On Saturday 11 February, the Universal Church celebrated two important events. The first one is the liturgical Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, while the second event relates to the celebration of the 14th World day of the Sick, which this year, was hosted by the Australian city of Adelaide.

The reality of sickness brings to mind that suffering is part and parcel of our human condition. Suffering pervades our humanity. In his renowned Apostolic Letter which speaks “On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering”, Salvifici Doloris, Pope John Paul II says that suffering not only occurs in various instances and represents itself under different faces, but “in whatever form, suffering seems to be, and is, almost inseparable from man’s earthly existence” (Salvifici Doloris, 3).

Suffering does not come on its own. It always brings with it other guests called anguish, pain, anger, frustration, disappointment, fear of the known and unknown, insecurity, uncertainty, emptiness, denial, etc. Hospital ministry constantly teaches me that these feelings are practically to be found in all the patients I encounter.

Yet, this is just one side of the coin. On the other side, I also notice how many patients have the courage to stay with their pain and through it they find meaning and hope in their lives and deaths. Rare were the occasions when I met people who died in despair. Their suffering always ended up having a meaning, no matter how painful it was.

It is the task of spiritual care to help the suffering person understand both his/her own life as well his/her own place in it. As Rev. Amy Furth suggests, “spirituality is about how we relate to ourselves and to others and to that which is beyond us but which connects us”. For the preacher of the Papal household, Fr Raniero Cantalamessa OFM Cap, Christianity is the faith that can really alleviate suffering.

Christianity integrates the human person with his/her own sufferings, precisely by bestowing on it its authentic meaning and value. Christianity presents a God who is close to the suffering people. In the person of Jesus Christ, God himself suffered on the cross. So He perfectly knows what it means to undergo great tribulations in life.

As a Franciscan Capuchin friar, I cannot not resort to my Franciscan Capuchin spiritual heritage in order to show how true and comforting Fr Cantalamessa’s insight is. I would like to suggest the following extract taken from St Pio of Pietrelcina’s letter to Maria Gargani, one of his spiritual daughters, who at the time was experiencing great physical and moral suffering.

“I know that your physical suffering is caused by your moral suffering… but do not fear. Having been nailed to the cross with Jesus and having descended to the sepulchre, you will see the unfailing light, and from Calvary you will go on to Tabor… believe and hope. With faith and hope you will arm yourself in order to sustain the struggle in which the heavenly Father’s goodness has involved you. With faith and hope, you will not be without the sweet nectar of love which unites you more and more to the Supreme Good”.

May this wisdom help those of us who feel somehow disconnected, discouraged and lost by their suffering. May the comfort and relief that they will get from the aforesaid quotation assist them in their slow departure from the domain of meaninglessness to the brave undertaking of the journey that smoothly leads them to feel the warmth of a MEANINGFUL PRESENCE which gives them an enlightening hope to their much troubled lives.

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap