ZENIT in Roswell, Georgia, United States "Pope Decries ‘Shutting Eyes’ to Sick, Disabled..." for Sunday, 12 June 2016Like
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Pope Decries ‘Shutting Eyes’ to Sick, Disabled by Deborah Castellano Lubov
“What an illusion it is when people today shut their eyes in the face of sickness and disability!” Pope Francis has said, decrying, “They fail to understand the real meaning of life, which also has to do with accepting suffering and limitations.”
Pope Francis made this strong statement this morning during the concluding Mass of the Jubilee for Sick and Disabled, June 10-12, in St. Peter’s Square.
In his homily, the Pontiff drew inspiration from St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians, who says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me,” noting how the Apostle powerfully expresses the mystery of the Christian life, which can be summed up in the paschal dynamic of death and Resurrection received at baptism.
Francis pointed out that this rebirth embraces every aspect of our lives: even sickness, suffering and death are taken up in Christ and in him find their ultimate meaning. He suggested how this Jubilee day for the sick and disabled is an appropriate time to remember this and to recall that all faithful at some point or another are called to face frailty and illness, be it their own or of others.
Illusions
The 78-year-old Pope recalled that human nature is marked by its limitations.
“In an age when care for one’s body has become an obsession and a big business, anything imperfect has to be hidden away,” Francis lamented, “since it threatens the happiness and serenity of the privileged few and endangers the dominant model.”
The Pope criticized that such people “should best be kept apart.”
Francis decried that people ‘illude’ themselves when they close their eyes to the suffering, noting they don’t understand the meaning of life which comes with its limitations.
“The world does not become better because only apparently “perfect” people live there – I say “perfect” rather than “false” – but when human solidarity, mutual acceptance and respect increase.”
Francis recalled that today’s Gospel (Lk 7:36-8:3) presents us with a specific situation of weakness, in which a woman caught in sin is judged and rejected, yet Jesus accepts and defends her. This tenderness, he explained shows God’s love for those who suffer and are cast aside.
2 Types of Suffering
The Jesuit Pontiff noted how suffering need not only be physical, noting that one of today’s most frequent pathologies is also spiritual.
“It is a suffering of the heart; it causes sadness for lack of love. It is the pathology of sadness. When we experience disappointment or betrayal in important relationships, we come to realize how vulnerable and defenceless we are. ”
The happiness which we desire, Francis explained, can be obtained only through our capacity to love, without exception.
He also posed to the present the question of whether we can “reproach God for our infirmities and sufferings when we realize how much suffering shows on the face of his crucified Son?”
The Pope urged the faithful to imitate Jesus, whose “physical pain was accompanied by mockery, condescension and scorn,” but “responded with a mercy that accepts and forgives everything.”
“Jesus is the physician who heals with the medicine of love, for he takes upon himself our suffering and redeems it. We know that God can understand our infirmities, because he himself has personally experienced them (cf. Heb 4:15).”
Pope Francis concluded, reminding those gathered that the way one experiences illness and disability is “an index of the love” they are ready to offer, and that in weakness, one can become strong.
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On ZENIT’s Web page:
Pope’s Homily: https://zenit.org/articles/popes-homily-at-jubilee-for-sick-disabled/
Pope’s Angelus Address: https://zenit.org/articles/angelus-address/
On the NET:
More Information on the Jubilee for Sick and Disabled: http://www.im.va/content/gdm/en/roma/grandi-eventi/2016-06-12-disabili.html
ANGELUS ADDRESS: Remembers Sick, Child Slaves, Blesseds by ZENIT Staff
Below is a ZENIT translation of Pope Francis’ Angelus address today at the end of the Holy Mass celebrated in St. Peter’s Square on the occasion of the Jubilee for the Sick and Disabled. Before reciting the midday prayer, the Pope said the following words:
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Before the Angelus:
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
Yesterday, in Vercelli, the priest Giacomo Abbondo, who lived in the eighteenth century, was beatified. He was in love with God, educated, and always available for his parishioners. We share the joy and thanksgiving of the Diocese of Vercelli. And also that of Diocese of Monreale, where today Sister Carolina Santocanale, founder of the Capuchin Sisters of the Immaculate of Lourdes, was beatified. Born into a noble family in Palermo, she gave up her comforts and became poor among the poor. By Christ, especially in the Eucharist, she drew the strength for her spiritual motherhood and her tenderness with the weakest.
In the context of the Jubilee for the Sick, in recent days, an international conference dedicated to caring for those suffering from Hansen’s Disease took place in Rome. With gratitude, I greet the organizers and participants and hope for a fruitful commitment in the struggle against this disease.
Today is the World Day Against Child Labour. Altogether, let’s renew our efforts to remove the causes of this modern slavery, depriving millions of children of certain fundamental rights and exposing them to serious dangers. In the world today there are so many child slaves!
I affectionately greet all the pilgrims who came from Italy and various countries for this Jubilee Day. I especially thank you who have wanted to be present in your state of illness or disability. My heartfelt thanks also go to doctors and health professionals who, in the “Health points” set up at the four papal basilicas, are offering specialized visits to hundreds of people living on the peripheries of the city of Rome. Many thanks to you!
May the Virgin Mary, to whom we now turn in prayer, always accompany us along our way.
