Man’s Life is Not a Good We Can Dispose of
On February 11, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, on the occasion of the seventeenth World Day of the Sick, Benedict XVI affirmed again the Church’s opposition to abortion and euthanasia in front of thousands of Italian sick gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica.
“Human life is not a disposable good but a precious coffer to be preserved and looked after with every possible attention, from the moment of its origin to its ultimate natural end,” Benedict XVI emphasized in his address at the end of the Mass offered by Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán, president for the Pontifical Council for Health and Pastoral Care. “This Day invites us to feel with greater intensity the spiritual closeness to the Church’s sick which, as I wrote in the Encyclical Deus caritas est, is the family of God in the world within which no one must go without the necessities of life,” the pope said.
“Life is a mystery that in itself demands responsibility, love, patience and charity, on the part of each and every one. It is especially necessary to surround those who are sick and suffering with care and respect, the pope said. He acknowledged: “This is not always easy,” but specified that Christians “know where to find the courage and patience to face the vicissitudes of earthly existence, and in particular sickness and every kind of suffering. For us Christians, it is in Christ that the answer is found to the enigma of pain and death. By participating in Holy Mass, as you have just done, we are immersed in the mystery of his death and Resurrection. Every Eucharistic celebration is the perennial memorial of the Crucified and Risen Christ, who defeated the power of evil with the omnipotence of his love.”
The pope recalled that: “Children are the weakest and most defenceless of creatures. If we are left speechless before an adult who is suffering, what can we say when illness affects an innocent child?” “The Word of God reveals to us that even these ills are mysteriously ‘embraced’ by the divine plan of salvation; faith helps us to consider human life beautiful and worthy of living to the full, even when it is undermined by evil.”
Benedict XVI also recalled the “vivid memory” he kept from his pilgrimage to the Marian city of Lourdes in September 2008, and assured the sick of his “spiritual closeness.” At the end of his address, holding a candle in his hand, Benedict XVI sang the prayer of the Ave Maria of Lourdes together with the sick of the Opera romana pellegrinaggi (ORP) and of the Unitalsi, two Italian Association organizing pilgrimages. Next, he insisted on greeting personally several sick people. (Sources: apic/imedia/VIS)
