(February 6, 2010) The Church celebrates of the 18th Day of Sick Persons
on the 11th of February, 2010 on the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes.
In 1858, near Lourdes in southern France, Our Lady appeared to Bernadette Soubirous,
a young peasant girl. She told the girl to drink from a fountain in the grotto. The
water from the still-flowing spring has shown remarkable healing power. Lourdes has
become the most famous modern shrine of Our Lady. In May 1992, Pope John Paul II instituted
World Day of the Sick and designated February 11, Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, as
the date for its annual celebration. On this day those who are ill are encouraged
to reflect on the Christian meaning of suffering and to recall God’s health-giving
presence. We are also reminded that God heals and restores life in unexpected ways.
The day is also meant to recognize the importance of those who care for the sick and
elderly, whether in a health care facility or at home to express their healing mission.
Since 1992, the Catholic Church has celebrated World Day of the Sick on February 11
under the sponsorship of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care. World Day
of the Sick has three consistent themes. First: it reminds the faithful to pray intensely
and sincerely for those who are sick and elderly. Second: the celebration invites
Christians to reflect on and respond to human suffering. Third: this day recognizes
and honours all persons who work in health care and serve as caregivers. In the 2002,
Pope John Paul II in his message said: “The World Day of the Sick is a moment of intense
prayer for all who are suffering pain and infirmity. In this way we are called upon
express our solidarity with those who suffer, a solidarity arising from our awareness
of the mysterious nature of suffering and its place in God's loving plan for every
individual. The Day must continue with serious reflection and study on the Christian
response to the world of human suffering, which seems to grow by the day, not least
on account of man-made calamities and unsound choices made by individuals and societies.
In re-examining the role and task of Christian health care facilities, hospitals,
and personnel, this reflection will emphasize and reaffirm the true Christian values
which should inspire them. To walk in the footsteps of Jesus, the Divine Healer, who
came "that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Noting how the forthcoming
Day coincides with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the foundation of the Pontifical
Council for Health Pastoral Care, the Holy Father expressed the hope that this fact
"will be the occasion for a more generous apostolic commitment at the service of the
sick and of their carers". Its felicitous coincidence with this jubilee of the Institution
is another reason to thank God for the ground covered so far in the sector of the
pastoral care of health, said the Holy Father. He added further saying: “I sincerely
hope that this event will be an opportunity to give a more generous apostolic impetus
to the service of the sick and of those who look after them.” The Pontifical Council
for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers was set up by the Motu Proprio Dolentium
Hominum of 11 February 1985, by Pope John Paul II who reformed the Pontifical Commission
for the Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers into its present form in 1988.
It is part of the Roman Curia with Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski as its President. The
apostolic constitution Pastor Bonus describes the work of the council as primarily
to show the solicitude of the Church for the sick by helping those who serve the sick
and suffering, so that their apostolate of mercy may ever more effectively respond
to people’s needs. And secondly, the Council is to spread the Church’s teaching on
the spiritual and moral aspects of illness as well as the meaning of human suffering.
Further its tasks also include coordinating the activities of different dicasteries
of the Roman Curia as they relate to health care. The Pontifical Council explains
and defends the teachings of the Church on health issues. The Council also follows
and studies programs and initiatives of health care policy at both international and
national levels, with the goal of extracting its relevance and implications for the
pastoral care of the Church. The Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to
Health Care Workers announced it will hold a series of events to commemorate its 25th
anniversary, which will have as its central event a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict
XVI on February 11 in St Peter’s Square. The first event will take place on February
9 in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, featuring an exhibit of 28 paintings by Francesco
Guadagnuolo. The main subject of the paintings is the Venerable John Paul II who 25
years ago instituted this Pontifical Council--and his relationship with suffering.
The secretary of the Pontifical Council, Archbishop Jose Redrado, explained that the
exhibit is part of the religious celebrations scheduled for the 25th anniversary.
It will take place over three days and focus on the title of Pope Benedict XVI’s message
for the occasion: “The Church in the service of love for those who suffer.” In this
same spirit, a concert will be held on February 10 at the Paul VI Hall with Claudia
Koll as host and performances by pianists Rolf-Peter Wille of Germany and Lina Yeh
of Taiwan, together with the Junior Orchestra of the Conservatory of St. Cecilia of
Rome. On February 9 and 10, an international symposium will take place at the New
Hall of the Synod on two apostolic letters: “Salvifici Doloris” by John Paul II and
the motu propio “Dolentium Hominum” with which the late Pontiff instituted the Pontifical
Council for Health Care Workers. In this celebration of the World Day of the Sick
what must be fully realized is that it is only God who heals the whole human person
in the way He knows best! The medical professionals, care takers including family
and all those who assist in any way they can, are God’s instruments to treat, to comfort
in empathy and most of all to support the ailing persons to bear their pain in total
communion with Christ in His Passion, Death and Resurrection so that it becomes a
source of salvation for the Universal Church and brings joy. St. Paul explains this
in his letter to the Colossians chapter one. For us Christians then this is an opportunity
to accept the real situation of suffering with courage, in a communitarian spirit
of redemption as a Gift of God. All people especially those directly involved with
their treatment and care have to actualize this through our dedicated service. In
this Healing Ministry of ours the foremost concern must ensure that medical ethics
and codes are upheld in all cases and at all times. The ailing persons, whatever their
disease and their social status, specially the marginalized, have a right for respect
for their lives and to dignity of their individual person, created to the likeness
and image of God. Hence holistic health should be primary concern, especially of all
those in governance. Our stress has to be clean air - free from pollution, clean
hygienic surroundings with proper sewage and waste disposal systems, adequate supply
of pure drinking water and wholesome food are basic priorities, the lack of which
not only cause diseases but grave mental, psychological stress and destroys holistic
health. The concern of the church is that all of us are aware that we need to persuade
our fellow citizens to a firm commitment to the promotion of holistic health. The
Pope's Message for the eighteenth World Day of the Sick, which is due to be celebrated
in the Vatican Basilica on 11 February 2010, Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, was announced
on the third of December. “With the annual World Day of the Sick, the Church intends
to carry out a far-reaching operation, raising the ecclesial community's awareness
to the importance of pastoral service in the vast world of health care. This service
is an integral part of the Church's role since it is engraved in Christ's saving mission
itself. He, the divine Doctor, "went about doing well and healing all that were oppressed
by the devil," says Pope Benedict XVI. "In the mystery of Christ's passion, death
and resurrection", writes the Pope, "human suffering finds meaning and fullness of
light.” He then quotes from the Apostolic Letter Salvifici doloris, the Servant of
God John Paul II which offers enlightening words in this regard. "Human suffering,
has reached its culmination in the Passion of Christ. And at the same time it has
entered into a completely new dimension and a new order: it has been linked to love...
