MESSAGE FROM POPE FRANCIS FOR THE WORLD DAY OF THE SICK 2022
February 11, 2022
“Be merciful just as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36). Being next to those who suffer on a path of charity
Dear brothers and sisters:
Thirty years ago, Saint John Paul II instituted the World Day of the Sick to raise awareness among the People of God, Catholic health institutions and civil society about the need to assist the sick and those who care for them.
We are grateful to the Lord for the journey made in the local Churches around the world during these years. Much progress has been made, but there is still a long way to go to guarantee all sick people, mainly in places and situations of greatest poverty and exclusion, the health care they need, as well as the pastoral support so that they can live the time of illness united with the crucified and risen Christ. May the 30th World Day of the Sick — whose final celebration will not take place in Arequipa, Peru, due to the pandemic, but in Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican — may help us grow in service and in closeness to sick people and to their families.
1. Merciful like the Father
The theme chosen for this thirtieth Day, “Be merciful just as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6,36), makes us look towards God “rich in mercy” (Eph 2,4), who always looks at His children with a father’s love, even when they distance themselves from Him. In fact, mercy is the name of God par excellence, which manifests His nature, not as an occasional feeling, but as a force present in everything He does. It is strength and tenderness at the same time. For this reason, we can affirm with amazement and gratitude that the mercy of God has in itself both the dimension of fatherhood and that of motherhood (cf. Is 49,15), because He cares for us with the strength of a father and with the tenderness of a mother, always ready to give us new life in the Holy Spirit.
2. Jesus, mercy of the Father
The supreme witness of the Father’s merciful love for the sick is his only begotten Son. How many times do the Gospels tell us about the encounters of Jesus with people suffering from various illnesses! He “went throughout Galilee teaching in the synagogues of the Jews, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom and healing all the diseases and infirmities of the people” (Mt 4:23). We can ask ourselves: why this particular attention of Jesus towards the sick, to such an extent that it also becomes the main work of the mission of the apostles, sent by the Master to announce the Gospel and heal the sick? (cf. Lk 9,2).
A twentieth-century thinker suggests a motivation: “Pain isolates completely and it is from this absolute isolation that the call to the other arises, the invocation of the other” . When a person experiences in his own flesh the fragility and suffering caused by the disease, his heart is also saddened, fear grows, questions multiply; Finding an answer to the question about the meaning of everything that happens is increasingly urgent. How not to remember, in this regard, the many patients who, during this time of pandemic, have lived in the solitude of an intensive care unit during the last stage of their existence, attended, without a doubt, by generous health agents, but away from his loved ones and the most important people in his earthly life. Here, then, is the importance of counting on the presence of witnesses of God’s charity who pour the oil of consolation and the wine of hope on the wounds of the sick, following the example of Jesus, mercy of the Father.
3. Touch the suffering flesh of Christ
Jesus’ invitation to be merciful like the Father takes on a particular meaning for health workers. I think of the doctors, the nurses, the laboratory technicians, the personnel in charge of assisting and caring for the sick, as well as the many volunteers who donate precious time to those who suffer. Dear healthcare workers, your service alongside the sick, carried out with love and competence, transcends the limits of the profession to become a mission. His hands, which touch the suffering flesh of Christ, can be a sign of the merciful hands of the Father. Be aware of the great dignity of your profession, as well as the responsibility that this entails.
Let us bless the Lord for the progress that medical science has made, especially in recent times. New technologies have made it possible to develop treatments that are very beneficial for sick people; research continues to make its valuable contribution to eradicating old and new diseases; Rehabilitation medicine has significantly developed its knowledge and skills. All this, however, should not make us forget the singularity of each sick person, with their dignity and their frailties. The patient is always more important than his illness and that is why each therapeutic approach cannot do without listening to the patient, his story, his anxieties and his fears. Even when it is not possible to cure, it is always possible to take care, it is always possible to comfort, it is always possible to feel a closeness that shows interest in the person rather than in their pathology. That is why I hope that professional training trains health agents to know how to listen and relate to the patient.
4. Health care centers, houses of mercy
The World Day of the Sick is also an auspicious occasion to focus our attention on healthcare facilities. Over the centuries, mercy towards the sick has led the Christian community to open innumerable “good Samaritan inns”, to welcome and cure sick people of all kinds, especially those who could not find an answer to their health needs , due to poverty or social exclusion, or due to difficulties in treating certain pathologies. In these situations, it is above all children, the elderly and the most fragile who suffer the worst consequences. Many missionaries, merciful like the Father, accompanied the proclamation of the Gospel with the construction of hospitals, clinics and health centers. They are valuable works through which Christian charity has taken shape and the love of Christ, witnessed by his disciples, has become more credible. I am thinking above all of the inhabitants of the poorest areas of the planet, where sometimes you have to travel long distances to find health care centers that, despite having limited resources, offer everything they have at their disposal. There is still a long way to go and in some countries receiving proper treatment is still a luxury. This is demonstrated, for example, by the lack of availability of vaccines against the Covid-19 virus in the poorest countries; but even more so the lack of treatments for pathologies that require much simpler medicines.
In this context, I wish to reaffirm the importance of Catholic health institutions: they are a precious treasure that must be guarded and sustained; his presence has characterized the history of the Church for his closeness to the poorest sick and the most forgotten situations. How many founders of religious families have known how to listen to the cry of brothers and sisters who did not have access to health treatment or who were not well cared for and have given themselves to their service! Even today, even in the most developed countries, their presence is a blessing, because they can always offer, in addition to caring for the body with all the necessary expertise, also that charity thanks to which the sick and their relatives occupy a central place. . At a time when the culture of discarding is widespread and life is not always recognized for its dignity of being welcomed and lived, these structures, such as houses of mercy, can be an example in the protection and care of all existence, even the most fragile, from its conception to its natural end.
5. Pastoral mercy: presence and closeness
Throughout these thirty years, the indispensable service carried out by the pastoral care of health has been increasingly recognized. If the worst discrimination suffered by the poor —and the sick are poor in health— is the lack of spiritual care, we cannot fail to offer them the closeness of God, his blessing, his Word, the celebration of the sacraments and the proposal of a path of growth and maturation in faith. In this regard, I would like to recall that closeness to the sick and their pastoral care is not only the task of some ministers specifically dedicated to it; visiting the sick is an invitation that Christ extends to all his disciples. How many sick and how many elderly people live in their homes and wait for a visit! The ministry of consolation is the responsibility of every baptized person, aware of the word of Jesus: “I was sick and you visited me” (Mt 25:36).
Dear brothers and sisters, I entrust all the sick and their families to the intercession of Mary, Health of the Sick. That united to Christ, who bears the pain of the world, may they find meaning, comfort and confidence. I pray for all health workers so that, full of mercy, they offer patients, in addition to adequate care, their fraternal closeness.
I affectionately impart the Apostolic Blessing to all.
Francisco
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