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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1987)
Page 4 • Faith Today ON PILGRIMAGE “The parable of the Good Samaritan belongs to the gospel of suffering. For it indicates what the relationship of each of us must be toward our suffering neighbor. We are not allowed to pass by on the other side’ indifferently; we must ‘stop’ beside him. Everyone who stops beside the suffering of another person, whatever form it may take, is a good Samaritan” (Pope John Paul II in his 1984 apostolic letter on human suffering). Human suffering is a mystery that boggles the mind. That is part of the problem with it — that its meaning is so difficult to grasp. The result is that a person who is suffering will ask “Why?” Why is there evil in the world? Why do I suffer? Pope John Paul II wrote of this at length in a 1984 letter to the church. Ultimately, he says, these questions about suffering are like ly to be directed at God. And at times the suffering person may “reach the point of actually deny ing God,” the pope emphasizes. That fact “shows how much care must be taken both in dealing with the question itself and with all possible answers to it.” This profound questioning that may be experienced by those who suffer is a consideration for those who serve them to keep in mind. To serve those who suffer is a matter of becoming truly available to them, the pope writes. It is an availability colored by compas sion. “Sometimes this compassion remains the only or principal ex pression of our love and solidarity with the sufferer,” he adds. But the good Samaritan’s availability “does not stop at sym pathy and compassion alone,” the pope continues. “A good Samaritan is one who brings help in suffering. ..Help which is, as far as possible, effective.” The good Samaritan “gives himself.” It is part of the mystery of suf fering that while linked to evil it also is linked to love, the pope says. It might be said that this mysterious reality transforms the very atmosphere in which those who suffer are served. Reflect, if you will, on these words by the pope: “We could say that suffering, which is present under so many different forms in our human world, is also present in order to unleash love in the human person, that unselfish gift of one’s T on behalf of other people, especially those who suffer. The world of human suffering unceasingly calls, so to speak, for another world: the world of human love; and in a certain sense man owes to suffer ing that unselfish love which stirs in his heart and actions.” 1 •«CHILDREN'S PLACE •••« •••••*•«•«•«•«•••■ A compassionate woman By Janaan Manternach NC News Service R ose and her older brother and sister grew up in a home filled with love. Rose had a special love for her father, the famous writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne. He was her only teacher until he died in 1864. When he died her young heart was broken. She was 13- The next year she went to school for the first time. Rose began to dream of doing something great when she grew up. She shared her dreams with her best friend, Mary Betts. The two friends were separated when Rose’s mother moved her family to Germany four years later. Rose missed Mary very much. But a new friend, George Lathrop, came into her life. Rose and George fell in love. Three years later they married and moved back to Massachusetts. They soon had a baby boy who died when he was 5- About that time, George began to drink heavily. He lost his job and he and Rose moved from place to place. They both became Catholics in 1891. But George drank more and more until finally Rose could not stand it. The bishop approved her separation from George. Not long afterward, Rose met a woman dying of cancer. That ex perience changed her life. Rose became aware that thousands of poor people in New York were, dying of cancer. There was no one to care for them because not even hospitals then would help in curable cancer patients. Rose decided to spend her life caring for cancer victims. She adopted as her motto the words of St. Vincent de Paul, “lam for God and the poor. ’ She believed that to help the poor it was necessary to live with them. So she sold some of her jewelry and rented an apartment. She began her work by visiting poor people in the neighborhood who had cancer. Then she started taking cancer patients into her own apartment. Soon she rented more rooms nearby. She wrote letters begging for medicines, ban dages and help. S: <&&. 6GV CfcSJ Yi*- One day in 1897 a young woman came to visit. Alice Huber was so impressed with what she saw that she volunteered to work with Rose. In 1899 the two form ed a new group of Dominican nuns, the “Servants of Relief for Incurable Cancer.” Rose became Sister Alphonsa and Alice took the name Sister Mary Rose. Their love for the sick attracted other women to their community. As the community grew, so did the number of patients. They needed more space, more money. Finally they moved to a large building 30 miles from New York City now known as Hawthorne, N Y. They named it Rosary Hill. Sister Alphonsa died at 75 in 1926. (Ms. Manternach is the author of catechetical works, scripture stories and original stories for children.) Word Scramble Unscramble the words below. All the words are in this week’s children’s story. Example; OERS 1. ERTAHOWHN 2. MEDARS 3. RECNAC 4. WEEJYLR •Xa|0Maf f ‘jaoireo g ‘sureaap z ‘au.ioq:}MBH I :saaMsuy What do you think? □ Rose Hawthorne Lathrop met a sick woman and the ex perience changed her life. How? From the bookshelf When someone in a family becomes seriously ill, all members are affected. Illness and the possibility of death is a theme frequently found in fairy tales. Water of Life, retold by Barbara Rogasky, is that kind of fairy tale. The father of the family, a king, is so sick that everyone thinks he will die. His three sons learn of the water of life which could make their father well. How the youngest finally finds the water of life reveals the strength of goodness. How he eventual ly is redeemed in an evil situation demonstrates the power of love. (Holiday House Inc., 18 E. 53rd St., New York, N.Y. 10022. 1986. Hardback, $14.95.)
