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As evil as the COVID-19 pandemic has been, it has also been a blessing in at least one regard: It has heightened our awareness of the eternal value of being personally present to one another. The human person was created for and only flourishes with personal, in-the-flesh encounter. So COVID-19, with its quarantines, isolation and mask mandates, in its terrible way, heightens the import of embodiment and even more specifically, the Incarnation.

Case in point: The following excerpt has been taken from an interview between Dr. Michael J. Brescia, executive medical director and co-founder of Calvary Hospitals in the Bronx and Brooklyn, and Sister Mary Margaret Hope from the Sisters of Life, also in New York. It is a remarkable account of the simple act of being present — in the flesh. Brescia recalls:

“I got a call from Metropolitan Hospital. They had a woman they had found under the highway. Could they send her right to Calvary (Hospital)? She had no family; she wasn’t speaking. She was filthy, and her name was Angela. So I said, ‘OK, we’ll take her.’ And as I was leaving, Angela was coming in; she had a big tumor coming out of her back. She had chopped red hair, no teeth. She had AIDS, hepatitis and was draining all kinds of infected material. Of course, our cancer care technicians were anxious to go to work on her.

“I was in Washington for one day, fighting for funding. When I came back, I went upstairs to see her, and I couldn’t believe what they’d done. They cleaned her up, worked on her mouth, did her hair, did her nails. She didn’t look like she understood anything, but I said, ‘I’m going to promise you, Angela, that I will see you three times every day.’ I thought, ‘Three times a day I’m going to come in and touch you and tell God, “I’m going there because of my love for you.”’

“Six weeks later, I’m coming back from Washington again feeling discouraged. I think, ‘Oh, I won’t go to see her tonight; I’ll see her tomorrow.’ Then I think, ‘No I’d better go. I’ll feel miserable tonight if I don’t go.’ I go up to the floor and Angela is dying. So I take off my coat, and I take her hand, put it on my cheek and I say, ‘Angela, I’m staying.’ Exactly 90 minutes later, I hear, ‘Dr. Michael, Dr. Michael.’ I couldn’t believe my ears. I jump up, and I’ve got her now as tightly as I can, and I say, ‘Angela?’ She said, ‘Dr. Michael, tonight, in a few hours, I’ll speak your name to God.’ She never spoke another word. She closed her eyes and left this earth.”

We cannot underestimate the power of simply being physically present to one another, even when circumstances would suggest “It doesn’t really matter; it won’t make any difference.” Neither can we overestimate how profoundly we need this experience, as technology and social media tends to dehumanize so many of our interactions.

I thank God for the technology that allows us to stay “in touch” in this unprecedented moment of human history, but let’s not settle for it. If the Lord of the universe wouldn’t settle for anything less than joining us in the flesh, then how can we?

“And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” (Jn 1:14)

Thank you, Jesus, for the extraordinary condescension of joining us fully in our humanity. When I am tempted to settle for a text, or email, or Zoom call, remind me to honor my embodiment as you did.

Kelly is the award-winning author of nine books, including “Love Like A Saint: Cultivating Virtue with Holy Women,” from which this article was adapted. Visit her website at lizk.org. Find the entire account from Brescia in “Suffering and the Narrative of Redemption,” National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, Autumn 2017, by Sister Jane Dominic Laurel.