to that love which creates good, also drawing it out from evil by means of suffering,
just as the supreme good of the Redemption of the world was drawn from the Cross of
Christ, and from that Cross constantly takes its beginning. The Cross of Christ has
become a source from which flow rivers of living water" “At the Last Supper the
Lord Jesus, before returning to the Father,” writes the Pontiff “bent to wash the
Apostles' feet in a foretaste of His supreme act of love upon the Cross. With this
gesture He invited His disciples to follow His own logic of a love that especially
gives itself to the weakest and to those most in need. Following His example all Christians
are called to relive, in different contexts, the parable of the Good Samaritan who,
passing by a man whom robbers had left half-dead by the roadside, saw him and had
compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then
he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the
next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, "Take care
of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back'". At the end
of the parable, Jesus said: "Go and do likewise". With these words he is also addressing
each and every one of us. Jesus says the Holy Father, "exhorts us to attend to the
bodily and spiritual wounds of so many of our brothers and sisters whom we meet on
the roads of the world. He helps us to understand that, with the grace of God accepted
and lived in everyday life, the experience of sickness and suffering can become a
school of hope". Referring to the Encyclical Spe salvi, the Pope says: "It is not
by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity
for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ,
who suffered with infinite love." In his message the Pope Benedict XVI refers back
to the documents of the Second Vatican Council regarding the Church’s ministry of
caring for those sick and the concern for human sufferings. He says that in the Dogmatic
Constitution Lumen Gentium we read that "Christ was sent by the Father "to bring good
news to the poor... to heal the contrite of heart', "to seek and to save what was
lost.' Similarly, the Church encompasses with her love all those who are afflicted
by human misery and she recognizes in those who are poor and who suffer, the image
of her poor and suffering Founder. She does all in her power to relieve their need
and in them she strives to serve Christ". The ecclesial community's humanitarian and
spiritual action for the sick and the suffering has been expressed down the centuries
in many forms and health-care structures, also of an institutional character. I would
like here to recall those directly managed by the dioceses and those born from the
generosity of various religious Institutes. It is a precious "patrimony" that corresponds
with the fact that "love... needs to be organized if it is to be an ordered service
to the community. The creation of the Pontifical Council for Health-Care Workers 25
years ago complies with the Church's solicitude for the world of health care. And
I am anxious to add that at this moment in history and culture we are feeling even
more acutely the need for an attentive and far-reaching ecclesial presence beside
the sick, as well as a presence in society that can effectively pass on the Gospel
values that safeguard human life in all its phases, from its conception to its natural
end. Further the Holy Father goes back to the message in the context of the Council
Document and says, I would like here to take up the Message to the Poor, the Sick,
and the Suffering which the Council Fathers addressed to the world at the end of the
Second Ecumenical Vatican Council: "All of you who feel heavily the weight of the
Cross" they said, "you who weep... you the unknown victims of suffering, take courage.
You are the preferred children of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of hope, happiness,
and life. You are the brothers of the suffering Christ, and with him, if you wish,
you are saving the world.” I warmly thank those who, every day, "serve the sick and
the suffering", so that "the apostolate of God's mercy may ever more effectively respond
to people's expectations and needs". In the current Year for Priests, Pope Benedict
XVI also addresses the Priests who are the ministers of the sick, to be a sign and
instrument of Christ's compassion which must reach everyone who suffers. In this context
he invites clergy to be ready to help and support the infirm and sick and show them
that they are the God’s instruments of help and comfort. He tells the priests that
the time spent alongside the suffering is rich in grace for all other dimensions of
pastoral care. The Holy Father says: “In this Year for Priests, my thoughts turn in
particular to you, dear priests, "ministers of the sick", signs and instruments of
Christ's compassion who must reach out to every person marked by suffering. I ask
you, dear presbyters, to spare no effort in giving them care and comfort. Time spent
beside those who are put to the test may bear fruits of grace for all the other dimensions
of pastoral care.” At the end of his Apostolic Message the Holy Father addresses directly
the persons who are unwell and for whom this day is dedicated. He expresses his care
and concern on behalf of the church. "Finally," he adds in conclusion, "I address
you, dear sick people, and I ask you to pray and to offer your suffering for priests,
that they may remain faithful to their vocation and that their ministry may be rich
in spiritual fruits for the benefit of the entire Church".