Letter to Those Who are Praying for Me
on Sep 25, 2021
25 September 2021
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Thanking you once again, with all my heart, for your faithful and generous prayers for the recovery of my health, I write to update you on the progress of my rehabilitation. In thanking you, I thank, above all, Our Lord, who, in answer to your prayers, has preserved me in life. I thank, too, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and all the Saints through whose intercession you have offered and are offering prayers for me.
On September 3rd last, I left the hospital to take up residence in a house near to where the closest members of my family live. The house is well adapted for the rehabilitation program which I am following. My priest secretary has now come from Rome to stay with me to assist me with my program of rehabilitation. He is also helping me to respond to correspondence and to deal with the many schedule changes necessitated by the time I was in the hospital and now by the several weeks which I will need to recover as fully as possible from the illness.
Although I am making steady progress, it is slow. The doctors and therapists who direct the program of rehabilitation assure me that it is necessarily so and that I am doing well. For my part, I am trying to grow in patience. My principal challenges, at the present, are regaining certain fundamental physical skills needed for my daily living, and overcoming a general fatigue and difficulty in breathing, which are typical for those who have suffered the contagion of the Covid-19 virus. I cannot predict when I will be able to return to my normal activities. Seemingly, it will be several more weeks.
I regret that I am unable to respond to your communications individually, since I must concentrate my limited energy on regaining my forces. For that reason, too, I must limit the number of telephone calls and personal visits which I receive. I am deeply grateful for your understanding.
Our Lord has preserved me in life for some work which He wishes me to carry out, with the help of His grace, for love of Him and of His Mystical Body, the Church. I am determined to use the present time of rehabilitation in the best manner possible, so that I will be prepared to carry out His work. Throughout the time in the hospital and now, I continue to place myself into the care of Our Blessed Mother, so that my heart, one with her Immaculate Heart, may rest always securely in Our Lord’s Most Sacred Heart. As a spiritual father in the Church, I have counted heavily upon the help of Saint Joseph, whose Most Pure Heart embraced the Heart of Mary, his true spouse, and of Jesus, her Divine Son confided to his fatherly care.
Please continue to pray for my full recovery. For my part, each day I offer my prayers and sufferings for your many intentions. Let us all pray and offer sacrifices for the world and the Church, which are beset with so much confusion and error to the great and even mortal harm of many souls.
Asking God to bless you, your homes, and all your labors, I remain
Yours in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
and in the Purest Heart of Saint Joseph,
Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke