The 33rd World Day of the Sick, which falls on the 11th of February, the liturgical memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes, is being celebrated in the context of the Jubilee Year. Not coincidentally, “Hope does not disappoint, but strengthens us in times of trial” is the title of Pope Francis’ Message for the Day, an invitation to express hope in the context of suffering and treatment. How can this be done? SIR turned the question over to Fr. Massimo Angelelli, director of the National Office for the Pastoral Care of the Sick of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI).
Fr Angelelli, how does hope relate to illness?
When we have an illness, hope arises from the meaning we attach to it – “What does it mean? Why me?”: these are the first questions asked by the sick person, because in this “why” there is a search for meaning. If I succeed in illuminating this experience with meaning, I can give a positive value to an experience that in itself seems devoid of it. Through this year’s Message, the Pope helps us to understand that
a sick person’s search for meaning is ultimately a search for God, a search for his presence, which illuminates suffering and gives hope.
The Pope proposes a triptych: encounter, gift, sharing, with illness being a “transformative encounter.” In what way?
In times of illness, when illness bursts into a person’s life, that person’s existence is upset, the disease changes that person’s horizons, self-perception, and relationships. The first step of the sick person is to enter into a new relationship, which is different from the previous one, with himself/herself and with others. Contexts and perspectives change, as does the relationship with God: if it existed previously it may become stronger or face a crisis. If not, the illness may become an opportunity to turn to the Lord in search of answers.
At the bedside of the sick we learn to hope and to believe, Francis affirms. How is this possible?
This can be done by all those who approach those who suffer without prejudice and with a willingness to listen. I fully understand what the Pope is saying because I have experienced it myself as a hospital chaplain.
I learned to hope through my accompaniment of many sick people, because I saw grace at work in their lives.
We think of suffering as a misfortune, a kind of punishment. This is not so: being ill is an experience of life and should be lived as such. It does not have a positive value, but it can become an opportunity to review one’s way of life. There is much we can learn from being with the sick.
How is it possible to be “angels of hope” in a hospital ward where the medical establishment imposes hectic work schedules on physicians and nurses, who often have to work exhausting shifts?
Time is what is lacking in health care today, the place where relationships are formed, develop and flourish. Relationships between parents and children, between siblings that for various reasons had drifted apart, are often rebuilt in a hospital room. Illness takes time away from you; you know that you no longer have that much of it. Therefore, the time that is left must be “spent” well. So people set out to rebuild their affections and relationships, and time becomes the most precious commodity a sick person has, so much so that it is never enough.
Talking about relationships: how important are they when it comes to healing?
Relationships are strategic and fundamental. Our experience with COVID has taught us to make a clear distinction between treatment and healing. The first concerns the biological dimension: “If you have pain, I will remove it. If you have a disease, I will fight it with drugs”. Healing, on the other hand, has a deeper dimension and consists of closeness, empathy, compassion: it happens in the relationship. If I am healed of my illness, but I experience this situation alone, I will not feel healed.
What the sick person needs is someone, not something.
This is an essential ingredient that is unfortunately silenced and nullified by the current health care system. Today we see patients who, despite treatment, feel uncared for; family members who know their loved one is suffering, but no one is there for them; caregivers who are expected to provide treatment as quickly and efficiently as possible, when they would rather be caring for the person. Today, dissatisfaction and unhappiness are also widespread among health care workers: this is reflected in the declining number of young people entering the health care professions.
What can be done?
The whole organisational model, which is overly focused on performance, needs to be changed.
It is not just a question of financial resources; public health today needs bold new approaches that balance the needs (and rights) of citizens with the rights of carers.
On Friday 7 February, the “Good Samaritan” prayer of thanksgiving to God for caregivers was renewed. But in this Jubilee year, the event will be repeated on the first 11 first Fridays of the month, until 5 December. Why?
By instituting the World Day of the Sick, John Paul II reminded us that the sick are the protagonists of prayer. It is our desire, therefore, to restore a central place for the praying sick: that is why the hour of Eucharistic prayer begins in the hospital chaplaincies. Let us pray together with the sick, who ask the Lord first of all for what they need, but especially
Let us pray to thank God for their caregivers.
Nobody does this: let us do it, with greater emphasis in this Holy Year, together with the sick.
The Assisted Dying bill, a citizens’ proposal promoted by the Luca Coscioni Association, is scheduled to be voted on on Tuesday by the Regional Council of Tuscany.
If health funds continue to be cut or not properly invested, it will be impossible to treat the sick. If a person is properly cared for, with an effective palliative care pathway, possibly at home, he or she will not ask to die. The best response we can give to their suffering is to help them not to die, but to live pain-free and with dignity. Without pain, thanks to palliative care, and with the dignity of affection and relationships. Our 25 hospices unanimously confirm that
With the right accompaniment, patients never ask to die.
