Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 11 — The Georgia Bulletin, March 1, 1990
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
■ Even a fairly common injury or illness like pneumonia or a broken
arm leads to increased dependency on others and a certain loss
of control over one’s life. Many people in such situations find it
difficult to adjust to having others do for them what they are
accustomed to doing for themselves.
Imagine, then, the feelings of people struck by a critical,
enduring illness like AIDS. In their recent message on AIDS, the
U.S. bishops described how victims of this disease often feel:
“alienated from family; frightened (of isolation and abandonment,
of pain and suffering, of dependency and loss of control); embar
rassed and/or guilty; more or less alone; possibly angry; isolated
by societal attitudes and a backlash of anger; without financial
resources.”
The model to follow in responding to these people who are sick
is Jesus, the bishops note. “With compassion, Jesus breaks
through the barriers of sickness and sinfulness in order to
encounter and heal the afflicted.”
AIDS victims, say the bishops, “are not distant, unfamiliar
people, the objects of our mingled pity and aversion. We
must keep them present to our consciousness as individuals and
a community.”
David Gibson, Editor, Faith Alive!
-Ii
'
Back to the basics
By Father John Castelot
Catholic News Service
“A woman was there who for 18
years had been ... bent over, completely
incapable of standing erect.... He laid
his hands on her and she at once
stood up straight and glorified God”
(Luke 13:11, 13).
Though there are no really solid
reasons to believe that Luke was a pro
fessional physician, it is not hard to see
why people came to think he was. He
emphasizes Jesus’ healing ministry
more than any other evangelist.
To substantiate the idea that Luke
was a doctor, people referred to Colos-
sians 4:14 which mentions “Luke the
beloved physician.” However the
“Luke” alluded to there could have been
one of many men in the author’s circle.
It is not that in Luke’s Gospel the
sick were Jesus’ sole object of concern.
They were simply the most obvious
example of that large class of people we
call the “powerless.”
Jesus reached out to empower all
those beaten down by misfortune: the
poor, the socially deprived; victims of
racism, classism, religious snobbery.
They were all “sick,” and in their grind
ing powerlessness had nowhere to turn.
By his compassionate ministry, Jesus
gave them back their dignity. He
By Father Kevin O’Rourke, OP
Catholic News Service
Last year at a retreat for health-care
professionals, several physicians, nurses
and pastoral-care people tried to define
as clearly as possible why the ministry
of health care is important to us and
what goals we should set for our
ministry. The following is the result of
our conversation.
Jesus displayed his concern and love
for people by healing them. He healed
not only their physical and psycholog
ical ills, but also their social and
spiritual sickness.
Out of love for Jesus, we try to help
people attain health of mind and body.
This is a way of sharing in his work and
showing faith in his teaching.
Health care has changed considerably
since Jesus’ time, however. Though the
motivation and purposes of healing are
the same, the methods, instruments and
procedures are more complicated.
reassured them that God was concerned
actively with their welfare.
But rather than simply preach the
message, Jesus lived it. He demon
strated it by healing people’s ills, giving
them comfort and hope. His inaugural
homily was a clear statement of his
mission:,
“The Spirit of the Lord ... has
anointed me to bring glad tidings to the
poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty
to captives and recovery of sight to the
blind” (Luke 4:18).
FURTHER NOURISHMENT
■ What should people do when they
“know with certainty” that their end
is in sight? What they “must come
to accept is that life is a mystery, a
gift freely given, that it comes with
no factory guarantee of longevity,”
writes Father Andrew Greeley in
“When Life Flurts.” They also need
to remember that God offers
“another gift of prodigal generosity
— a place in his kingdom which is
suddenly, actually, at hand.” (Double
day and Co. Inc., 666 Fifth Ave.,
New York, N.Y. 10103. 1989. Paper
back, $8.95.)
Today, we in health care must be con
cerned about finances as well as
medicine, about federal regulations as
well as compassion and about antiseptic
facilities as well as social justice.
Given the complexity of contem
porary health care, can we still offer it
in the spirit of Jesus?
Each authentic Christian ministry
must have these three goals:
1. To communicate the truths
revealed by God through Christ.
2. To form community through the
power of the Spirit.
3. To serve people in need.
Those goals provide a model for the
ministry of health care and healing.
The three Christian truths associated
most closely with health care are these:
human life is sacred; suffering and death
have meaning; and Christ loves the
poor.
—Human life is sacred. Its value is
not subject to human determination.
God has endowed human life with value
Jesus’ heart went out to people and
his hands went out to mend broken
bodies and broken hearts.
On one occasion “a man full of leprosy
... pleaded with him and said, ‘Lord, if
you wish you can make me clean.’ Jesus
stretched out his hand, touched him and
said,... ‘be made clean’” (Luke 5:12-13).
There are all sorts of sicknesses,
including emotional and moral suffer
ing. Jesus was concerned with the total
person. Today we would call his
approach “holistic.”
He gave people health and hope and
confidence.
In an incident which only Luke
records, a streetwalker shows up at a
party Jesus was attending. In an out
burst of gratitude for the forgiveness
she received, she falls at his feet and
drenches them with tears of joyful relief.
The self-righteous host is horrified.
But Jesus comes to her defense, con
trasting her loving ministrations to the
host’s cold neglect of even common
courtesy.
He assures the woman she indeed has
been forgiven, that God loves her and,
in the process, cures her of innumerable
ills. The woman is now healthy and
whole, an integral human person who
can look the world in the eye.
(Father Castelot is a biblical scholar
and free-lance writer.)
and it is not measured by the value or
respect it receives from human beings.
—Suffering and death have meaning.
Western society values pleasure, youth
and efficiency far out of proportion to
their actual worth. If suffering is
tolerated at all, it is considered a
necessary evil. Moreover, society long
has tried to avoid the reality of death.
Christians, on the other hand, see
meaning in suffering and death when
they are united to Christ’s suffering and
death. However, suffering and death are
not sought for their own sake in the
Christian concept of reality.
— Christ loves the poor. Christ’s
friends and followers have sought for
centuries to imitate him by caring for
the poor, sick and dying. Indeed, some
of the first hospitals were established by
religious congregations to help the
destitute die in physical comfort and
spiritual peace.
A problem today, however, is that a
health-care facility that tries to give
unlimited free care soon will be
bankrupt.
Forming Christian community is
among the goals of the health-care
ministry — a ministry that requires the
cooperation of many people: physicians,
nurses, clerical personnel, maintenance
personnel, lay people, Religious and
clergy.
Where community exists there is not
only a greater respect and concern for
the people with whom one works, but
also a feeling of trust and generosity
that influences patient care.
Developing community demands that
people realize they are gathered
together to continue Christ’s work as
well as to provide medical care.
Those, then, are a few basic points
discussed at the retreat I attended.
Every now and then it is good to get
back to basic ideas. This is certainly
true for the health-care ministry.
For unless our ministry is founded on
sound ideas and faith, it will not survive
the changes of culture and society.
(Father O'Rourke is director of the
Center for Health Care Ethics, St. Louis
University Medical Center.)
Jesus’ holistic medicine
Faith Alive! is published by Catholic News Service, 3211 Fourth St. N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017-1100. All contents copyright © 1990 by Catholic News Service.