FIFTH WORLD DAY OF THE SICK

MESSAGE
OF THE HOLY FATHER
FOR THE FIFTH WORLD DAY OF THE SICK

February 11, 1997

1. The next World Day of the Sick will be celebrated on February 11, 1997 at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, in the noble nation of Portugal. The place chosen is particularly significant for me. I in fact wished to go there on the anniversary of the assassination attempt I suffered in St. Peter's Square, in order to thank Divine Providence, according to whose inscrutable design the dramatic event had mysteriously coincided with the anniversary of the first appearance of the Mother of Jesus on May 13, 1917, at the Cave of Iria.

I am therefore happy that the official celebration of a Day like that of the Sick, which is especially close to my heart, should be held at Fatima. It will afford each of us the opportunity to listen once again to the message of the Virgin, whose basic core is "the call to conversion and penance, as in the Gospel. This call was pronounced at the beginning of the twentieth century and has thus been addressed to this century in particular. The Lady of the message seems to read the signs of the times—the signs of our time—with special insight" (Allocution at Fatima, May 13, 1982, in Insegnamenti V/2 [1982], p. 1580).

In listening to the Most Blessed Virgin it will be possible to rediscover her mission in the mystery of Christ and of the Church in a vital and moving way—a mission which is already found to be indicated in the Gospel, when Mary asks Christ to begin to perform his miracles, saying to the servants at the wedding banquet at Cana in Galilee, "Do whatever he tells you" (Jn 2:5). At Fatima She echoed a specific word pronounced by her Son at the outset of his public mission: "The time is fulfilled...; repent and believe in the Gospel" (Mk 1:15). The insistent invitation of Mary Most Holy to penance is nothing but the manifestation of her maternal concern for the fate of the human family, in need of conversion and forgiveness.

2. Mary became the spokeswoman for other words of Christ at Fatima. Christ's invitation especially resounded in the Cave of Iria: "Come to me, all you that labor and are overburdened, and I will give you rest" (Mt 11:28). Are the throngs of pilgrims who hasten to that blessed land from all over the world not perhaps eloquent testimony of the need for relief and comfort which numberless persons experience in their lives?

Above all, it is the suffering who feel attracted by the perspective of "relief" which the Divine Physician is able to offer those who turn to Him with trust. And in Fatima this relief is found: sometimes it is physical relief, when, in his providence, God grants healing from illness; more often it is spiritual relief, when the soul, pervaded by the inner light of grace, finds the strength to accept the painful weight of infirmity, transforming it, through communion with Christ, the suffering servant, into an instrument of redemption and salvation for oneself and one's brothers and sisters.

The direction to move in, on this hard road, is pointed out to us by the motherly voice of Mary, who, in the history and life of the Church, has always continued to repeat—and in a special way in our time—the words "Do whatever He tells you."

3. The World Day of the Sick, then, is a precious occasion to hear again and accept the exhortation of the Mother of Jesus, who, at the foot of the Cross, was entrusted with mankind (cf. Jn 19:25-27). The World Day is situated in the first year of the Triduum preparatory to the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000: a year entirely dedicated to reflection on Christ. Precisely this reflection on the centrality of Christ "cannot be detached from recognition of the role played by his Most Holy Mother.... Indeed, Mary perennially points to her Divine Son and proposes Herself to all believers as a model of lived faith" (Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente, no. 43).

The exemplariness of Mary is conveyed in the most lofty fashion by the invitation to look at the Crucified One so as to learn from Him, who, in completely taking on the human condition, freely wished to burden Himself with our sufferings and offer Himself to the Father as an innocent victim for us men and for our salvation, "with loud cries and tears" (Heb 5:7). He thus redeemed suffering, transforming it into a gift of salvific love.

4. Dear Brothers and Sisters who are suffering in spirit and in body! Do not yield to the temptation to regard pain as an experience which is only negative, to the point of doubting God's goodness. In the suffering Christ every sick person finds the meaning of his or her afflictions. Suffering and illness belong to the condition of man, a fragile, limited creature, marked by original sin from birth on. In Christ, who died and rose again, however, humanity discovers a new dimension to its suffering: instead of a failure, it reveals itself to be the occasion for offering witness to faith and love.

