ILLNESS HELPS US UNDERSTAND THE MYSTERY OF MAN

VATICAN CITY, FEB 13, 2000 (VIS) - Pope John Paul, speaking from the window of his study which overlooks St. Peter's Square, greeted the faithful gathered there for today's angelus and offered reflections on the just-concluded "extraordinary celebration of the Jubilee of the Sick."

"Illness," he observed, "helps us to understand the mystery of man. Like the leper, about whom today's Gospel speaks, when we are sick we experience human fragility and we strongly feel the desire to be healed. In the cross (of Jesus) ... all suffering takes on the possibility of meaning; illness never ceases to be a trial, but it is illuminated by hope.

"Yes, God does not want illness; he did not create evil and death," affirmed the Holy Father. "However, from the moment in which these came into the world, due to sin, His love is entirely aimed at healing man, healing him from sin and from every evil and filling him with life, peace and joy. This is the comforting announcement of the Jubilee and, in a special way, of this Great Jubilee which recalls the 2,000 years since the incarnation of Christ."

The Pope then announced that on "Friday, February 18 the liturgical memory of their patron, Blessed Fra Angelico, we will celebrate the Jubilee of Artists. On this occasion, I will have the joy of meeting these brothers of ours who, having been gifted by God with special intuitive and expressive capacities, further cultivated through study and practice, become privileged interpreters of the mystery of man."

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