IMAGE: CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn
By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Praying for a loved one’s health and
healing, tenderly caring for them and asking very human questions about why
people suffer are experiences Christians, Muslims and Jews all share, Pope
Francis said.
In his message for the World Day of the Sick, celebrated
Feb. 11, the pope expressed his hope that the day of prayer — and the entire
Year of Mercy — would promote an encounter of people of different religions
and lead to greater understanding among them.
“Every hospital and nursing home can be a visible sign
and setting in which to promote the culture of encounter and peace, where the
experience of illness and suffering, along with professional and fraternal
assistance, helps to overcome every limitation and division,” the pope
wrote in his message, which the Vatican released Jan. 28.
The main Catholic celebration of the World Day of the Sick
2016 was scheduled for Nazareth, a city in Israel with a large Muslim and
Christian population.
With the Holy Land hosting the celebration, Pope Francis
chose the Gospel account of the wedding feast at Cana as the biblical
inspiration for his message, which looked at Mary’s concern for the wedding
guests, the servants’ willingness to fill jars of water and Jesus’ turning the
water into wine.
“How much hope there is in that event for all of us,”
the pope wrote. “In Mary’s concern, we see reflected the tenderness of God.
This same tenderness is present in the lives of all those persons who attend
the sick and understand their needs, even the most imperceptible ones, because
they look upon them with eyes full of love.
“How many times has a mother at the bedside of her sick
child, or a child caring for an elderly parent, or a grandchild concerned for a
grandparent, placed his or her prayer in the hands of Our Lady,” the pope
wrote.
The miracle of changing water into wine is the work of
Jesus, he said. But “he wants to employ human assistance in performing
this miracle. He could have made the wine appear directly in the jars. But he
wants to rely upon human cooperation, and so he asks the servants to fill them
with water. How wonderful and pleasing to God it is to be servants of others!”
When one is sick, especially when one is seriously ill, he
said, it naturally provokes a sense of crisis and gives rise to “questions
that dig deep,” the pope wrote. “Our first response may at times be
one of rebellion: Why has this happened to me? We can feel desperate, thinking
that all is lost, that things no longer have meaning.”
But even when one’s faith in God is tested, he said, faith
gives people the strength to trust in God’s mercy and “to see how illness
can be the way to draw nearer to Jesus who walks at our side, weighed down by
the cross.”
Pope Francis prayed that God would grant Catholics the same
readiness to serve those in need that Mary showed at the wedding in Cana,
especially when those in need are sick.
“At times this service can be tiring and burdensome,”
the pope said, “yet we are certain that the Lord will surely turn our
human efforts into something divine. We too can be hands, arms and hearts which
help God to perform his miracles, so often hidden.”
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The text of the pope’s message in English is posted at: https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/sick/documents/papa-francesco_20150915_giornata-malato.html
The text in Spanish can be found at: https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/es/messages/sick/documents/papa-francesco_20150915_giornata-malato.html
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