Dear people who are sick, be able to find in love "the salvific meaning of your pain and valid answers to all your questions" (Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris, no. 31). Yours is a mission of most lofty value for both the Church and society. "You that bear the weight of suffering occupy the first places among those whom God loves. As with all those He met along the roads of Palestine, Jesus directs a gaze full of tenderness at you; his love will never be lacking" (Address to the Sick and Suffering, Tours, September 21, 1996, 2, in L'Osservatore Romano, September 23-24, 1996, p.4). Manage to be generous witnesses to this privileged love through the gift of your suffering, which can do so much for the salvation of the human race.

In a society like the present one, which is seeking to build its future on well-being and consumerism and measures everything in terms of efficiency and profit, illness and suffering, which cannot be denied, are either removed or emptied of their meaning in the illusion of their being overcome exclusively through the means offered by the progress of science and technology.

Illness and suffering no doubt remain a limit and a trial for the human mind. In the light of Christ's Cross, however, they become a privileged moment for growth in faith and a precious instrument to contribute, in union with Jesus the Redeemer, to implementing the divine project of salvation.

5. In the page of the Gospel referring to the Last Judgment, when "the Son of man comes in his glory with all his angels" (Mt 25:31), the criteria on the basis of which the sentence will be pronounced are indicated. As we know, they are summarized in the solemn concluding affirmation: "In truth, I tell you: every time you did these things to a single one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me" (Mt 25:40). Among these "least of my brothers" are the sick (cf. Mt 25:36), who are often alone and marginalized by society. To make public opinion sensitive to them is one of the main goals of celebrating the World Day of the Sick: to be close to those suffering so that they will be able to make their suffering fruitful, also by way of the help of those who are at their side to provide care and assistance—this is the commitment the World Day is calling for.

Following the example of Jesus, as "Good Samaritans" we must approach suffering man. We must learn to "serve the Son of man in men," as Blessed Luigi Orione said (cf. Scritti, 57,104). We must be able to see the sufferings of our brothers and sisters with the eyes of solidarity, not "pass by," but "become a neighbor," pausing at their side, with gestures of service and love aimed at the integral health of the human person. A society is characterized by the attention it devotes to those suffering and by the attitude it adopts towards them.

Too many human beings in the world in which we live remain excluded from the love of the family and social community. In appearing in Fatima to three poor little shepherds to make them announcers of the Gospel message, the Most Blessed Virgin renewed her liberating Magnificat, speaking on behalf of "those who do not passively accept the adverse circumstances in personal and social life and are not victims of 'alienation'—as it is termed today—but, rather, proclaim with Her that God raises high the lowly and, when appropriate, pulls down princes from their thrones" (Homily at the Sanctuary of Zapopan, January 30, 1979, 4, in Insegnamenti II/1 [1979], p. 295).

6. On this occasion, too, I thus renew a forceful appeal to public leaders, international and national organizations in the health field, health care workers, volunteer associations, and all men of good will, that they join in the commitment of the Church, which, in adhering to Christ's teaching, seeks to announce the Gospel through the witness of service to those who suffer.

May the Most Blessed Virgin, who has dried so many tears in Fatima, help everyone to transform this World Day of the Sick into a distinctive moment for "new evangelization."

With these wishes, as I invoke the maternal protection of Mary, Mother of the Lord and our Mother, for the initiatives undertaken in connection with this Day, I willingly impart my affectionate Blessing to you, dear people who are ill, your relatives, health care workers, volunteers, and all who, in a spirit of solidarity, are close to you in your sufferings.

From the Vatican, October 18, 1996.

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IV WORLD DAY OF THE SICK

MESSAGE

OF THE HOLY FATHER

POPE JOHN PAUL II

FOR THE IV WORLD DAY OF THE SICK

1. "Do not worry about this illness or about any other misfortune. Am I, your Mother, not here at your side? Are you not protected by my shadow? Am I not your safety?". The humble Indio, Juan Diego of Cuautilan, heard these words on the lips of the Blessed Virgin, in December 1531, at the foot of Tepeyac Hill, today called Guadalupe, after asking for the healing of a relative.

