Reflections on a serious road accident


Dear Lord Jesus,

On Saturday March 28, 2009, my friend T and I went out together for a bicycle ride. On our way back T lost control of his bike on that steep downhill, hit the guardrail on the other side of the road and was ejected off the road. Thankfully, T was stopped by branches and trees and did not slide further down the hill.

But the shock was violent enough to completely sever T's thumb from his left hand. T was in great pain and the sight of his hand mutilated distressed both him and me. I called for Emergency Rescue and rangers, firemen and ambulance arrived about ten minutes later. Those ten minutes seemed to last a very long time. They were long enough for me to realize that I was powerless and helpless. Since I am not a paramedic, a nurse or a doctor, I couldn't do much to help my friend. I wanted to do something but couldn't. I wanted to call T's family, but I knew that his parents and siblings were not in the country. T had no family here in the United States that I knew of. I thought that in such bad time, it would be so nice to have our family members there. Then only I remembered that T had also his heavenly family. So I entrusted T to You, to your Mother Mary and to your father St Joseph. I knew that St Joseph took great care of You when You were a child during your earthly journey. I knew that your loving Mother was suffering with You at the foot of the cross. She knew what it was to see your wounds, so I knew that She could take care of T's wound.

It was a tough time to see my friend T suffering, but at the same time, I saw You Lord suffering through T. The nails that went through your hands and feet hurted You much more.

Then things continued to move quickly at the accident scene. It was a relief to see the paramedics and ambulance arrive. All the personnels were great and performing their duty in a very orderly and professionally manner. They took great care of T and drove him to the closest hospital.

As things started to calm down, I started to pick things up and went to the bottom of the hill to wait for my wife to come with the van to load the bikes up and drive home. During the waiting time, I reflected on many things during and after the accident.

Even though I was still shocked to see my friend T in such pain, I realized that I was still lucky enough that T was alive and I still had him as a friend. The road we were riding down was very twisty and steep. The accident could have been much worse, but You have protected T and did not allow the worst to happen. I am very grateful to You for that, and that is the main purpose of this letter. I was brought to awareness once again of how our earthly lives can change not from one day to another, but from one second to the next. The lost of a life could happen at any time. I knew that You could call us to leave this earthly life at anytime, and as the accident serves as a reminder, the time You call is the time we expect the least.

I was glad that You gave me the grace to teach my four children to pray, because one of the first things I did was to ask my wife and my little "army" to pray for T. Then I started to make phone calls to my relatives and friends to ask them to pray for T. Once I was home, I used the Internet to call on more people to pray for T. That was a good use of a tool such as the Internet. But how could I make those phone calls, emails and twitters unless You gave human beings the intelligence and brain to develop the phone and Internet networks ?

I visited T on April 1st at the hospital. Again I was marvelled by the skills that You gave to doctors, nurses and the medical staffs. They performed a wonderful job of micro-surgeries to resuscitate the lost finger to T's hand. When severed from his hand, T's finger didn't look good at all. But it looked great when it was attached back to his hand. Doctors told me that when a finger was cut off from its blood supply it would live for less than a few hours, ... so a thought came into my mind that when we are cut off from the Body of Christ we are spiritually dead even though our body still clinically lives for a short while. Is that why You want us, members of Your Body, to be always "connected" to Your Body, the Church, so we could be irrigated with all the spiritual foods that come from You through Her ? Is that why You institute the Eucharist at the last supper so we may receive our spiritual needs through your Body and Blood ?

I wondered if each of us is attached to You like T's finger was back in his hand then how good would each of us be ? I also wondered that if mere human beings (i.e. doctors) can give life back to the lost finger, how much more life You, the Lord of the Universe, can give us ? I would think You can give us infinite more life. Is that a glimpse of the "Eternal life" that we have hard time to fathom ? I know that Eternal Life is part of the many mysteries that our limited human mind can not comprehend.

One other thought came into my mind was T's instinct at the accident scene. T’s instinct was to go out to find the missing member. Although T was suffering greatly, I remembered hearing him saying repeatedly “I lost my thumb, I lost my thumb …”. Perhaps this is just like You Lord. You are the head of the Church, You eagerly look out for each missing member of Your Body . Everyone of us is as important to You as T's thumb was important to him. So even though You suffer on the cross, You don't want to lose anyone of us. I am ever so grateful for that love You have for us.

I visited T again on this Good Friday. His thumb was better and better. T's mood was very positive. I am very grateful to You Lord for healing T and for showing me during this Lenten season how much You suffer because You love all of us here on earth. Thank You for your infinite patience to go out and search for each of us, one by one. I beg You, through the intercessions of Your Mother Mary, of St Joseph and of the Communion of Saints, to give me the grace to do Your will, not to lose sight of that Eternal Life, and to remain "connected" to You.

Love You,
Your son,
S. Thoi.
April 10th, 2009


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