Angelus Domini …[Original text: Italian] [Translation by Deborah Castellano Lubov]
Pope’s Homily at Jubilee for Sick, Disabled by ZENIT Staff
Below is the Vatican-provided translation of the Pope’s homily during the Holy Mass concluding the Jubilee for the Sick and Disabled this morning in St. Peter’s Square:
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“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:19). In these words, the Apostle Paul powerfully expresses the mystery of the Christian life, which can be summed up in the paschal dynamic of death and resurrection received at baptism. Indeed, through immersion in water, each of us, as it were, dies and is buried with Christ (cf. Rom 6:3-4), and remerging, shows forth new life in the Holy Spirit. This rebirth embraces every aspect of our lives: even sickness, suffering and death are taken up in Christ and in him find their ultimate meaning. Today, on the Jubilee day devoted to the sick and bearers of disabilities, this word of life has a special resonance for our assembly.
Each of us, sooner or later, is called to face – at times painfully – frailty and illness, both our own and those of others. How many different faces do these common yet dramatically human experiences take! Yet all of them directly raise the pressing question of the meaning of life. Our hearts may quietly yield to cynicism, as if the only solution were simply to put up with these experiences, trusting only in our own strength. Or we may put complete trust in science, thinking that surely somewhere in the world there is a medicine capable of curing the illness. Sadly, however, this is not always the case, and, even if the medicine did exist, it would be accessible to very few people.
Human nature, wounded by sin, is marked by limitations. We are familiar with the objections raised, especially nowadays, to a life characterized by serious physical limitations. It is thought that sick or disabled persons cannot be happy, since they cannot live the lifestyle held up by the culture of pleasure and entertainment. In an age when care for one’s body has become an obsession and a big business, anything imperfect has to be hidden away, since it threatens the happiness and serenity of the privileged few and endangers the dominant model. Such persons should best be kept apart, in some “enclosure” – even a gilded one – or in “islands” of pietism or social welfare, so that they do not hold back the pace of a false well-being. In some cases, we are even told that it is better to eliminate them as soon as possible, because they become an unacceptable economic burden in time of crisis. Yet what an illusion it is when people today shut their eyes in the face of sickness and disability! They fail to understand the real meaning of life, which also has to do with accepting suffering and limitations. The world does not become better because only apparently “perfect” people live there – I say “perfect” rather than “false” – but when human solidarity, mutual acceptance and respect increase. How true are the words of the Apostle: “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor 1:27)!
This Sunday’s Gospel (Lk 7:36-8:3) presents us with a specific situation of weakness. The woman caught in sin is judged and rejected, yet Jesus accepts and defends her: “She has shown great love” (7:47). This is the conclusion of Jesus, who is attentive to her suffering and her plea. This tenderness is a sign of the love that God shows to those who suffer and are cast aside. Suffering need not only be physical; one of today’s most frequent pathologies is also spiritual. It is a suffering of the heart; it causes sadness for lack of love. It is the pathology of sadness. When we experience disappointment or betrayal in important relationships, we come to realize how vulnerable and defenceless we are. The temptation to become self-absorbed grows stronger, and we risk losing life’s greatest opportunity: to love in spite of everything!
The happiness that everyone desires, for that matter, can be expressed in any number of ways and attained only if we are capable of loving. This is the way. It is always a matter of love; there is no other path. The true challenge is that of who loves the most. How many disabled and suffering persons open their hearts to life again as soon as they realize they are loved! How much love can well up in a heart simply with a smile! The therapy of smiling. Then our frailness itself can become a source of consolation and support in our solitude. Jesus, in his passion, loved us to the end (cf. Jn 13:1); on the cross he revealed the love that bestows itself without limits. Can we reproach God for our infirmities and sufferings when we realize how much suffering shows on the face of his crucified Son? His physical pain was accompanied by mockery, condescension and scorn, yet he responds with a mercy that accepts and forgives everything: “by his wounds we are healed” (Is 53:5; 1 Pet 2:24). Jesus is the physician who heals with the medicine of love, for he takes upon himself our suffering and redeems it. We know that God can understand our infirmities, because he himself has personally experienced them (cf. Heb 4:15).
The way we experience illness and disability is an index of the love we are ready to offer. The way we face suffering and limitation is the measure of our freedom to give meaning to life’s experiences, even when they strike us as meaningless and unmerited. Let us not be disturbed, then, by these tribulations (cf. 1 Th 3:3). We know that in weakness we can become strong (cf. 2 Cor 12:10) and receive the grace to fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for his body, the Church (cf. Col 1:24). For that body, in the image of the risen Lord’s own, keeps its wounds, the mark of a hard struggle, but they are wounds transfigured for ever by love.[Original text: Italian] [Vatican-provided translation]
Gospel for Sunday, June 12 by ZENIT Staff
A Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him,
and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table.
Now there was a sinful woman in the city
who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee.
Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment,
she stood behind him at his feet weeping
and began to bathe his feet with her tears.
Then she wiped them with her hair,
kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself,
“If this man were a prophet,
he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him,
that she is a sinner.”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“Simon, I have something to say to you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
“Two people were in debt to a certain creditor;
one owed five hundred days’ wages and the other owed fifty.
Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both.
Which of them will love him more?”
Simon said in reply,
“The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.”
He said to him, “You have judged rightly.”
Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon,
“Do you see this woman?
When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet,
but she has bathed them with her tears
and wiped them with her hair.
You did not give me a kiss,
but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered.
You did not anoint my head with oil,
but she anointed my feet with ointment.
So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven
because she has shown great love.
But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”
He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The others at table said to themselves,
“Who is this who even forgives sins?”
But he said to the woman,
“Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Afterward he journeyed from one town and village to another,
preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.
Accompanying him were the Twelve
and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities,
Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza,
Susanna, and many others who provided for them
out of their resources.
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