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Rev. Louis Serio was diagnosed with Brain Cancer and reflected on his life that would be ended soon and wrote his challenges and his memories and reflections of his life that has been shortened.
As a Chaplain, he had widened and deepened his understanding of the stories that we all tell about who we are and what small role we each play in the wider human communities. In his training and study of various schools of Zen Buddhism over the past thirty-five (35) years, he takes solace in the concept of karma.
The ripple effects of our daily actions are like stones tossed into a koi pond. The ripples go out in all directions, affecting many beings and the environment. He likes the Image of his legacy touching so many individual patients, students, clergy, hospital leaders, and colleagues (that he may never meet).
He invites his readers to take and use whatever is helpful from this material and feel free to dismiss or disregard anything that is not helpful to us.
About the author
Rev. Serio was an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. He was a Board-Certified Chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC) and an ACPE Certified Clinical Pastoral Educator, since 2016. Most recently, Rev. Serio served as Director of Pastoral Education at Saint Luke's Health System in Kansas City, MO. Prior to that, Lou was one of three System Office Directors of Spiritual Care at Trinity Health in Livonia, MI, responsible for The East Coast Spiritual Care departments for TH. Lou earned a Juris Doctorate (JD) degree from Western New England University in 1987 and a Master of Divinity (MDiv) from Andover Newton Theological school in 2006.For the past twenty-three years, Lou has been an Adjunct Professor at Bristol Community College in Fall River, MA, leading courses in Ethics and Intro to Philosophy, Public Speaking, World Religions, Coping with Life and Death. Lou also taught at Smith College, Northampton, MA in the Post Graduate degree program in Palliative care.
