Pope says healthcare workers can learn from Christ’s miracles

(July 02, 2012) Jesus Christ’s miraculous healing of Jairus’ daughter and of the woman with chronic haemorrhage problem should inspire healthcare workers to care for the entire person, physical and spiritual, Pope Benedict XVI said on Sunday. “In this invaluable service, one must first be professionally competent – it is a primary and fundamental requirement – but this alone is not enough,” the Pope told thousands of pilgrims who had gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray the weekly midday ‘Angelus’ with him. He reflected on Sunday Gospel passage of St. Matthew, pointing out that Christ healed not only a physical ailment but also a spiritual malady too. “This service, in fact is first and foremost about human beings who need humanity and heartfelt attention,” the Pope said in Italian. He advocated that those who tend to the sick and elderly have a “formation of the heart” in addition to professional training. He described such workers as “reserves of love” who bring “peace and hope to the suffering.” “Jesus came to heal the human heart and to give salvation, and he asks for faith in him,” Pope Benedict explained. Both healings, the Pope pointed out, are “an invitation for us to overcome a purely horizontal and materialistic view of life.” While we ask God to cure our physical and concrete needs, he said, we should all the more ask for “an ever stronger faith, because the Lord renews our lives; and a firm trust in his love and in his providence that does not abandon us.”
Later, in remarks in English, the Pope said, “in today’s Gospel, Jesus restores life to a little girl in response to the faith-filled prayer of her father.” “In this miracle may we see an invitation to grow in our own faith, to trust in the Lord’s promise of abundant life, and to pray for all those in need of his healing touch.”