Unfortunately, my first pill box went incredibly missing. I purposely say “incredibly” missing because I cannot fathom how it could have gone missing. After all, as the great 1st century Latin writer of maxims, Publilius Syrus, put it: “To do two things at once is to do neither.” In fact, there was no point of crying for my lost pill box up to the point of despairing and, consequently, spending hours seeking it in vain. As a heart attack survivor, the most viable option to undertake was of buying a new pill box.
And that is what I exactly did during my last pilgrimage to Medjugorje. Miracles of all sorts, namely both naturally and supernaturally, do occur in this holy place. Luckily, the souvenir shops that I came across almost all sold this precious item which I badly craved for to have. When I bought it I happily realised that just on the facade of my new pill box I noticed the marvellous depiction of the beautiful statue of Our Lady that is venerated in Tehalina in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, it is also the emblem of the Radio Maria Stations worldwide.
The sweet, gentle and maternal gaze of Mary reminded me of one of the powerful titles which we attribute to the Mother of God. In the traditional litany, which contains ancient titles of the Blessed Virgin, the majority of which know their origins in the Bible, and many of them have been utilised as names of entire parishes, Mary is venerated as Health of the Sick. Why is the Blessed Virgin called so?
In his homily for the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes of two years ago, precisely in the occasion of the 18th World Day of the Sick, Pope Benedict XVI explained the reason why Mary is commonly referred to as Health of the Sick.
“It is therefore not surprising that Mary, Mother and model of the Church, is invoked and venerated as ‘Salus infirmorum Health of the sick’. As the first and perfect disciple of her Son, in guiding the Church on her journey she has always shown special solicitude for the suffering…
“On the Memorial of the apparitions in Lourdes, where Mary chose to manifest her maternal solicitude for the sick, the Liturgy appropriately echoes the Magnificat… The Magnificat is not the canticle of one upon whom fortune smiles, who has always had ‘the wind in her sails’; rather it is the thanksgiving of one who knows the hardships of life but trusts in God’s redemptive work.”
Mary, who knows what suffering truly is, since she painfully but courageously endured and accompanied her Son’s agonising journey in order to save us, lost humanity, is totally interested in what we are going through. Contrary to the defiled spirit of indifference, which is tragically gaining solid ground within the fallen spirit of the present world, Mary’s maternal solicitude is already an indispensable cure for those who suffer. Mary is the incarnation of God’s healing and redeeming hope in our midst.
Our Lady herself confirmed this to the humble Indio, Juan Diego of Cuautilan, when in December 1531, at the foot of Tepeyac Hill, nowadays called Guadalupe, after asking for the healing of a relative, she told him: “Do not worry about this illness or about any other misfortune. Am I, your Mother, not here at your side? Are you not protected by my shadow? Am I not your safety?”
This is the feeling I personally get whenever I look with faith at my new pill box. Mary, the Mother of God and my beloved Mother, is my safety. Under her celestial mantle I know that I am completely healed!
■ Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap