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THE MOST TERRIBLE AND DIFFICULT CANCER TO HEAL ARE THE DISEASES THAT PREVENT US FROM BEING WITNESSES OF CHRIST

[ IIIª REFLECTION: Lack of forgiveness ]

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Let's start with a trivial finding: because we feel resentment and fail to forgive? Simply because we internally relive the evil that has been done to us, mulling it over in our hearts. The memory of the offense caused - in this case - no longer works to reach a resolution but works to reiterate the offense, which over time becomes chronic and remains calcified as an obsession in our soul.

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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the cartoons of Gioba [John Berti, Veronese presbyter] original in gioba.it WHO

The third pathology spiritual which I will discuss is related to the tendency not to grant forgiveness easily, and it is very widespread. It does not spare the lay faithful like consecrated persons. Like this, as a priest dedicated to the ministry of confessor,I often find myself probing this aspect within the life of penitents who approach the precious sacrament of reconciliation.

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I assist like this most of the time to a kind of spiritual schizophrenia, indeed, if on the one hand one wants to obtain God's forgiveness at any cost - given the proliferation of trends merciful - this desire, however, does not correspond to an equally desired grant of forgiveness towards others. The search for forgiveness and the rigidity in granting it certainly constitutes a paradox in the life of many men and women who live the faith..

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As a confessor, I must admit that the most painful reality consists in taking note of how the lack of forgiveness is hardly perceived as a sin to confess, and sometimes it is not even understood as condition not which conforms to the image of Christ [cf. 1PT 2,23]. Every day reciting the prayer of the Our Father, we are faced with a clause of ascetic perfection that asks God to remit our shortcomings, to the extent that we make ourselves bearers of forgiveness towards those who have offended us. So let's try to be careful about what we ask in prayer, in fact, God takes seriously these words which are not of man but of Christ, this is what the version of the Our Father in the Gospel of St. Matthew that says so teaches us: "Forgive us our debts, as we also remit them to our debtors " [cf. Mt 6,12], that of the Gospel of Saint Luke instead: "Forgive us our sins, in fact we too forgive all our debtors " [cf. Lk 11,4]. The differences are minimal, but the substance does not change: the Christian is recognized by how he forgives, that is, by the way in which he exercises his own justice not according to the logic of the world but according to the logic of the Gospel [cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church n. 2838; Compendium n. 594].

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The Our Father has always been a problematic prayer - this was the case for Sant’Agostino - but this problematic nature is not synonymous with the impossibility of achieving what he asks, if anything, of resistance to grace, that is, an indication of a sick human heart.

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There are so many people who say: "I don't forgive" or "I forgive but I don't forget". They are sentences extrapolated from their context and from the emotional charge with which they are pronounced, but which really contain a profound truth. And with this reflection of mine I want to try to answer precisely these two objections.

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I. DIO FORGIVES, NOT ME: A GOAL THAT EXCEEDS L'MAN.

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That man was a disaster in forgiving the Blessed Apostle Peter understood this well [cf. Mt 18,21-22], when turning to Jesus he asks how many times it is lawful to forgive one's offender. Peter questions Jesus about the legitimacy of a moral act foreseen by the law, but the master responds by overturning the figure of Lamec's revenge in the positive [cf. GN 4,23-24]: “I don't tell you up to seven times, but seventy times seven ". With this unsettling answer, Jesus - bearing in mind all the symbolic value of the numbers seven and seventy - wants to make Peter understand that forgiveness is not a moral act that touches on legal obligation but on grace. The next parable of the merciless servant, illustrates very well the overrun problem and the correct hermeneutics of the thought of Jesus expressed to Peter [cf. Mt 18,23-35].

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Forgiveness taught by Christ to the disciples reaches its summit on Calvary and lives on the mystique of the encounter with the Father, author of grace and therefore of pardon [cf. LC 23,34]. Forgiveness means returning to God, allow him to make us new. The holy King David, aware of this need for conversion and renewal in the spirit that directs towards forgiveness, in the Miserere he becomes the bearer of a precise request «Create in me, hate, a pure heart renews a steadfast spirit in me " [cf. Shall 51,12].

