This afternoon we are celebrating a very special occasion, our annual Mass for the Sick.  During this Mass we will celebrate as a community another sacrament, the Sacrament of the anointing of the sick. So in the name of the Pastoral Team  here at St. Monica’s I would like to warmly welcome all who have come seeking this special grace of healing this afternoon. We also welcome all of you who are involved in the care of the sick. Many of you may care for a sick person in your homes—an elderly parent for example, and some of you may be involved professionally in the care of the sick as physicians, nurses, psychologists, physiotherapists and others. We have here at St. Monica’s a very active Ministry to the sick under the leadership of Anne Robinson.  These Ministers to the sick make visits to over 200 people in our parish family.

This afternoon I would like to spend a few moments reflecting  with you on the meaning of suffering for a believer. This is not easy and indeed one of the criticisms of Christianity throughout the ages is our belief that God is good and compassionate and yet the world is full of suffering and death.   In The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in the section on faith, this paradox is recognized:

“Now, however, ‘we walk by faith, not by sight’; we perceive God as “in a mirror, dimly” and only “in part”. Even though enlightened  by him in whom it believes, faith is often lived in darkness and can be put to the test.  The world we live in often seems very far from the one promised by faith.  Our experiences of evil and suffering, injustice and death, seem to contradict the Good News; they can shake our faith and become a temptation against it.”(#164) This theme is found in a 2008 TV Movie entitled God on Trial  which you can watch on Youtube .  In the movie, a group of men in Auschwitz, awaiting their fate in the gas chambers, begin to rail against God.  They decide to hold a trial with God as the accused. The charges against God are that he is calloused and indifferent to their suffering and in the end God is convicted on all counts. However in the final scene, the movie ends with these same prisoners   praying to this  God whom they cannot comprehend. [1]  There is something incomprehensible about suffering. And yet, mysteriously, to suffer is to become like God, sharing in Jesus’ suffering and death.

I have had the wonderful experience of being an Osler Fellow involved in the teaching of medical students in a course called ‘Physician Apprenticeship”.  All the medical students arriving in August are divided into groups of 6 new students and 2  senior students with an Osler Fellow as a preceptor. This course continues throughout all the 4 years of medical school and its purpose is to deal with the issues around compassion and suffering. It’s a wonderful program and a privilege to be able to watch these young men and women become compassionate physicians. I would like to quote some of these medical students after they have begun their clinical experience on the wards:

“Yeah, but the last two years, the thing that just overwhelms my experience was just the amount of pain and suffering that you see—and like even people for instance –second years—don’t get it.” Another student said: “I never imagined..such overwhelming suffering—and I think to not be affected by that you either have to turn to stone or,. I don’t know, you have a lot of work to do,..because it’s really powerful.” What these young medical students are expressing is something we all feel in the presence of suffering, and sickness.

Suffering can take many forms..physical, psychological and spiritual. And the most painful is usually not physical but rather psychological and spiritual.  Psychologically, suffering takes the form of a kind of isolation: the sick person is taken out of his/her daily life, taken away from what is familiar; there is a loss of autonomy with others making decisions for you; sometimes there is even a loss of one’s dignity. Those of us involved in caring for the sick in whatever capacity must always have compassion.  “..compassion is reflected in a disposition to’feel’ along with the patient.  When it is genuine, compassion is unmistakably sensed by the patient and cannot be feigned.”(Pellegrino, JAMA, 1974)

Spiritual suffering is often the worst as Mother Teresa described in her diaries: a feeling of being abandoned by God. There is also an almost default position that suffering is somehow a punishment for our sins.  This idea is never far from our consciousness, eg. HIV is a punishment for  homosexuality! Job’s advisors, even his wife, advised Job that his terrible suffering was due to his sins and if he repented, his suffering would be removed.   Jesus clearly says that a person’s suffering is not because of their sinfulness in Luke ‘s Gospel: “At that time some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means!….”(Like 13:1-3). Jesus goes on to say that we are all sinners in need of redemption:”If you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”  Sickness and suffering are in some mysterious manner a sharing in Christ’s suffering through which we have all been saved. Thus, those of you who are sick are a necessary part of our community at St.Monica’s because it is through you, in union with Jesus, that we experience the grace of healing:”Lord, say but the word and I shall be healed.”

In a few moments Father Ray and Father Bertoli will anoint all the sick. In doing so we are reminded of James’ advice in our Second Reading:” Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up.  If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.”(James 5:14-15). Deacon Dennis and I will offer a healing blessing for those who are not being anointed.

Who can be anointed? Anyone suffering from any kind of chronic illness, physical, psychological or spiritual, may be anointed. Again we read in the Catechism: “The Anointing of the Sick “is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death.” The first grace given by the Holy Spirit in this sacrament is “strengthening, peace and courage to overcome the difficulties that go with the condition of serious illness or the frailty of old age…the grace is a gift of the Holy Spirit who renews trust and faith in God and strengthens against the temptations of the evil one, the temptation to discouragement …and furthermore, if he/she has sinned, he/she will be forgiven.”(#1520)