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The procession of the bishops – 24 from Australia, along with
representatives from the Vatican, PNG, Africa and New Zealand
By Johanna Bennett
The sick and dying are not a burden. So said Cardinal
Clancy in his homily at the Ninth World Day of the Sick held last Sunday at St Mary’s Cathedral.
These are words that stand in stark contrast to the way the sick – whether they be suffering the sickness of
old age or struck by illness while younger – are so often viewed by today’s secular society.
Far from being a burden, the sick have a special place in the Church, said the cardinal. They were important to
Jesus who spent much of his time during his earthly mission curing them. So much so that his fame spread throughout Syria and all those who were suffering were brought to him to be cured.
But even more than
this, Jesus himself chose suffering – on the cross – as the means of our redemption.
“The sick and the suffering … make Christ present in our world as do few others,” said Cardinal Clancy, who was chosen by
the Pope John Paul II as his Papal Envoy (representative) for the occasion.
Pope John Paul II in his message for Sunday said that “only by looking at Jesus, ‘a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief’(Is
53.3), is it possible to find serenity and trust.”
The desire for such serenity was very strong at last Sunday’s Solemn Mass for the Sick at the cathedral. Around 3,000 packed the nave and beyond, and 500 of
these stayed after the Mass to receive an anointing with holy oil from the bishops and priests who had concelebrated the Mass with Cardinal Clancy.
Whether any of these will be cured is hard to say. There
are no proven or anecdotal cases of physical cures resulting from either this Day or the eight preceding it at various Marian shrines around the world.
But Mary’s gift is also a gift of peace. We may hope
for physical cures, but what a great many pilgrims to Our Lady’s shrines report is receiving the gift of peace.
Sunday’s Mass and Anointing of the Sick was just such a moment of peace in the turmoil that is
life today.
It began before the Mass with a young woman walking by the side of the cathedral,a carton of steaming cappucino in one hand, mobile phone in the other, body adorned with piercings and jewellery.
Speaking into her mobile, she said: “I’m at the cathedral. It’s so beautiful. All the priests in their robes have just gone in. I think I will go in for half an hour.”
Hopefully, she stayed until the end an hour and a half later.
Once inside there were many more such moments.
In one of the front rows, just behind those to be anointed, sat a young man in a
wheelchair. When it came time to make the sign of the cross on forehead, lips and chest, his hands just couldn’t do it so, ever so gently, his mother did it for him.
And then there was Mary, her statue with
the infant Jesus just to the side of the altar, and at her feet two huge displays of the freshest lilies.
The highlight of the Mass was the Anointing of the Sick, which began with a litany calling for God’s
help for all those who devote themselves to caring for the sick, as well as a blessing for the sick that they be filled “with new hope and strength”.
Then came the special moment of anointing. Cardinal Clancy
and his fellow bishops descended from the altar, dressed in white robes sewn with pale blue-green flowers and leaves. The cardinal laid his hands on the first person to be anointed, Sr Monica – a Brown Joey as
Sisters of her Order are affectionately known – then he said, “May the Lord free you of sin, save you and raise you up.”
In a cool world where the warmth of such touch has become almost taboo, the power of
touch is indeed powerful. This moment of anointing was an other-worldly moment, an intimate moment of floating time as the cardinal laid his hands on successive heads, as did the bishops helping him, anointing 25
people in all.
Then they returned again with the blessed oil. Fingers dipping into brass vials of the Oil of the Sick, blessed at the Chrism Mass of Holy Thursday, making the sign of the cross on the
foreheads of those anointed. Then hands too were anointed with the words: “The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up the light of his
countenance upon and give you his peace.”
And all the while the choir sang, “the Lord bless you and keep you” and the sweet scent of incense hung in the air.
The theme of Sunday’s Mass and of this
Ninth Day of the Sick was The New Evangelisation and Dignity of the Suffering Person. This, and the fact that this dignity is under threat, was underscored in a second message from Pope John Paul II, which was
delivered by Archbishop Javier Lozano Barragán, the president of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care.
The message spoke of a “fatal confusion” today regarding the understanding of the purpose of
health care born of ethical uncertainty.
The purpose of health care is “to promote and safeguard the well-being of those who need it”. Medical research and practice must be subject to this ethical
imperative, said Archbishop Barragán. And the dignity of the weak and “those who may seem unproductive in the eyes of consumer society” must also be respected.
The archbishop added that health care should be
a basic right available to all people. It was also important “to explain properly the reasons for the Church’s position, stressing that it is not a case of imposing on non-believers a vision of faith, but of
interpreting and defending values rooted in the very nature of the human person”.
The priestly contingent for the Mass of the World Day of the Sick was huge and included a number of overseas bishops,
representing Papua New Guinea, Africa and New Zealand, as well the Vatican’s Archbishop Barragán and his secretary, Bishop Jose Redrado, who were part of a 20-strong Vatican delegation. There were also 24 Australian
bishops or their representatives from the length and breadth of the Great South Land.
The bishops toured a number of Sydney Catholic hospitals during their visit where they blessed the sick. They also took
part in a conference on Saturday which looked at the role of Catholic health care in today’s ethically and economically challenging environment.
The Catholic Weekly will cover this extensively in next week’s issue.
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