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The use of conversion, necessary to be docile to grace and to soften the heart, it allows us to be forgiven and to forgive in turn. He who forgives, indeed, he is pardoned and is aware of having to live in a perennial desire for conversion. A generous will with a Pelagian flavor is not enough to fully implement forgiveness. Daily experience teaches that, in most cases, I can try to isolate the offender and the offender, perhaps even groped to forget, but that still does not mean forgiving.

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I usually say to penitents that to forgive is to have, towards those who have offended us, the same gaze that God the Father has towards us when we kneel before the priest confessor. It means having the authentic experience of Luke's Merciful Father [cf. LC 15,11-32], who grants forgiveness, seen almost as impossible by the younger son, without dwelling on the reasons for the return and without the constraint of a stable return to the paternal home. This is precisely the correct way to exercise Christian forgiveness, so much so as to strengthen the credibility of our faith and of the proposal that Jesus makes to every disciple [cf. (C). Theobald, Christianity as a style. A way of doing theology in postmodernity, I-II, Bologna, EDB, 2009]. I can only share, at this point, the excellent thought of Alessio Rocchi, when it states that:

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“Having a guts of mercy does not mean being spineless, but rather have an extra strength (or of grace, ed). In this sense, forgiveness is redemption, not negation or reduction of evil but his own revision. It is no miracle, no effortless action performed by a mighty magician or an almighty god, but a severe test of earthly existence, through looks that (King)they fit into a relationship, by words that (King)integrate into a story " [cf. A. Rocchi, The time of forgiveness, Aporias of forgiveness between philosophy and theology, p. 97, Just - Studies and research, 2015].

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Precisely because forgiveness is a redemptive moment which leads back to an intimate and new relationship, it is a theological place where it is possible to experience the newness promised by God through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah [cf. Is 43,19]; that is to see the birth of a road in the desert in which it is possible to follow new situations, and in which man can move in full communion with the Father without the fear of feeling vulnerable or naked [cf. GN 3,11].

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Forgiveness means building new ways, therefore the relationship that is created between the offender and the offender has nothing to do with the relationship preceding the wrong, but it is a transfigured relationship in which God reveals himself. By studying the dynamics of forgiveness to which God invites man, we are thus led back to the reflection on the eschatological dynamics of life beyond life.

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In my ministry as a hospital chaplain it is common practice to assist the dying and their families. The most painful knot that the dying patient has to cut before the definitive leave is that of granting forgiveness or accepting forgiveness. A similar test must also be faced by the patient's family. Leaving aside here, the reasons and causes for the debts to be forgiven before death, it is necessary to dwell on the need that the dying person has to die reconciled. Reconciled with God and therefore reconciled with the brothers he has offended or who have been a cause of suffering for him.

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The episode of the Good Thief dictates our in-depth analysis. The Gospels testify how Jesus was crucified between two thieves [cf. MC 15,27]: we know how the Greek term λήστοι [history] identify a political criminal - today we will say a terrorist - rather than a thief or a general criminal. The situation that arises on Calvary in the eyes of the Romans is clear: the execution of two political prisoners together with Jesus seen as a troublemaker and subversion of the people of Israel. But here we are in the midst of agony, one of these enemies of Rome, now nearing the end, he turns to Jesus and - recognizing him as the Lord and at the same time in need of conversion and reconciliation for a life of crime, hatred and grudges - he exclaims: "Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom " [cf. LC 23,42].

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These words that allow us to understand how

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«Forgiveness is - once again - both requested and offered. To read and reread them they sound like three graces. Thank you, of I ask thank you, I ask your forgiveness because my life hasn't been that great. Thank you, of I do thank you, I forgive you for your impotence, for your not coming down from the cross, for your don't let me go down with you. I thank you and accept you for who you are, putting aside my disappointment with you. I grant you the grace not to ask you for a miracle, not to swear - and I would have many reasons - about mine and your fate. This crucified evildoer asks to be forgiven through the question of a memory, it seems forgive through the recognition of one's punishment, decide to to forgive silencing their legitimate curses and silencing the miraculous claims of the condemned comrade " [cf. A. Rocchi, The time of forgiveness, Aporias of forgiveness between philosophy and theology, p. 95, Just - Studies and research, 2015].

