{"id":9847,"date":"2021-02-17T20:27:49","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T00:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.franciscansusa.dev\/franciscansusa.org\/?p=9445"},"modified":"2021-03-01T03:00:53","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T03:00:53","slug":"a-chaplains-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/de\/a-chaplains-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"A Chaplain’s Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Chaplain’s Prayer<\/h1>\n

By Friar Ken Bartsch, OFM Conv.
\nHospital Chaplain at VA Hospital in Louisville, KY<\/h4>\n<\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
\nFirst check the counter-top for that clear film of water
\nThat stains your pants and makes you look silly,
\nthen lean forward, right foot on the pedal,
\nhands under the flood and begin with a preliminary rinse.
\nIt used to be fun to play in water.
\nLord wash away my iniquity,
\nand cleanse me of my sins.
\nThen push the lever that squirts soap somewhere,
\non the wall, on the counter,
\non your outstretched hand<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"\"<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>

— and scrub —
\nfor no less than fifteen seconds.
\nPalms smack broken suctions;
\nfingers knock joints,
\nslippery skin slides over
\ndry knuckles that enjoy for a moment
\nthe oil of ease.
\nThe right hand squeezes left
\npalm, thumb, and fingers;
\nleft caressing in return.
\nLord wash away my iniquity….
\nDon\u2019t forget your wrists,
\nThen repeat several times
\nin oily soap kneading the fleshy palms
\nand bony fingers
\nAnd cleanse me of my sins.
\nNow rinse again;
\n(this is the fun part)
\nforming your hands
\ninto a toilet bowl to catch the water
\nand flush several times,
\nover the fingers, palm, back, and wrists.
\nThrow the excess into the sink,
\ntry not to make a mess.
\nLord wash away my iniquity….
\nPull the first towel
\nwhich disintegrates leaving
\nbut a scrap of paper;
\nthen take one, two, three sheets,
\nspread each one out,
\nand wipe your hands,
\nthe palms, the fingers, the sides of your hands.
\nWater from the side of Christ, wash me.
\nLook up for a moment,
\nand notice the passing scene.
\nA bed trundles down the hall,<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

— stand aside —
\nwith its retinue of nurses and assistants.
\nAnd cleanse me of my sins.
\nOffer a silent thought for the miserable.
\nListen to the doctors;
\nYou might learn something.
\nAdmire the young professionals.
\nLord, wash away my iniquity,
\nThey are so beautiful.
\nAnd cleanse me of my sins.
\nNod to anyone who looks your way.
\nThe paper shreds,
\nand rolls into a ball.
\nWipe down the counter,
\nMashing it flat again,
\nAnd drop it in the trash.
\nAt last, the gloves.
\nFind a pair that fits,
\nextra-large.
\nPull them on
\nand push the latex skin
\ndown between each finger.
\nAnd don\u2019t touch anything
\n— unless it\u2019s clean–
\nuntil you bless your patient.
\nFrom the side of Christ,
\nwater,
\nmy iniquity, wash away;
\nand cleanse me of my sins,
\nO Lord.
\nAmen.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Chaplain’s Prayer By Friar Ken Bartsch, OFM Conv. Hospital Chaplain at VA Hospital in Louisville, KY Water from the side of Christ, wash me. First check the counter-top for that clear film of water That stains your pants and makes you look silly, then lean forward, right foot on the pedal, hands under the...","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10599,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2021-spring-st-anthony-let-us-dream"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-29 03:14:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9847"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11373,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9847\/revisions\/11373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}