As the Church of the beloved Mexican nation commemorates the first centenary of the crowning of the venerated image of Our Lady of Guadalupe (1895-1995), it is particularly significant that the famous shrine of Mexico City was chosen as the place for the most solemn celebration of the forthcoming World Day of the Sick on 11 February 1996.

This Day is at the centre of the ante-preparatory phase (1994-1996) of the third Christian millennium, which is "meant to revive in the Christian people an awareness of the value and meaning of the Jubilee of the Year 2000 in human history" (Tertio millennio adveniente, n. 31). The Church looks with confidence at the events of our age and among "the signs of hope present in the last part of this century", she recognizes "scientific, technological and especially medical progress in the service of human life" (ibid., n. 46). It is as a sign of this hope, illumined by the presence of Mary "Health of the Sick", that in preparation for the Fourth World Day of the Sick I address those who bear in body and spirit the signs of human suffering, as well as all who, in offering them fraternal service, seek to follow the Redeemer completely. Indeed, "Just as Christ ... was sent by the Father ?to bring good news to the poor... to heal the contrite of heart' (Lk 4:18), ?to seek and to save what was lost' (Lk 19:10), so 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" (Lumen gentium, n. 8).

Mother of Jesus is our model and guide

2. Dear brothers and sisters who experience suffering in a particular way, you are called to a special mission in the new evangelization and to find your inspiration in Mary, Mother of love and human pain. You are supported in this difficult witness by health-care workers, family members and the volunteers who accompany you on your daily path of suffering. As I recalled in the Apostolic Letter Tertio millennio adveniente: "The Blessed Virgin will be as it were ?indirectly' present in the whole preparatory phase" of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, "as the perfect model of love towards both God and neighbour", just as we hear her maternal voice say once again: "Do whatever Christ tells you" (cf. Tertio millennio adveniente, nn. 43, 54).

In receiving this invitation from the heart of the Salus infirmorum, you will be able to impress a unique mark on the new evangelization by proclaiming the Gospel of life, mysteriously mediated through the witness given by the Gospel of suffering (cf. Evangelium vitae, n. 1; Salvifici doloris, n. 3). "An organized health-care apostolate is part of the evangelizing task" (Address to the Fourth Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Latin America, n. 8, 23 June 1995; L'Osservatore Romano English edition, 26 July 1995, p. 9).

3. The Mother of Jesus is the model and guide of this effective proclamation, since she "places herself between her Son and mankind in the reality of their wants, needs and sufferings. She puts herself ?in the middle', that is to say, she acts as a mediatrix not as an outsider, but in her position as mother. She knows that as such she can point out to her Son the needs of mankind, and in fact, she ?has the right' to do so. Her mediation is thus in the nature of intercession: Mary ?intercedes' for mankind. And that is not all. As a mother she also wishes the messianic power of her Son to be manifested, that salvific power of his which is meant to help man in his misfortunes, to free him from the evil which in various forms and degrees weighs heavily upon his life" (Redemptoris Mater, n. 21).

By this mission the Salus infirmorum is continually present in the Church's life, she who continues today, as she did at the dawn of the Church (Acts 1:14), to be "the model of that motherly love with which all who join in the Church's apostolic mission for the regeneration of mankind should be animated" (Lumen gentium, n. 65).

The celebration of the most solemn moment of the World Day of the Sick at the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe thematically relates the first evangelization of the New World to the new evangelization. Among the peoples of Latin America, in fact, "the Gospel has been proclaimed with the Virgin Mary presented as its loftiest fulfilment.... And this identity is glowingly reflected on the mestizo countenance of Mary of Guadalupe, who appeared at the start of the evangelization process" (Pueblo Document, 1979, nn. 282, 446). Thus for five centuries in the New World, the Blessed Virgin has been revered as the "first evangelizer of Latin America", as the "star of evangelization" (Letter to Men and Women Religious of Latin America on the Fifth Centenary of the Evangelization of the New World, n. 31).