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The dialogue of the repentant thief with Jesus it is placed on the horizon of life that never sets, of a very clear eschatological hope, we all need. The desire that this condemned man has to live is very evident, and it is equally evident in him the awareness that dying without asking and granting forgiveness, it affects the future life with the aggravating circumstance of the conclusion of an earthly life in an unnecessary tragedy. The only hope not to die eternally - in oblivion, among the ghosts of a personal story that speaks of violence, destruction and hatred - is the blessing that comes with forgiveness. Although death poses as a lady - as the singer-songwriter Branduardi recalls in one of his famous ballads [cf. video WHO] - forgiveness before farewell wins over death, and it can already be a deposit of eternity, redemption of a ruined existence, guarantee of healing towards oneself and towards others. Moreover, it would be paradoxical for the Christian to begin his new life in Paradise with various slopes following it. A full life [cf. GV 10,10] it is synonymous with a fully reconciled life, a half-life is on the contrary the expression of a slowdown that deprives us of communion with God and with our brothers, a friction that will have to be recomposed or atoned in some other way.

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(II). GOOD MEMORY TO FORGIVE

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We are sincere, after receiving an offense it's hard to put a stone on it. Many would like to put a stone on the offender, but this is not civilly and Christianly acceptable. Then there are people who invite us to forget and pretend nothing has happened. They end up being inopportune comforters like the three friends of wise Job [cf. Gb 3,ss], and they do us no good service. For this reason - as mentioned earlier - we need God's grace along with a constant and explicit prayer request, so that the Lord heals our wound and gives us the time necessary to be converted to forgiveness. But achieving forgiveness includes the ability to have a good memory, in fact, completely forgetting the offense - an unlikely option - would deprive us of the possibility of granting forgiveness and therefore of achieving peace and that blessing which is a guarantee for a new beginning of life.

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Let's start with a trivial finding: because we feel resentment and fail to forgive? Simply because we internally relive the evil that has been done to us, mulling it over in our hearts. The memory of the offense caused - in this case - no longer works to reach a resolution but works to reiterate the offense, which over time becomes chronic and remains calcified as an obsession in our soul.

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One of the symptoms of those who do not experience forgiveness it is the feeling of having a weight in the heart, and that feeling often carries on for years. The philosopher Paul Ricoeur said:

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"Authentic forgiveness does not imply the oblivion of the events themselves, but a different way of signifying a debt […] which paralyzes the memory and consequently the ability to recreate ourselves in a new future " [cf. R. Kearney M. Dooley, Issues of ethics: contemporary debates in philosophers, Armando Publishers, 2005, p. 40; to complete the thought cf. also P. Ricoeur, To remember, forget, to forgive. The enigma of the past, The Mill, Bologna 2004].

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This fixation of memory on the offense it is deleterious, when memory needs to concentrate on the offense it is only to initiate a liberation process that you condone, piece by piece, the wrong suffered.

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Sometimes, to overcome the obsession together with the anxiety of forgiveness not granted, there is a tendency to replace resentment with indifference, but this is a false remedy. The medicine of "the eye does not see, heart doesn't hurt ", not only is it not Christian but it becomes a subtle and terrible way to lead the brother to death by exiling him from his own existence.

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The set of processes just described they help us understand the sentence as a whole: "I can't forgive!». Really the person is unable to forgive, because this offense has hardened, sclerotizzata, traditional medicines are no longer enough but surgery is urgent. The urgent intervention consists in associating memory with the presence of God. A word that recurs a lot in the Old Testament is "remember", the verb that connects directly to people's memory, of things and events. But for the biblical hagiographer, remembering translates into memorial. Simply said, the memorial is remembering together with God.

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Remember those situations and of those events in which God revealed himself - and still reveals himself - in his power, enough to work wonders for the benefit of man. The memorial is therefore more than just a memory, it is remembering through faith, restore a well-defined theological identity, who sees in God the redeemer and in man a creature to be redeemed and redeemed.

