Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who will return to Congress on Thursday one year after suffering a major stroke, said that he saw angels while recovering in the hospital last year.

In an interview with the Daily Herald published Wednesday, Kirk said that before he woke up from a medically induced coma, three angels appeared at the foot of his bed and asked if he wanted to come with them.

“No,” Kirk said. “I’ll hold off.”

Kirk told the paper that he wasn’t sure if the vision had been a dream or a near-death experience, but acknowledged that his stroke and subsequent recovery had impacted his faith.

“I would say that I definitely became much more religious,” Kirk said. “They say there are no atheists in foxholes, and this stroke put me into a very deep foxhole. Yet, that feeling of faith sustained me, so I have no feelings of anger or regret.”

The Republican senator is scheduled to arrive at the Capitol Thursday morning, in time for the opening of the 113th Congress. He will be greeted by Vice President Joe Biden, along with Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Senate colleagues. Kirk intends to walk up the steps of the Capitol without assistance.

In the Daily Herald interview, the 53-year-old Kirk said that he visualized the walk up the Capitol steps to help motivate him during physical therapy.

“I kept imagining going back to work and the irreducible physical amount of effort I had to put in,” he said.

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  • In this series of three photos taken from video released Tuesday, May 8, 2012 by Sen. Mark Kirk’s office, Kirk performs various walking exercises at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago following a stroke he suffered in January 2012. In the video, Kirk gives his first public remarks since suffering the stroke. On May 3, Senator Kirk was released from the RIC and moved home with his family. (AP Photo/Courtesy Sen. Mark Kirk’s office)

  • This image taken from video and provided by Sen. Mark Kirk’s office shows Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. going through a walking exercise at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago following a stroke he suffered in January 2012. In the video, Kirk gives his first public remarks since suffering the stroke. On May 3, Kirk was released from the RIC and moved home with his family. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Sen. Mark Kirk’s office)

  • This image taken from video and provided by Sen. Mark Kirk’s office shows Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. going through a walking exercise at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago following a stroke he suffered in January 2012. In the video, Kirk gives his first public remarks since suffering the stroke. On May 3, Kirk was released from the RIC and moved home with his family. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Sen. Mark Kirk’s office)

  • This image taken from video and provided by Sen. Mark Kirk’s office shows Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. making his first remarks since suffering a stroke in January 2012 on Tuesday, May 8, 2012. Kirk says he can’t wait to get back to work and is walking again. On May 3, Kirk was released from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and moved home with his family. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Sen. Mark Kirk’s office)

  • FILE – In this April 19, 2012 file photo provided by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., talks with staff members at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, in the first public image of Kirk since he suffered a stroke in January 2012. On Thursday, May 3, 2012, Kirk’s office released a statement saying the 52-year-old senator has been released from the rehabilitation center and recovered to the point where he can move home with his family. (AP Photo/Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, File)

  • Dr. Richard Fessler, a neurosurgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital updates the media on U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk’s condition since suffering a stroke over the weekend, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, in Chicago. Fessler says the Illinois Republican has some facial paralysis and speaks with a slight slur, but is answering questions and is very aware of his surroundings. The doctor says Kirk appears eager to get back to work and has asked for his Blackberry. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

  • FILE – In this Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011 photo, Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. leaves a Republican caucus on Capitol Hill in Washington. When a stroke hits at 52, like what happened to Sen. Kirk, the reaction is an astonished, “But he’s so young.” The reality is that strokes can happen at any age, even to children – and they’re on the rise among the young and middle-aged. The vast majority of strokes do occur in older adults. But up to a quarter of them strike people younger than 65, says Dr. Ralph Sacco, a University of Miami neurologist and past president of the American Heart Association. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

  • Dr. Richard Fessler, a neurosurgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital who performed surgery on U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. after he suffered a stroke, arrives to answer questions about the Senator’s conditions at a news conference, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Chicago. Kirk, 52, checked himself into Lake Forest Hospital over the weekend before being transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where tests showed he had suffered a stroke. Kirk’s office said he had a tear in the carotid artery on the right side of his neck. Carotid arteries carry blood to the brain; carotid tears are a common cause of strokes, which can involve blood clots traveling to the brain and causing bleeding there. The surgery was performed Sunday night. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

  • In this Nov. 1, 2010 photo, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., looks to a crowd of supporters during a campaign rally in Wheaton, Ill. A spokesperson for Sen. Mark Kirk says the Illinois Republican has suffered a stroke and has undergone surgery early Monday, Jan. 23 2012 to relieve swelling around his brain. The 51-year-old Kirk checked himself into Lake Forest Hospital in Illinois. He was later transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where tests showed that he had suffered a stroke. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)