4. In carrying out her missionary task, the Church, supported and comforted by the intercession of Mary most holy, has written significant pages of concern for the sick and suffering in Latin America. Today as well, the health-care apostolate continues to have an important place in the Church's apostolic activity: she is responsible for many places of assistance and care, and she works among the very poor with appreciated attention in the health-care field, thanks to the generous efforts of many brothers in the Episcopate, priests, religious and many lay faithful, who have developed a marked sensitivity to anyone in pain.

You have a leading role of Gospel renewal

If we turn our gaze from Latin America to take in the whole world, we see many proofs of the Church's maternal concern for the sick. Today as well, perhaps especially today, the cry of throngs tried by suffering rises from humanity. Entire peoples are tortured by the cruelty of war. The victims of conflicts now in progress are primarily the weakest: mothers, children, the elderly. How many human beings, exhausted by hunger and disease, cannot count on even the most basic forms of assistance. And where these are fortunately provided, how many of the sick are gripped by fear and despair because they cannot give constructive meaning to their own suffering in the light of faith.

The praiseworthy and even heroic efforts of so many health-care workers and the increasing contribution of volunteer personnel are not enough to meet the concrete needs. I ask the Lord to raise up an even greater number of generous people, who will give the suffering the comfort not only of physical assistance but also of spiritual support, by opening before them the consoling horizons of faith.

5. Dear friends who are sick and you, the family members and health-care workers who share their difficult path, keep in mind that you have a leading role of Gospel renewal on the spiritual journey towards the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. Against the disturbing panorama of old and new forms of attacks on life, which mark the history of our times, you are like the crowd that tried to touch the Lord "because power went out from him which cured all" (Lk 6:19). And it was precisely in the presence of this multitude of people that Jesus gave the "sermon on the mount", calling blessed those who weep (cf. Lk 6:21). Suffering and being at the side of the suffering: whoever lives these two situations in faith comes into particular contact with the sufferings of Christ and is allowed to share "a very special particle of the infinite treasure of the world's Redemption" (Salvifici doloris, n. 27).

6. Dear brothers and sisters who are enduring trials, generously offer your pain in communion with the suffering Christ and with Mary, his most gentle Mother. And you who work daily at the side of the suffering, make your service a valuable contribution to evangelization. Feel that you are a living part of the Church, since in you the Christian community has been called to embrace the Cross of Christ so as to give the world the reason for its Gospel hope (cf. 1 Pt 3:15). "We ask all you who suffer to support us. We ask precisely you who are weak to become a source of strength for the Church and humanity. In the terrible battle between the forces of good and evil, revealed to our eyes by our modern world, may your suffering in union with the Cross of Christ be victorious" (Salvifici doloris, n. 31).

7. My appeal is also addressed to you, Pastors of ecclesial communities, and to you who are responsible for the health-care apostolate, that you make suitable preparations for celebrating the next World Day of the Sick with programmes for drawing the attention of the People of God and civil society to the immense, complex problems of health and health care.

Without justice there is no peace

And you, health-care workers — doctors, pharmacists, nurses, chaplains, men and women religious, administrators and volunteers — and especially you women, pioneers in the medical and spiritual care of the sick, you must all promote communion among the ill, among their family members and in the ecclesial community.

Be at the side of the sick and their families, so that in their suffering they may never feel rejected. The experience of pain will thus become for each of them a school of generous dedication.

8. I willingly extend this appeal to civil officials at every level, so that they may welcome the Church's attention and commitment to the world of suffering as an opportunity for dialogue, meeting and collaboration in order to build a civilization, which on the basis of concern for the suffering, may continually advance on the path of justice, freedom, love and peace. Without justice the world will never know peace; without peace suffering can only increase without measure.

Upon all the suffering and upon those who expend themselves in their service, I invoke the maternal support of Mary. May the Mother of Jesus, venerated for centuries in the famous shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, hear the cry of this great suffering, dry the tears of those in pain and be at the side of all the world's sick. Dear friends who are ill, may the Holy Virgin present to her Son the offering of your sufferings, in which Christ's face on the Cross is reflected.

With this wish goes the assurance of my fervent prayers, as I cordially impart to all my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 11 October 1995, the liturgical memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.

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