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To forgive as a Christian I have to memorialize, that is, remembering together with God, see clearly the offenses and wounds, so that a providential gaze is formed within which the Spirit of God - living memory of the Church [cf. GV 15,26] - work so that every offense and wound is translated into an occasion for praise. As a memorial, I see the person who hurt me, the positives, the good intentions realized, the shipwrecked good intentions, the inevitable contradictions and inconsistencies. I can see in the offender no longer an enemy to fight but a person in need of help because he too is wounded and thirsty for redemption. In the memorial I also perceive my responsibilities well, I take the awareness that perhaps I have facilitated certain behaviors in the other and reduce the tendency to see myself as a scapegoat.

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The memorial is an examination of conscience with which, as for Abraham, God allows me to become an intercessor towards those who have made themselves hostile [cf. GN 18,20-32], without closing one's eyes to the evil inflicted and received and with the tendency to make God's merciful justice triumph.

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[end of IIIª meditation]

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Cagliari, 10 March 2019

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visit the personal blog by Father Ivano

- Pastoral care of health -

THE MOST TERRIBLE AND DIFFICULT CANCER TO HEAL ARE THE DISEASES THAT PREVENT US FROM BEING WITNESSES OF CHRIST

[ (II)ª REFLECTION: The lukewarmness ]

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Many church communities are infested with this type of disease: lukewarmness. Tutto is contaminated by this disease: fraternal relations, love life, the economics, the selection and election of community leaders, liturgical life, the charity …

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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Fragility, Roman work of painter Anna Boschini, It is from the catalog of Mondadori Art, 2019 [cf. Vitarte Gallery, WHO]

I challenge readers from The Island of Patmos never to have heard in Church - including groups of laity, religious communities, priests or curial environment - expression: "It has always done so".

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This sentence, far from wanting to preserve tradition - the real one, no traditionalism - is actually the biggest threat to the growth of the Church community. Behind 'has always done well', It hides the trap that prevents the Christian to be an authentic witness of the risen Lord.

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Here then is to break into the second spiritual sickness: the lukewarmness. You get to contracting this disease when we take the habit of doing things for the Lord routine. As well as teaching the old manuals of spirituality, lukewarmness may cover all or incipient the perfect.

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It seems strange, but often we can discover us lukewarm just after taking a sufficient degree of fervor and union with the Lord. Indeed, closing the grace or the Holy Spirit's inspirations, They are characterized as hazardous elements that draw them to the lukewarm; as well as the crystallization in a faith that satisfies a purely human vision. In this case, the complacency of an artificial faith takes over the "new wine" (cf. MC 2, 22) the Lord wants to pour with plenty in my life and I will see jailed me to repeat the same pattern that will drain the vitality of the Gospel, leading me spiritual flattening.

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wanting to hazard a definition of lukewarm we can say that: is repetitive devotion to the work of man that is opposed to the virtue of religion which consists of a readiness of mind toward God. And the Word of God is clear, about the condemnation of apathy and lukewarm condemnation of man:

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"I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot! But because you are lukewarm, that is, you are neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth " (cf. AP 3,14-16).

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After the storm, Roman work of painter Anna Boschini

Many ecclesial communities They are infested with this type of disease and everything is contaminated by this disease: fraternal relations, love life, the economics, the selection and election of community leaders, liturgical life, the charity … Often, in front of a fair appeal before this soporific lifestyle, There is justified by saying: "What harm do? My prayers try to say them, Sunday Mass more or less follow her, what else should I do?». What is missing in these people and these communities is a holy restlessness to know Jesus and to make him loved.

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The apathy is recognized by several symptoms, byiamone with someone: the first symptom, It is the normalization. Today we have a tendency to standardize everything and then to justify everything. For example sin. Normalize sin is to recognize that God's love wound, because it is accomplished by many and with a certain frequency, It loses its problematic. Or they tend to normalize sinful acts minimizing them: "I committed peccadilloes, I had a passioncella, I kept the bad habit '.

