacted with the guests inviting them to pray for their loved ones.
The prayer started with the traditional hymn, the prayer of the psalms, and the reading of the Gospel.
The prayer included a moment to remember the 30% of the nursing home elders who died during this pandemic. A rose was brought to the altar in their memory while their name was been reading out loud.
“It is a grace that we can meet here in person,”
Lorinda, one of the elders said.
Since the pandemic hit the US, nursing homes have banned in-person visits, even with family members.
The urge to protect the elders brought them also to exposed isolation.
“This prayer meeting was a sign of rebirth for these people,” commented one of the nurses, “and we hope that in the summer we might have another one outside with more people.”
The community of Saint Egidio in Boston, in 2003, started visiting the elders just right in this nursing home, said David Sulewski, head of the community.
“We are starting to see things getting back to normal, and we hope to have more service like this with our friends,” said another member of the community.
The community of Saint Egidio is a Catholic association founded in Rome (Italy) in 1968. Saint Egidio is a network of small communities of fraternal life.
Their work varies from the care of the elderly, homeless, children, migrants and refugees, and other marginalized categories of society.
They are also highly involved in the advocacy against the death penalty.
For more information about the community visit: https://www.santegidio.org/
For more information about the community in Boston: