Vatican
City, 9 November 2013 (VIS) – This morning, in the Vatican's Paul
VI Hall, the Pope received in audience seven thousand members of the
Italian National Union for the Transport of the Sick to Lourdes and
International Shrines (UNITALSI), an association which has for 110
years been dedicated to the sick or those in frail conditions in an
“evangelical” fashion, as the Holy Father said in his address, in
which he emphasised that their work “is not a form of welfare or
philanthropy, but rather the proclamation of the Gospel of charity
and the ministry of consolation”.
The
members of UNITALSI are “men and women … who, moved by the love
of Christ and following the example of the Good Samaritan, do not
turn away when faced with suffering”. The Pope continued, “The
poor, even those who are poor in terms of health, are a wealth for
the Church, and you, in UNITALSI, along with other ecclesiastical
bodies, have received the gift and the commitment of gathering this
richness, of helping to recognise its value, and not only for the
Church herself but for society as a whole”.
“Today's
cultural and social context tends to hide physical frailty, to
consider it as merely a problem, which requires resignation and pity,
or at times the rejection of people. UNITALSI is called to be a
prophetic sign and to go against this worldly logic, helping the
suffering to be protagonists in society, in the Church and also in
the association itself. … This means fully valuing the presence and
the witness of frail and suffering people, not only as the focus of
the work of evangelisation, but as active subjects themselves of this
apostolic action.
Francis
encouraged the sick persons present not to think of themselves
“solely as the object of solidarity and charity”, but instead as
“fully integrated in the life and the mission of the Church. You
have your place, a specific role in … all ecclesial environments.
Your presence … your prayer, the daily offering of your sufferings
in union with those of Jesus crucified for the salvation of the world
… are a spiritual resource, an asset to every Christian community.
Do not be ashamed of being a precious treasure to the Church”.
The
most important moment during the year for UNITALSI is the pilgrimage
to the marian sanctuaries, especially to Lourdes, and both the
apostolic style and the spirituality of the organisation are of a
strongly marian nature. Therefore, the Pope invited them to “discover
the deepest reasons” for this and to “imitate the maternity of
Mary, the maternal care that she has for each one of us”. He
recalled the miracle of the marriage at Cana, when Mary begged Jesus
to intervene when the couple were left without wine.
“Mary's
intervention shows the care of a mother towards humanity. It is a
care attentive to our truest needs: Mary knows what we need. She
cares for us, intercedes before Jesus for us and asks for each one of
us the gift of “new wine”, love, the grace that salves us”.
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