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Challenge, Roman work of painter Anna Boschini

The warm tends to normalize and to minimize the reality that surrounds him with the illusion of bringing peace and mercy. It is self-convinced that there is nothing left to improve in your life because - after all - has reached a stable equilibrium reassuring. However, Jesus in the Gospel does not praise the tepid demand but raising the level of discipleship toward a justice empowered by sanctifying grace:

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"I will indeed say: unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, never enter the kingdom of heaven " [cf. Mt 5,20].

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The third symptom of apathy is doubt, son of lukewarmness, who the tepid man has a great propensity to doubt - not because he is a skeptic convinced - but because the question allows him to not take a clear position on faith and relationship with God. Often it is usually repeated phrases like these: "I think I'm a believer but I have always been many unresolved doubts about faith ', and although he is chosen in a good accompaniment which tends to settle certain problematic, doubts persist anchored to the will of the person. To which come Moses, the lukewarm who doubts, It is unable to enter the Promised Land in which he fully realizes the relationship with God [cf. Dt 32,48-52]. It is content to see the spiritual reality from afar. There is a substantial difference, however,, that Moses became a source of shame and emphasizes a certain incompleteness to their vocation; in warm doubt it is conceived as relief that relieves, Once again, the problem of God.

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Meeting to freedom, Roman work of painter Anna Boschini

Fourth symptom of apathy It is the free rein of concupiscence. The man who is immersed in lukewarm, soon lost the reference to the person of God, the ability to renounce himself and status new man Saint Paul calls for the man who has been redeemed by Christ [cf. Mt 16,24; MC 8,34; LC 9,23; Ef 4,24]. With the proliferation of various disorders in the soul that makes human nature far from grace, the warm is a slave of lust that he himself helped to feed. Here, then, that theso in lust it leads to the maturation of some very dangerous fruit - the seven deadly sins - that lead to ever greater moral disorders, much to spoil the beauty of man created by God. This lust leads man to regress to a condition that enslaves their instincts and passions.

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In the past the holy fathers of monasticism Evagrius Ponticus, John Damascene, Gregory of Nyssa, Antonio Abate since most expert of the human soul, They had worked out different ways to fight the deadly sins, in addition to the constant vigilance of the heart, It was necessary evangelization of conscience, thoughts and feelings.

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With this second contribution which he sought to analyze the spiritual sickness of apathy, You want to warn the Christians so that there is always a steady progression in the journey of knowledge of the Lord, because as rightly teaches St. Augustine, the not advance the cause of God means going back. And because the desire for God's holiness for all his children [cf 1Ts 4,3], we can only fight the disease of apathy that cloaked nowadays of doing good and tolerance reaps many victims in the Church.

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[After the Secondª meditation]

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Cagliari, 5 February 2019

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«You will know the truth and the truth will set you free» [GV 8,32],
but bring, spread and defend the truth not only of
risks but also the costs. Help us supporting this Island
with your offers through the secure Paypal system:

or you can use the bank account:
They were IT 08 (J) 02008 32974 001436620930
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thanks [ isoladipatmos@gmail.com ]

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- pastoral care of health -

THROUGH THE WAY OF EMMAUS LANES OF HOSPITAL: THE CHAPLAIN AS DISCIPLE AND TRAVELING COMPANION IN DISEASE

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... in the parable of the Good Samaritan, is a clear reference to Jesus as the one who cares for man beaten by robbers and pours oil on his wounds and wine symbols of sacramental grace that comes from Christ with abundance and power. The man mistreated by robbers is taken over by Jesus to walk from the condition of dying to that of the resurrected.

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp. on a visit to the hospital pediatric ward Brotzu of Cagliari with the elves and Santa Claus

The fact that "just die" guides us to understand, through the daily experience, that in life we ​​all need someone to support us and share with us their carefree moments and test. Divine finding of Genesis 2,18 "It is not good that the man should be alone", in my opinion it should not only read as a reference of the spousal relationship between man and woman, but as imperative to sociability and fellowship. Man is called to experience God only in communion with his brother. The mystery of the Trinity, It is a mystery of communion, It does not exist in God alone.

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In times of trial and illness the being dynamic with is essential to experience a true accompaniment that both support and stimulus not to feel alone and to enjoy as well the providence of God that puts our side someone who loves us. Already the wisdom of the Psalmist makes us sing: "There, how good and how pleasant it is when brothers live together " [cf Sal 133,1].

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There are two episodes of the Gospel that better than others embody the duty of the vicinity of the Christian toward the sufferer in body and soul: the parable of the Good Samaritan [cf. LC 10,23-37] and the story of the disciples of Emmaus [cf. LC 24,13-35]. In these Gospel passages the evangelist Luke, Master of tenderness and compassion, reveals the preferential love of Christ for the sick man. Hence the urge to dare not pass.

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souvenir photo after the Christmas Mass in the pediatric ward

In the parable of the Good Samaritan the reference to Jesus as the one who takes care of the man beaten by brigands and pours on his wounds oil and wine symbols of sacramental grace is clear, that Christ comes with abundance and power. The man mistreated by robbers is taken over by Jesus to walk from the condition of dying to that of the resurrected. The figure of the man beaten on the road, expresses vividly:

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"The incurable wound from which we were hit […] and that only the Lord could heal. That's why he came in person, because none of the elderly, nor the Law, i born profeti, They were capable of remedy. Only him, coming, He cured this incurable wound in the soul " [cf. Macarius the Great, Homilies, (Coll. (II)), XXX, 8].

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Jesus the Good Samaritan It makes a change of state in the life of every man: dall'orizzontalismo infirmity to the verticality of the new life [cf. LC 4,38-39]. Jesus is the one who heals and heals because it is the Lord. The power of the Risen Lord and his lordship is manifested through a new creation that takes place in humans through a passage from the condition of sickness to health condition that becomes proof of salvation and then resurrection.

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Christmas in the pediatric ward

In front of Jesus healing action, there is a need to be employees of a cure that is expressed in time and which is brought forward thanks to the work of the master of the inn to which is entrusted with the task to preserve and continue the work of restoration started by Christ. Like this, in the care and assistance of the sick, the figure of the hospital chaplain embodies the one to whom Jesus entrusted the care of the dying, obeying the mandate to take care of him, mutandolo Minister in the Easter announcement that Jesus is risen and He is the Lord [cf. At 3,1-16], this announcement comes the healing power.

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In the ministry of consolation and care which is done in the hospital, the chaplain is called to imitate the attitudes of Good Samaritan who sees the sick but does not pass over. At the same time, the chaplain is also minister of diakonia insofar as he is capable of assuming and planning concrete realities of assistance in the time of illness of many poor and disadvantaged men.

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We can say then that the hospital ministry for the sick is a missionary service, that in the ad, in the care and nell'accudimento builds the face of the suffering of Christ Church. Here then is the task of care and compassion is combined in the accompaniment of discouraged, Man hopelessly, therefore infirm soul.

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Christmas in the pediatric ward

In the light of the proximity and the impulse to common path, l'Episode from the Gospel of Luke, the disciples of Emmaus shows us Jesus who makes companion of man's journey that has lost hope and joy. In fact the disease, the fear of death and loneliness, destroy the humans joy, as well as put a strain on the faith. Questions like: "why me?"And" where is God in all this?»Prove the patient and his family and they require a response that can never be taken for granted or easy come. Then, at the same time take care of the sick, no need for a walk with him, open his heart to the joyous message of Easter: God is victorious over death, of the disease, the loneliness of man.

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Christmas along the Via Emmaus hospital …

The announcement of the Word of God, human proximity to the chaplain and Christian communities who frequently visit the sick, realize that miracle of inclusion and accompaniment which then predisposes the patient to dispose of the sad face of disappointment and sadness to dress the joy and gratitude in the living Jesus. This is why the walk close to the patient within the hospital really means to implement consistently and missionary spirit of the daily visit to the wards, the meeting with the families of the sick, sacramental care of the sick souls.

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The chaplain was called to duty of justice to meet the sick, not only to obey the command of Christ [cf. Mt 25,36], but to be traveling with him in the disease, friend who dries her tears and fills a void, prophet who announces that God is faithful and realizes its promises.

