Dear participants,

In today’s world, all that is not young, fresh, healthy, good-looking, is often swept under the rug. Our society is for the most uncomfortable around sick persons, disabled people, or the elderly. However, they still are a part of us, and they do deserve our service and consideration. Let’s see what the Scriptures said about the sick, and how the saints put the teachings of Christ in practice.

Today, we are focusing on the following work of Mercy: to visit the sick

From the Old Testament:

The song of Hezekiah, king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness: “My dwelling, like a shepherd’s tent, is struck down and borne away from me; you have folded up my life, like a weaver who severs me from the last thread. From morning to night you make an end of me; I cry out even until the dawn. Like a lion he breaks all my bones; from morning to night you make an end of me. Like a swallow I chirp; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weary looking heavenward: Lord, I am overwhelmed; be my support! What am I to say or tell him? He is the one who has done it! All my sleep has fled, because of the bitterness of my soul. Those live whom the Lord protects; yours is the life of my spirit. You have given me health and restored my life! Peace in place of bitterness! You have preserved my life from the pit of destruction.” Isaiah 38, 9;12-17

 From the New Testament:

“Many signs and wonders were done among the people at the hands of the apostles. They were all together in Solomon’s portico. None of the others dared to join them, but the people esteemed them. Yet more than ever, believers in the Lord, great numbers of men and women, were added to them. Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them. A large number of people from the towns in the vicinity of Jerusalem also gathered, bringing the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.” Acts 5, 12-16

 From the Saints’ life:

Louis Martin: one day, at the train station, Louis met a poor epileptic man who had no money for his fare. Louis gave him what he had, and collected the rest from other travelers by handing them his hat. Then, he settled the poor man in his seat.

Faustina: Faustina suffered from tuberculosis. In 1936, she stayed for about eight months at the  Kraków – Prądnik hospital to receive care. There, she accompanied the dying and provided end-of-life care. She comforted the declining patients and prayed with them the chaplet of Divine Mercy. When she could no longer physically minister to the dying, it is said that she experienced many extraordinary graces such as the gift of bilocation and reading into human souls, which enabled her to carry on her ministry “remotely”.  

Edith Stein: Edith interrupted her studies to serve as a volunteer nurse with the Red Cross, at a lazaret in Mährisch-Weisskirchen, typhoid ward, caring for both soldiers and civilians at the height of WWI. It is worthy to note that Edith’s mother was fiercely opposed to her going to a field hospital, and her decision to go was the first ever in which she defied her mother.