11 February 1997
1. The next World Day of the Sick will be
celebrated on February 11, 1997 at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, in the
noble nation of Portugal. The place chosen is particularly significant for me.
I in fact wished to go there on the anniversary of the assassination attempt I
suffered in St. Peter's Square, in order to thank Divine Providence, according
to whose inscrutable design the dramatic event had mysteriously coincided with
the anniversary of the first appearance of the Mother of Jesus on May 13, 1917,
at the Cave of Iria.
I am therefore happy that the official
celebration of a Day like that of the Sick, which is especially close to my
heart, should be held at Fatima. It will afford each of us the opportunity to
listen once again to the message of the Virgin, whose basic core is "the
call to conversion and penance, as in the Gospel. This call was pronounced at
the beginning of the twentieth century and has thus been addressed to this century
in particular. The Lady of the message seems to read the signs of the times—the
signs of our time—with special insight" (Allocution at Fatima, May 13, 1982, in Insegnamenti V/2 [1982], p.
1580).
In listening to the Most Blessed Virgin it will
be possible to rediscover her mission in the mystery of Christ and of the
Church in a vital and moving way—a mission which is already found to be
indicated in the Gospel, when Mary asks Christ to begin to perform his
miracles, saying to the servants at the wedding banquet at Cana
in Galilee, "Do whatever he tells you" (Jn 2:5). At Fatima She echoed a
specific word pronounced by her Son at the outset of his public mission:
"The time is fulfilled...; repent and believe in the Gospel" (Mk 1:15). The insistent invitation of
Mary Most Holy to penance is nothing but the manifestation of her maternal
concern for the fate of the human family, in need of conversion and
forgiveness.
2. Mary became the spokeswoman for other words
of Christ at Fatima. Christ's invitation especially resounded in the Cave of Iria: "Come to me, all you that labor and are
overburdened, and I will give you rest" (Mt 11:28). Are the throngs of pilgrims who hasten to that blessed
land from all over the world not perhaps eloquent testimony of the need for relief
and comfort which numberless persons experience in their lives?
Above all, it is the suffering who feel
attracted by the perspective of "relief" which the Divine Physician
is able to offer those who turn to Him with trust. And in Fatima this relief is
found: sometimes it is physical relief, when, in his providence, God grants
healing from illness; more often it is spiritual relief, when the soul,
pervaded by the inner light of grace, finds the strength to accept the painful
weight of infirmity, transforming it, through communion with Christ, the
suffering servant, into an instrument of redemption and salvation for oneself
and one's brothers and sisters.
The direction to move in, on this hard road, is
pointed out to us by the motherly voice of Mary, who, in the history and life
of the Church, has always continued to repeat—and in a special way in our
time—the words "Do whatever He tells you."
3. The World Day of the Sick, then, is a
precious occasion to hear again and accept the exhortation of the Mother of
Jesus, who, at the foot of the Cross, was entrusted with mankind (cf. Jn 19:25-27). The
World Day is situated in the first year of the Triduum
preparatory to the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000: a year entirely dedicated to
reflection on Christ. Precisely this reflection on the centrality of Christ
"cannot be detached from recognition of the role played by his Most Holy
Mother.... Indeed, Mary perennially points to her Divine Son and proposes
Herself to all believers as a model of lived faith" (Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente, no. 43).
The exemplariness of Mary is conveyed in the
most lofty fashion by the invitation to look at the Crucified One so as to
learn from Him, who, in completely taking on the human condition, freely wished
to burden Himself with our sufferings and offer Himself to the Father as an
innocent victim for us men and for our salvation, "with loud cries and
tears" (Heb 5:7). He thus
redeemed suffering, transforming it into a gift of salvific
love.
4. Dear Brothers and Sisters who are suffering
in spirit and in body! Do not yield to the temptation to regard pain as an
experience which is only negative, to the point of doubting God's goodness. In
the suffering Christ every sick person finds the meaning of his or her afflictions.