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the disciples on the Way to Emmaus [see text Lucan WHO].

Christ the Lord, through human and sacramental mediation of the priest chaplain, breaks considered the bread of the Word and the Eucharist that the blind regain sight, the lame to walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf come back to hear, the dead are called to life, the poor are immersed in the gospel of the kingdom [cf. LC 7,22].

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A ministry of this kind is no doubt exhausting, slow and meticulous and lends itself to sharing the same divine patience, so that the sick man in body and spirit is, day by day, cared for and loved so that it can achieve health and salvation that are normal conditions for every child of God.

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Cagliari, 28 December 2018

Christmas its Eighth

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«You will know the truth and the truth will set you free» [GV 8,32],
but bring, spread and defend the truth not only of
risks but also the costs. Help us supporting this Island
with your offers through the secure Paypal system:

or you can use the bank account:
They were IT 08 (J) 02008 32974 001436620930
in this case, send us an email warning, because the bank
It does not provide your email and we could not send you a
thanks [ isoladipatmos@gmail.com ]

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AVAILABLE THE BOOK OF MASS DE L'ISLE OF PATMOS, WHO

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- pastoral care of health -

A.A.A. CHAPLAIN HOSPITAL WANTED, PLEASE REFRAIN: Unable to work, UNEMPLOYED IN SEARCH OF IMPEGO PROBLEM AND MADE OF VARIOUS

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… and so we chose to go around the hospital keeping our religious habit in order to be immediately recognized, among many white coats, as Friars Minor Capuchin. E, I must say: it worked. After some time, in the hospital, they realized that the two men in brown clothes, with girdle around the hips, sandals and beards, were the new chaplains.

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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Cagliari, Church of Saint Lucia: St. Catherine Laboure of distributing the Miraculous Medal [by Aurelio Galleppini]

Let me try to shed light on identity of the hospital chaplain, as strange as it may seem, I realized that in fact the evidence shows, between the various pastoral figures within the Church, It is a being almost mythological.

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First, it is necessary to clarify the canonical and pastoral appearance: the chaplain is a priest chosen by the bishop for the pastoral care of that portion of the People of God which is living the time of disease at a health facility, for example a hospital, a clinic, or in an assisted geriatric nursing home.

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Already this first definition It allows you to do some special considerations: the place of action of the chaplain is not the parish or monastic church, but a care place where he performs a specialized operator function along with other figures. Understanding this is crucial because, within the healthcare facility, the chaplain is not the master, even the legal representative, as it happens instead in the case of the pastor. In facts, It is therefore one of the many. Understanding this aspect, What is crucial.

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Often, the spirit of vanity of us belonging to the clergy, It does not digest this nuance that is ill-suited to the priest, nor what certainly it helps to create opportunities in which God can reveal in a ministry as sensitive as the hospital, there is no doubt that the priest is a man, but never forget that he is - and it is called to be - a man given to God, that the chaplain and through the chaplain and through a dynamic of ordinariness and concealment that I like to approach the biblical period of the youth of Jesus in Nazareth.

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Cagliari: Church of Saint Lucia: The martyrs of Arras killed in hatred of the faith during the French Revolution [by Aurelio Galeppini]

The place where the work is the hospital chaplain, clinic, l’hospice, assisted nursing home. All non-places consecrated by the scented oil of Chrism that the bishop used to consecrate to God a place for the worship. That is why today, the chaplain, It operates within a health resort that takes on highly secular connotations. Therefore, we can also forget the old black and white films of the fifties of the twentieth century, in which they could see the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de 'Paoli with their starched white hats, intent to ring the bell on the wards to announce the arrival of the priest carrying the Blessed Sacrament. None of this is happening today in these structures, within which the chaplain is silent presence, often confused between the various professionals in the health world.

