VATICAN CITY, DEC 2, 2007 (VIS) - Early this morning, Benedict XVI visited the Roman hospital of St. John the Baptist, which belongs to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and specializes in treating people suffering from neurological disorders.
The Holy Father celebrated Mass then went on to visit the reanimation unit, an advanced structure for the cure and rehabilitation of patients recovering from comas.
In his homily, delivered before patients and their families gathered in a hall of the hospital, the Pope gave assurances of his spiritual closeness and his daily prayers, inviting them to "find support and comfort in Jesus, and never to lose trust."
"God visits us mysteriously in suffering and sickness," said the Holy Father, "and if we abandon ourselves to His will, we may experience the power of His love. Hospitals and nursing homes, precisely because they are inhabited by people tried by pain, can become privileged places in which to bear witness to the Christian love that nourishes hope and gives rise to fraternal solidarity."
Benedict XVI then recalled how, at its origins, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta - of which Fra' Andrew Bertie is the current grand master - was dedicated to helping pilgrims in the Holy Land by means of a Hospice-Infirmary, and how "it sought to cure the sick, especially the poor and marginalized. One testimony of such fraternal love," he added, "is this hospital which, having been built in the 1970s, is today a center of high technology and of solidarity where, alongside the healthcare staff, many volunteers work with generous dedication."
The Holy Father told the doctors, nurses and volunteers who work in the hospital that they "are called to provide an important service to the sick and to society, a service that calls for abnegation and a spirit of sacrifice.
"In each sick person," he added, "may you know how to recognize and serve Christ Himself. Show Him, with your gestures and your words, the signs of His merciful love."
The Pope also took advantage of his visit to the hospital "ideally" to present his Encyclical "Spe salvi" to the Christian community of Rome. And he invited his listeners to study the text "so as to discover the reasons for that 'trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face our present, ... even if it is arduous'."
BXVI-VISIT/.../ORDER OF MALTA HOSPITAL VIS 20071203 (410)
The Holy Father celebrated Mass then went on to visit the reanimation unit, an advanced structure for the cure and rehabilitation of patients recovering from comas.
In his homily, delivered before patients and their families gathered in a hall of the hospital, the Pope gave assurances of his spiritual closeness and his daily prayers, inviting them to "find support and comfort in Jesus, and never to lose trust."
"God visits us mysteriously in suffering and sickness," said the Holy Father, "and if we abandon ourselves to His will, we may experience the power of His love. Hospitals and nursing homes, precisely because they are inhabited by people tried by pain, can become privileged places in which to bear witness to the Christian love that nourishes hope and gives rise to fraternal solidarity."
Benedict XVI then recalled how, at its origins, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta - of which Fra' Andrew Bertie is the current grand master - was dedicated to helping pilgrims in the Holy Land by means of a Hospice-Infirmary, and how "it sought to cure the sick, especially the poor and marginalized. One testimony of such fraternal love," he added, "is this hospital which, having been built in the 1970s, is today a center of high technology and of solidarity where, alongside the healthcare staff, many volunteers work with generous dedication."
The Holy Father told the doctors, nurses and volunteers who work in the hospital that they "are called to provide an important service to the sick and to society, a service that calls for abnegation and a spirit of sacrifice.
"In each sick person," he added, "may you know how to recognize and serve Christ Himself. Show Him, with your gestures and your words, the signs of His merciful love."
The Pope also took advantage of his visit to the hospital "ideally" to present his Encyclical "Spe salvi" to the Christian community of Rome. And he invited his listeners to study the text "so as to discover the reasons for that 'trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face our present, ... even if it is arduous'."
BXVI-VISIT/.../ORDER OF MALTA HOSPITAL VIS 20071203 (410)
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