13 February. SEE: When I mentioned MERCY SHIPS to my paramedic grandson he admitted he had not heard about it. I had seen this mission promoted on TV and related it to the work of paramedics, or anyone willing and interested to help the sick or disabled people. Medical science has made enormous strides in all fields. Blindness and deafness have been around for centuries. Clearly a cure would be ideal but degrees of healing are helping to improve the quality of the lives of those of all ages who suffer. Many medical scientists and health workers see this as a vocation, others as a job, but it certainly needs a helping attitude. Those who volunteer to work on MERCY SHIPS or other voluntary projects are true neighbours, sharing in God’s loving care for the suffering and the poor.
JUDGE, reflect and share. Scripture: At that time they brought Jesus a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech and they begged him to lay his hand upon him And taking him aside from the multitude Jesus put his fingers into his ears and he spat and touched his tongue and looking up to heaven he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is “ be opened.” And his ears were opened and his tongue released and he spoke clearly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. Mk 7:31-37. Pope Leo: The shared mission of caring for the sick. “To be one in the One” means truly recognizing that we are members of a single Body that brings the Lord’s compassion to the suffering of all people, each according to our own vocation. [9] Moreover, the pain that moves us to compassion is not the pain of a stranger; it is the pain of a member of our own Body, to whom Christ our Head commands us attend, for the good of all. In this sense, our service is identified with Christ’s own suffering and, when offered in a Christian spirit, hastens the fulfillment of the Savior’s prayer for the unity of all. From Message for Day of Sick
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