On Monday at 12:15pm local time, in the Sala Clementina at the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience those who are participating in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Workers.
Following a few words of introduction offered by the President of the Dicastery, His Excellency, Zygmunt Zimowski, the Pope offered the following reflection to those who were present.
Dear brothers and sisters,
I wish you all welcome on the occasion of your Plenary Session, and I thank Bishop Zimowski for his words. To each of you, I present the gratitude of the Bishop of Rome for your commitment to so many brothers and sisters who carry the weight of sickness, disability and difficulty due to advancing age.
Your work in these days is motivated by the words spoken more than thirty years ago by Blessed John Paul II about suffering: Do good through suffering, and do good for those who suffer (Apostolic Letter, Salvifici doloris, 30). These words he both lived and testified to in a most exemplary fashion. His was a living magesterium which the People of God repaid with such affection and veneration, recognizing that God was with him.
In fact, it's true that even in suffering, no one is ever alone, because God, through his merciful love for us and for the world also embraces us even in the most inhumane situations, through which the image of the Creator present in every person may appear obscured or disfigured. This was the case for Jesus in his Passion. In Him, every human suffering, every anguish, every pain was endured out of love, out of his sheer desire to be close to us, to be with us. And here, in the Passion of Jesus, we have a great school for anyone who wants to dedicate himself to the service of his sick and suffering brothers.
The experience of fraternal sharing with those who are suffering opens us up to the beauty of human life, whic includes its fragility. By caring for and promoting life at every stage and condition we may encounter, we can recognize the dignity and the value of every single human being, from conception to natural death.
Tomorrow, we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. The one who accepted 'Life' in the name of all and for the sake of all was Mary, the Virgin Mother; she is thus most closely and personally associated with the Gospel of life (John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, 102). Mary offered her own existence, put herself entirely at the disposition of God's will, becoming the place of his presence, the place where the Son of God dwells.
Dear friends, in the daily exercise of our service, let us always strive to recognize the flesh of Christ which is present in the poor, in the suffering, in the children and also in the undesirables, the persons with physical handicaps and the elderly.
To help you in this endeavour, I invoke on each of you, on all the sick and suffering persons you assist, upon their families, and on all those who care for them, the maternal protection of Mary, Salus infirmorum (Help of the sick), that she may illuminate your reflection and your actions in the work of spreading and promoting the importance of life and the pastoral care of health care workers.
May God bless you all.
Following a few words of introduction offered by the President of the Dicastery, His Excellency, Zygmunt Zimowski, the Pope offered the following reflection to those who were present.
Address of His Holiness, Pope Francis
to members of the Pontifical Council
for the Pastoral Care of Health Workers
Dear brothers and sisters,
I wish you all welcome on the occasion of your Plenary Session, and I thank Bishop Zimowski for his words. To each of you, I present the gratitude of the Bishop of Rome for your commitment to so many brothers and sisters who carry the weight of sickness, disability and difficulty due to advancing age.
Your work in these days is motivated by the words spoken more than thirty years ago by Blessed John Paul II about suffering: Do good through suffering, and do good for those who suffer (Apostolic Letter, Salvifici doloris, 30). These words he both lived and testified to in a most exemplary fashion. His was a living magesterium which the People of God repaid with such affection and veneration, recognizing that God was with him.
In fact, it's true that even in suffering, no one is ever alone, because God, through his merciful love for us and for the world also embraces us even in the most inhumane situations, through which the image of the Creator present in every person may appear obscured or disfigured. This was the case for Jesus in his Passion. In Him, every human suffering, every anguish, every pain was endured out of love, out of his sheer desire to be close to us, to be with us. And here, in the Passion of Jesus, we have a great school for anyone who wants to dedicate himself to the service of his sick and suffering brothers.
The experience of fraternal sharing with those who are suffering opens us up to the beauty of human life, whic includes its fragility. By caring for and promoting life at every stage and condition we may encounter, we can recognize the dignity and the value of every single human being, from conception to natural death.
Tomorrow, we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. The one who accepted 'Life' in the name of all and for the sake of all was Mary, the Virgin Mother; she is thus most closely and personally associated with the Gospel of life (John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae, 102). Mary offered her own existence, put herself entirely at the disposition of God's will, becoming the place of his presence, the place where the Son of God dwells.
Dear friends, in the daily exercise of our service, let us always strive to recognize the flesh of Christ which is present in the poor, in the suffering, in the children and also in the undesirables, the persons with physical handicaps and the elderly.
To help you in this endeavour, I invoke on each of you, on all the sick and suffering persons you assist, upon their families, and on all those who care for them, the maternal protection of Mary, Salus infirmorum (Help of the sick), that she may illuminate your reflection and your actions in the work of spreading and promoting the importance of life and the pastoral care of health care workers.
May God bless you all.
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