Suffering and illness belong to the condition of man, a fragile, limited
creature, marked by original sin from birth on. In Christ, who died and rose
again, however, humanity discovers a new dimension to its suffering: instead of
a failure, it reveals itself to be the occasion for offering witness to faith
and love.
Dear people who are sick, be able to find in
love "the salvific meaning of your pain and
valid answers to all your questions" (Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris, no. 31). Yours is a mission of
most lofty value for both the Church and society. "You that bear the
weight of suffering occupy the first places among those whom God loves. As with
all those He met along the roads of Palestine, Jesus directs a gaze full of
tenderness at you; his love will never be lacking" (Address to the Sick and Suffering, Tours, September 21, 1996, 2, in
L'Osservatore Romano, September 23-24, 1996, p.4).
Manage to be generous witnesses to this privileged love through the gift of
your suffering, which can do so much for the salvation of the human race.
In a society like the present one, which is
seeking to build its future on well-being and consumerism and measures
everything in terms of efficiency and profit, illness and suffering, which
cannot be denied, are either removed or emptied of their meaning in the
illusion of their being overcome exclusively through the means offered by the
progress of science and technology.
Illness and suffering no doubt remain a limit
and a trial for the human mind. In the light of Christ's Cross, however, they
become a privileged moment for growth in faith and a precious instrument to
contribute, in union with Jesus the Redeemer, to implementing the divine
project of salvation.
5. In the page of the Gospel referring to the
Last Judgment, when "the Son of man comes in his glory with all his
angels" (Mt 25:31), the criteria
on the basis of which the sentence will be pronounced are indicated. As we
know, they are summarized in the solemn concluding affirmation: "In truth,
I tell you: every time you did these things to a single one of the least of
these brothers of mine, you did it to me" (Mt 25:40). Among these "least of my brothers" are the
sick (cf. Mt 25:36), who are often
alone and marginalized by society. To make public opinion sensitive to them is
one of the main goals of celebrating the World Day of the Sick: to be close to
those suffering so that they will be able to make their suffering fruitful,
also by way of the help of those who are at their side to provide care and
assistance—this is the commitment the World Day is calling for.
Following the example of Jesus, as "Good
Samaritans" we must approach suffering man. We must learn to "serve
the Son of man in men," as Blessed Luigi Orione
said (cf. Scritti,
57,104). We must be able to see the sufferings of our brothers and sisters with
the eyes of solidarity, not "pass by," but "become a
neighbor," pausing at their side, with gestures of service and love aimed
at the integral health of the human person. A society is characterized by the
attention it devotes to those suffering and by the attitude it adopts towards
them.
Too many human beings in the world in which we
live remain excluded from the love of the family and social community. In
appearing in Fatima to three poor little shepherds to make them announcers of
the Gospel message, the Most Blessed Virgin renewed her liberating Magnificat,
speaking on behalf of "those who do not passively accept the adverse
circumstances in personal and social life and are not victims of 'alienation'—as
it is termed today—but, rather, proclaim with Her that God raises high the lowly and, when appropriate, pulls down princes from their thrones" (Homily at the Sanctuary of Zapopan,
January 30, 1979, 4, in Insegnamenti
II/1 [1979], p. 295).
6. On this occasion, too, I thus renew a forceful appeal to public leaders,
international and national organizations in the health field, health care
workers, volunteer associations, and all men of good will, that they join in
the commitment of the Church, which, in adhering to Christ's teaching, seeks to
announce the Gospel through the witness of service to those who suffer.
May the Most Blessed
Virgin, who has dried so many tears in Fatima, help everyone to transform this
World Day of the Sick into a distinctive moment for "new
evangelization."
With these wishes, as
I invoke the maternal protection of Mary, Mother of the Lord and our Mother, for the initiatives undertaken in
connection with this Day, I willingly impart my affectionate Blessing to you,
dear people who are ill, your relatives, health care workers, volunteers, and
all who, in a spirit of solidarity, are close to you in your sufferings.
From the Vatican,
October 18, 1996