The Message

I heard the door hinges creak open and then again upon their return.  I thought that I should sleep again but no sooner had I welcomed this thought when the door swung back open.  “Hello Mr. Asenziun, asenz—mirium”, the woman physician struggled with my last name so I swung in to assist her.  “Just call me Adam”.  OK Adam, my name is Dr. White.  So how we doin’?  Are you experiencing any headaches?  Do you want something for the pain?  She flipped through her chart as she positioned herself at the foot of my bed.  She was petite, beautiful and confident   “I do have quite a headache and I sure can use whatever it is that you can give me for it.”  “I’ll get the nurse right on that as soon as were done here”, she replied.  Well I see here that all of your vitals are within range for someone with head trauma.  Your brain swelling has subsided drastically in the last 24 hours and we expect to have you as our guest for a good three days more so that we can continue monitoring your progress.   Do you have any questions? She asked smiling.  “Yes I do.  Do you believe that love can change the world?  I casually stated.  “It’s a little soon in our doctor client relationship for you to start hitting on me isn’t it Adam?”  Her response flustered me since I shot back almost immediately, “No that’s not what I meant?  Well, it is what I meant, but it’s not why I was asking?  The reason I ask is because I have had a vision during unconsciousness about how Heaven is for the virtuous and I wanted to know if you were a believer”.  “Oh, I’m not religious.” She replied curtly.  “I didn’t ask if you were”.  Do you feel that only religious people like to talk about Heaven?”  No, it’s just that I don’t talk about Heaven,   “I see” and now it was my turn to smile.  I continued, “I believe in Heaven and I believe that Heaven is looking for you Dr. White.”  You in particular and it is precisely because you don’t believe.  Heaven is looking for that which is lost.  Have you ever felt lost Dr. White?  Have you ever felt like you just don’t know why things happen the way they do?  I mean some things work out in this life but a lot more of them don’t, at least not the way that you would want them.  Your relationships, your job, the world and all the jerks running it.  Don’t you wish that Heaven was true so that you could have something to look forward to, something to strive for?  It’s there.  All you have to do is believe.  All you have to do is get out of your ignorance and believe.”  “Wait a minute she murmured” with a half smile and arms crossed.  “Ignorance is believing in stories that have no basis in reality. I would rather face facts, even if they are facts that I don’t like, rather than believe in something that just isn’t true.”  “It is because you say that you see that keeps you blind Dr. White”.   Why did you become a doctor?  I queried.  “Well because I wanted to help heal people.”  “That is precisely why I want to talk about Heaven” I replied.  You are ill and you don’t realize it.  As you well know this makes the healing process so much more difficult, for a patient must come to grips with the his illness before she can have the right frame of mind with which to fight against the disease.  Hell has convinced you that Heaven doesn’t exist by convincing you first that Hell itself doesn’t exist.  You belong to the group that holds that anything remotely religious is fantasy.  Let me ask you Dr., was their a point in the history of medicine that your craft was more witchcraft than

Science?  “Yes at one point,” she concurred  with the obvious and I  continued.  The legitimization came when its practitioners, by faith, believed that diseases had predictable causes and remedies had predictable effects.  How was their faith proven?  Through the actions of trials, the confidence in their findings, the universality of their results.  Faith, belief, religion, is no different.  If the current practitioners of religion seem like witches or warlocks to you it is because they have not legitimized their craft, not because the object of their faith is false.  A smile that admitted understanding crossed her face.  I continued, “If I say that you are religiously ignorant, it is a diagnosis, not a slight.  If I tell you that you must seek out Heaven through the practice of the virtues, it is a prescription, not an invitation to join a cult.  If you see then that your life has a renewed purpose through the keeping of personal virtues and, that as a consequence vices are vying more and more for your attention, then know that you are in a struggle to build the

kingdom of
Heaven.  Only believe and you will see. You feelin’ me Doc?  Dr. White’s smile and the gleam in her eye were answer enough.  God bless you Dr. White.  If you don’t mind I’d like to close my eyes and get some rest.  ‘Who are you she murmured to herself.  How do you know so much about me?’ Drawing herself quickly from her  moment of wonder she spoke deftly,  Ok Adam, I’ll have the nurse bring in your meds and thanks for the diagnosis Dr. Adam.  No problem doc and thank you.