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Having said that I open a small digression now: I arrived at the hospital Brotzu Cagliari, In the 2013, sbrigate hiring practices was offered us the use of white coat: that common to all healthcare professionals. After a few moments of reflection, I and my brother, We decided to reject the proposal, not simply to increase the gap of anonymity and uniformity that the white coat gives. Like this, We chose to go around the hospital keeping our religious habit, especially in order to be immediately recognized among many white coats as Friars Minor Capuchin. E, I must say: it worked. After some time, the hospital realized that the two men in brown clothes, with girdle around the hips, sandals and beards, were the new chaplains.

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Now I wish to share with the readers of The Island of Patmos some other interesting consideration: in health facilities, the chaplain, day after day has the task of earning a right of citizenship. Or to clarify: if the role of the chaplain - to date - is still recognized by the Law, The person filling this role needs to be known, therefore it must necessarily implement a sociability in the healthcare community in which it operates.

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The Daughters of Charity before yesterday – image of the Blessed Giuseppina Nicoli [1863-1924]

It is not my intention to make sermons, However I must say that the identity of the chaplain is inherent in his being priest. Only the priest can be chaplain [cf. can. 564 of the Code of Canon Law]. A good reason, the chaplain is for this required a style suited to its identity, social relations, expressing his devotion to God. And this I have to specify it clearly, because it often happens that the chaplain is instead identified as a kind of social worker, as a psychologist or as a confidant friend to all. And if from a certain point of view this is the consequence of a type of secularism increasingly rampant that tends to reshape what is alien, on the other hand it is necessary to ensure that the priest does not exercise his identity, distorting, up to assume other more attractive identity that are well accepted to modernity on the one hand, the spirit of secularism on the other hand.

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In health resorts, the priest chaplain is a prophet speaking on behalf of God because it is able to listen. It is the angel of Gethsemane who comforts the dying and reconciles with God [cf. LC 22, 43]. It is the guardian of mercy and justice for the Kingdom of God is realized between the platforms of many sick and weak, and father and teacher to guide and instruct men to the Gospel which is good news for all.

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the Daughters of Charity yesterday – image of Mother Suzanne Guillemin, Superior General from 1962 al 1968

Before this priestly identity It fits the varied work of God, creating every man, It gives to each characteristic personal gifts, thus enriching the ministerial priesthood with their charisms at the service of God's people and of the Church.

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Finally, I wish to highlight a critical note concerning the figure of the hospital chaplain and a certain style of doing Health Pastoral. From what little I have written on the figure of the priest appointed to the position of chaplain in a health facility, it is clear how these should be a good quality element or, at least, unproblematic. Unfortunately, the objective data derived from the facts as from the experiences, however this is not always. Indeed, in a historical moment in which the Church is suffering from a growing shortage of priests in the face of a lot of work to be done, the pastoral area of ​​health care is often discriminated. Our pastors prefer to employ their best priests in parishes, in family ministry, in the catechetical formation of young people, in welcoming the marginalized and so. It is a choice that one can also understand, does not share.

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Christ never made a hit parade in their ministry, but all the men who came to him were worthy of your attention and all received help and salvation.

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the Daughters of Charity today – formation meeting for religious

Some examples pastoral bad health implies that the figure of the chaplain. Let's start with the first case: appoint a chaplain elderly priest and sick because no longer able to sustain the parish pace that in itself calls for dynamism, equivalent to thinking that the hospital can provide prompt assistance for his injuries. To follow with the second case: appoint a chaplain priest without a parish in keeping placement is forced out of obedience to his bishop to stay in the hospital, but what with the risk that this person will end soon to be intolerant to disease and death, until not stand the smell of disinfectant or the sight of blood, and soon it became a fugitive difficult to reach, except for the day 27 of the month, when he picks up the salary Ente Hospital. The third case, Perhaps the saddest, Hospital is seen by some bishops as a place of exile, a kind of new Saint Helena Island for priests disobedient and unruly that ultimately this placed among the sick, as a kind of punishment.

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In these three cases, how is it possible to live and practice in the priestly ministry, health ministry through the concreteness of the loving invitation from Christ the Lord who calls us: "I was sick and you visited me" [cf. Mt 25, 36], in the full knowledge that "every time you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me" ? [cf. Mt 25, 40].

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Cagliari, 8 December 2018

Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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