In today’s Gospel, we witness the healing ministry of Jesus: his cleansing of the leper, restoring him to health, to his family, to his community. This week, we continue our reading of Pope Francis’ message for the 2015 World Day of the Sick: “I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame.” (Job 29:15)

Wisdom of the heart means going forth from ourselves towards our brothers and sisters. Occasionally our world forgets the special value of time spent at the bedside of the sick, since we are in such a rush; caught up as we are in a frenzy of doing, of producing, we forget about giving ourselves freely, taking care of others, being responsible for others. Behind this attitude there is often a lukewarm faith which has forgotten the Lord’s words: “You did it unto me.”

Wisdom of the heart means showing solidarity with our brothers and sisters while not judging them. Charity takes time: time to care for the sick, and time to visit them. True charity is a sharing which does not judge, which does not demand the conversion of others; it is free of that false humility which, deep down, seeks praise and is self-satisfied about whatever good it does. Job’s experience of suffering finds its genuine response only in the cross of Jesus, the supreme act of God’s solidarity with us, completely free and abounding in mercy. This response of love to the drama of human pain, especially innocent suffering, remains forever impressed on the body of the risen Christ; his glorious wounds are a scandal for faith but also the proof of faith.

Even when illness, loneliness and inability make it hard for us to reach out to others, the experience of suffering can become a privileged means of transmitting grace and a source for gaining and growing in sapientia cordis. We come to understand how Job, at the end of his experience, could say to God: “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.” (42:5). People immersed in the mystery of suffering and pain, when they accept these in faith, can themselves become living witnesses of a faith capable of embracing suffering, even without being able to understand its full meaning.

I entrust this World Day of the Sick to the maternal protection of Mary, who conceived and gave birth to Wisdom incarnate: Jesus Christ, our Lord: O Mary, Seat of Wisdom, intercede as our Mother for all the sick and for those who care for them! Grant that, through our service of our suffering neighbours, and through the experience of suffering itself, we may receive and cultivate true wisdom of heart! With this prayer for all of you, I impart my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 3 December 2014, Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier