18th week of Pentecost

 Luke, the beloved physician (Colossians 4:14):

Today I go to the Kaiser Hospital in Oakland where Dr. Huang will seek to enable me to walk again by operating on my back. He makes no promises. He does his best, and there’s a good chance, if all goes well, the operation will bring healing. It would be unchristian of us not to honor such physicians and their healing institutions.

As Ben Sirach, writing between the Testaments, instructs (Sirach 38): “Honor physicians for the Lord created them; their gift of healing comes from the Most High. …Give the physician his place, for the Lord created him; do not let him leave you, for you need him. There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians, for they too pray to the Lord that he grant them success in diagnosis and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.”