Editorial

By Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB

The following is excerpted from the archbishop's homily at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish on the World Day of the Sick, Feb. 11.

In his recent encyclical on Christian hope, Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict XVI makes the point that the true measure of a society's humaneness is "essentially determined in relationship to suffering and to the sufferer.... A society unable to accept its suffering members and incapable of helping to share their suffering and to bear it inwardly through `com-passion' is a cruel and inhuman society."

How we as Canadians and as Catholics deal with suffering, including that brought on by illness and advanced age, tells us what kind of people, what kind of Church we are.

But then the Holy Father makes another very astute observation. He says we cannot really accept another's suffering unless we personally are able to find meaning in our own suffering and that of others: to see in it a path of purification and growth to maturity, a journey of hope. "Indeed, to accept the `other' who suffers, means that I take up his suffering in such a way that it becomes mine also."

The burden of suffering is made lighter when it is shared suffering. That is what every Christian is called to do: to share suffering. When this happens, the one who suffers is penetrated by the light of love and the solitude that so often accompanies his or her suffering diminishes. Suffering then becomes a bearable burden.

Moreover, we should not forget that the one who suffers is, in fact, never truly alone. In Christ, God suffers with him. We are worth so much to God, we have been loved so much, that He Himself, the Eternal Son of God, became man in order to suffer not just for us but with us in an utterly real way, in the Flesh and Blood of His Body born of Mary. Therefore, in all human suffering we are joined by One Who experienced and carried suffering so that He is with us in our suffering.

St. Matthew's Gospel tells us that those who care for the sick are caring for Christ himself: "I was sick and you took care of Me."

In every person stricken with illness it is Jesus Himself who waits for our care. In touching the body of those who are sick and suffering, we touch the very body of Christ.

At the last judgement, the Judge of the world will ask us whether in the course of our earthly existence we have loved, not in an abstract way, but concretely, with deeds. At the end of his life, St. John of the Cross loved to repeat that we will be judged on love.

In the face of every human being, and still more if that person is tried by sickness, shines the Face of Christ, Who said: "As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to Me." Moreover, the Gospel promises a great reward for those who fulfill the Lord's commandment of love: "Come, you that are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

Today is also very special because the Church is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady to St. Bernadette. At Lourdes, in the Grotto of Massabielle, Mary expressed God's tenderness for the suffering.

With true maternal concern, she continues there, and in every place where the faithful invoke her protection, to offer her loving help and consolation to those afflicted in any way. If Our Lord is the true fountain of life from Whose pierced side on Calvary poured forth water and blood, Mary is the first guardian of this fountain of mercy and grace.

Like all mothers, she suffers with those who are in pain. With them she hopes, and she is their comfort, supporting them with her maternal help. Although her faith was tried, Mary stood by her Son beneath the Cross.

On Calvary she was intimately associated with His sufferings, and so she never tires of exhorting us, His followers, to experience sorrow and sickness with serene trust, offering it to the Father, as she herself did as her Son was dying. In this way those who are suffering and in pain join in the mystery of Redemption, completing in their flesh what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, as St. Paul says.

Jesus, dying on the Cross, gave human suffering a transcendent value and a meaning which becomes clear only in the light of faith. Suffering is, of course, repugnant to the human spirit. Nonetheless, it is true that when it is accepted with faith, it becomes a precious opportunity that mysteriously unites us to Christ the Redeemer, the Man of Sorrows.

On the Cross He took upon Himself human suffering and death, dispelling their sting forever. With the sacrifice of His life, Jesus redeemed human suffering and made it the fundamental means of salvation. Faced with suffering and sickness, believers are invited to remain serene because nothing, not even death, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus Our Lord.

The good Lord helps us to bear adversity, sufferings, and sickness with patience and serenity. The light of faith enables us, even if still dimly, to understand and accept the harsh experience of suffering.

St. Bernadette herself, sharply tested by physical illness, wrote in her diary: "Cross of my Saviour, holy Cross, adorable Cross, in you alone I place my strength, my hope and my joy. You are the tree of life, the mysterious stairway that joins earth to heaven, and the altar on which I want to sacrifice myself by dying for Jesus."

This is the message of Lourdes; this is the message of the World Day of the Sick which we are celebrating today.

Our late and beloved Servant of God, Pope John Paul II, showed us in such an edifying way the dignity of sickness and suffering. Indeed, he died publicly before us, not hiding his infirmity as shameful, but enabling us to grasp more fully the authentic meaning of the Gospel of Life.

With particular eloquence, the Grotto at Lourdes, the place "touched by her feet," tells us that the Blessed Virgin Mary, through the ministry of the Church, desires everywhere and always to provide most lovingly for the complete health of men and women, physical and supernatural. To her we turn on this World Day of the Sick, she who is "our life, our sweetness, and our hope."

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.