To the
disabled and elderly in
YOUR SUFFERING IS PART OF CHRIST'S CROSS
“A world without the
sick, even if it may sound paradoxical, would be poorer because it would be
poorer in lived-out humanity, poorer in love for others, which at times is even
heroic”.
This, in short, is the
message the Holy Father left with the handicapped and elderly of the Mercy Home
in
Dear patients,
Dear
brothers and sisters in need of care here in the Haus
der Barmherzigkeit and
elsewhere in hospitals, institutions and homes throughout
1.This hour during my stay in
Perhaps you sometimes fear that you are a
burden for us. Perhaps somebody has even
told you this or implied it. In that
case I ask your forgiveness. Of course, you need us, you need our assistance and care, our hands and our
hearts. But we need you just as much. You
have to agree that much is given to you.
But you in return give much to us.
Your
ailments make us aware of the frailty of human life, of its dangers and
limitations. They also remind us that
one cannot do everything one wants to, that not everything one starts can be
completed. Of course, you happily
remember everything beautiful you once experienced and all the good you did;
you should be grateful for that. But now
you see everything in a new light, and you judge various things or events
differently from before. You know better
now what matters in life. By telling us,
by showing us what you are experiencing now and by the way in which you
tolerate it, you can communicate to us a wisdom of
life chastened and matured through your suffering. The Pope thanks you for preaching to us
through the patience with which you bear your sufferings. Your example cannot be replaced by any
pulpit, school or lecture. The sickroom
teaches a people as much as classrooms and lecture halls.
The
cross is at the very centre of your present lives. Many run away from the cross. But he who wants to escape the cross cannot
find genuine joy. Young people cannot
grow strong and adults cannot stay faithful unless they have learned to bear a
cross. Dear patients,
this cross was placed on you.
Nobody asked you whether you wanted it.
Teach us, the healthy, to accept it in good time and to bear it with
courage, everyone in his own way. It is
always a part of the Cross borne by Christ.
Like Simon of Cyrene we are allowed to share
in the Cross for a part of his way.
You belong to us
2.Now
I should like to turn specifically to you who are stricken with the heavy load
of years and who suffer from the frailties and limitations of old age. You, too, need our help. Yet it is you who bestow gifts on us. What we are building today is based on your
work, on your achievements, on the investments you made for us. We need your experience and your
judgement. We need the faith with which
you live and have lived, and your example.
You must not shut yourselves off from us. You must not remain outside the doors of our
homes and the gates of our world. You
belong to us. A society which
dissociates itself from its aged would not only deny its own origins, but also
deprive itself of its future.
Neither the sick nor the aged are outsiders of society. They constitute an essential part of it. We all are indebted to them. In this hour I should like to thank all of
you who dedicate your suffering and devote your prayers to the many cares and
concerns of mankind. Healthy persons
should, of course, pray as well. But your prayers bear special weight. You may call down from heaven blessings
galore for the benefit of your friends and acquaintances, your homeland and all
those who need the help of God. On this
earth man cannot praise and worship God more truly than with a heart that in
suffering continues to believe in this wisdom and love. Patiently endured suffering is in itself a
form of prayer and an abundant source of grace.
This is why I should like to ask all of you, turn your rooms into
chapels, look at the image of the crucified Christ and pray for us, sacrifice
for us - also for the work of St. Peter's Successor, who places his special
trust in your spiritual help and blesses each of you with all his heart.
In today's meeting with you I think in particular of those among
you who have been so ill since their
childhood that their physical and intellectual capacities have not developed to
the full. I think of people who are severely handicapped as a result of an accident or an insidious
disease. I also think of those for whom
growing old means losing contact with their environment and their fellow men,
i.e., those aged persons who are unable to pass on the wisdom of their lives
and grasp the kindness others lavish on them.
When looking at these individuals who are lacking such essential
capacities, we must ask ourselves, “What does human dignity consist in?”
Man
derives his nobility from the fact that God has created him, that God has said
“Yes” and accepted him, and that God will bring him to full perfection. Against this background, doesn't all human life seem fragmentary and
inadequate, dependent on God's perfecting hand?
God's fatherly Yes embraces the healthy and the
sick, those who are lively and those who are tired, the mobile and the
handicapped, the spiritually alert and those whose spirit lies dormant. On each day of their life this Yes takes them a step closer to perfection and makes their
lives worth living.
Dear Austrians, may the Lord sometime say of
your behaviour towards your sick and handicapped fellow men, in whom he himself
encounters you, “I was a burden and you carried me: I was useless and you valued me; I was
disfigured and you recognized my dignity:
I was sick from birth and you accepted me” (cf
Mt 25:35 ff).
The
sick and the aged, the handicapped and those in need of care demonstrate to us
in a special way how very much we depend on each other and what profound bonds
link us. They present the greatest challenge to our solidarity and our love for
our neighbour. In cases where the
sick are no longer capable of understanding and giving thanks for the care
bestowed upon them, it becomes evident how selfless and devoted the love of
those serving them must be. Disease and
suffering are always a severe test, but a world
without sick people would be poorer, however paradoxical this may sound. It would lack practical charity and selfless,
in some cases even heroic, love.
On
behalf of and with all the sick and those in need of care in
I
address a sincere word of encouragement to those mothers and fathers
who nurse, with devoted care, often in an unsympathetic environment, their sick
children who may perhaps suffer from a life-long handicap. I also address all those who give loving care
to their aged parents and shoulder many inconveniences, so as to return some of
the selfless love their parents earlier gave them.
My
thanks are not only a wish. At the same
time you have the promise of Jesus Christ who came to serve and to heal the
sick. “As you did this to one of the
least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me” (see Mt 25:40). He is your strength, he is your reward. He is, if you open yourselves to him, the
quiet joy amidst your activity.
At the same time, Christ is consolation in your grief, dear brothers and sisters who are sick or in need of care. He, who stands by the messengers of this love in their service, stands also by your side in your time of need. You are made in his own image in a very special way. He who healed the sick himself suffered. He suffered more extreme desolation, so that we shall never feel forsaken. May he, Christ, our Lord and Saviour, be always with you and bless you all in his abundant mercy and love!