To the sick
and hospital staff in a Hospital of the Daughters of Saint Camillus
To the sick and the hospital staff, during a
pastoral visit to the Hospital run by the Daughters of Saint Camillus in Acqua
Bullicante.
1.We are now close to the days in which we
celebrate the greatest mysteries of our redemption. I wanted to come to you
with Easter in sight to bring you my personal greetings and my blessing.
My greetings to the hospital director and many
thanks to him for the noble words with which he welcomed me in the name of all
and warm greetings likewise to the Cardinal Vicar, to the Delegate for religious assistance to the
hospitals of Rome, Bishop Brandolini, to the doctors, to the paramedical,
auxiliary, administrative and technical personnel.
I greet in particular the dear sick, guests of
this House of Care, their relatives and
friends and all those who devote themselves to their assistance.
In these
last days of the Lenten journey which prepares us for the Pasch of the Lord,
the Church’s liturgy, like in a crescendo of a great symphony, intensifies its
messages which aim at helping us discover the meaning and the significance of the event which we are about
to re-live. Today it presents us Jesus proclaiming: “I am the resurrection and
the life” (Jn.
If there is a place in which these worlds
resound with a particular consolation and hope, it is the hospital – every
hospital and house of care, and hence also
your own. Here, in fact, everything is orientated to the service of life
with the intention of restoring to health those who have been struck by illness
and returning them to the affection of their loved ones.
2.Although you rightly look forward to the full
recovery of your health I would like however
to invite you, dear sick people, not to under-value the period you are going
through now. It too forms part of the design of
We all know, through direct experience, that
suffering and illness belong to the condition of man, fragile and limited
creature that he is. It happens quite often that those who are afflicted by
these things yield to the temptation of viewing them as “chastisement” of God
and, in consequence, begin to doubt the goodness of God, whom Jesus has
revealed to us as a “Father” who always and
in spite of everything loves his children.
In a society like today’s, then, which claims
to thrive on well-being and on consumerism and where everything is valued on
the basis of efficiency and profit, the problem of sickness and of suffering, which cannot be
denied, is either “removed” or people think that it can be resolved by relying
exclusively on the means offered by advanced modern technology.
All of this constitutes a veritable “challenge” for those who profess
to be believers and who have from Revelation, and above all from the Gospel, an
answer to welcome into their own lives and to offer to the world as a sign of
hope and as a light which gives meaning to existence. This is the “word of the
Cross”, which all who work in the world of health and of sickness are called to
make their own, to witness to and to announce to others.
3.You sick, especially! The Pope, having come
among you today, says to you then: look
to Christ crucified and learn from him! Having taken on the human condition
totally, he freely willed to bear the burden of human sufferings and, by
offering himself to the Father as an innocent victim for us and for our
salvation “with loud cries and tears” (Heb. 5:7), he redeemed suffering,
transforming it into a gift of love for the redemption of all.
Sickness and suffering certainly are
a “limitation” and a “trial”; they can therefore constitute a stumbling-block
on the path of life. In the perspective
of the Cross, however, they become a
moment of growth in faith and an
invaluable instrument for our own
contribution, in union with Christ, to the fulfilment
of the divine plan of salvation.
Dear Patients, Brothers and Sisters,
live your experience in this marvellous way! The help of God and the strength
that comes from the Spirit Consoler will not be lacking to you. The Pope is
with you and prays for you every day. The Church of Rome called to spiritual
and pastoral renewal in the Diocesan Synod, is counting on your invaluable
contribution of offering and supplication so that it can live its fellowship in
a more intense way and devote itself with renewed commitment to a “new
evangelization” of the City.
4.The “word of the Cross” has a message for you
too, health care workers, who, at various
levels and
with various responsibilities, perform your service in the hospital. It is
actually Jesus Christ who is hidden and revealed in the face and in the flesh,
in the hearts and in the minds of those whom you are called to help and care
for. When anything is done to one of these least brothers, to the sick who are
often lonely and rejected by society, he considers it done to himself (cf. Mt.
25:40).
This
requires that you have interior attitudes, words and deeds which are inspired
not only
by a
profound and rich humanity, but by an authentic spirit of faith and of charity.
I know that you are already committed to this
delicate and difficult mission. I exhort you
nevertheless
to grow and progress ever farther in this direction.
I ask of you, and through you of all those who
work in the City health-care structures to
overcome
the temptation of indifference and selfishness and to work above all to humanize hospitals and make them more
livable so that the sick person may be cared for in the totality of body
and spirit. Work to see that the
fundamental rights and values of the
human person are recognized and promoted, and above all that of life, from
its beginning to its natural end. This requires you to pay attention to the
different situations; it demands respectful and patient dialogue, generous love
for every human being viewed as an image of God and, for those who are
believers, as an “icon” of the suffering Christ.
This requires not only striking human
qualities, professional skill and a serious desire to
cooperate,
but also a profound moral cohesion and a mature
awareness of the ethical values which are at stake when life is threatened by
sickness and death. We must approach the human being who suffers like “Good
Samaritans”, as Jesus did and as he taught all those who wished to be his
disciples to do. We must know how to “see” the sufferings of our own brothers
and sisters, not “passing them by” in haste or laziness, but making them
“neighbours”, standing near them to speak words of consolation and administer
the necessary attentions, with acts of service and of love directed to the
integral health of the human person.
This is particularly the task of the health-care apostolate, which endeavours
to bring about
an
effective presence of the Church to carry the light of the Gospel and the
Lord’s grace, through the sacraments, to those who suffer and those who take
care of them, most of all to the family of the sick who are often more exposed
to the consequences which suffering entails in human existence.
In this
sector too, the Diocesan Pastoral Synod will
have to bear fruits of renewal and of greater commitment, in the line of
communion and mission.
Dearest Brother and Sisters, these are the
“lessons” that come to us from the “message of the
Cross”,
from the Paschal mystery of Jesus, which we are preparing to celebrate fully in
the coming days. In communion with the whole Church, let us receive them with
faith, let us live them with commitment.
Let us learn from Mary, who at the foot of the Cross united her sufferings to those of her Son, thus contributing to the redemption of humanity. Like her and with her let us say our “yes” thus making our suffering or our service to those who suffer a “gift of love”, for the glory of God and the salvation of humankind. Amen