Community July 5
. . . we must remember that the sick and aged deserve our special attention (Const. 13.4).
There are two ways we give attention to our sick and aged in the community. First, we care for their needs. This begins with the effort to understand well what they suffer and to stand with them in that. They have many questions and feelings about the origin and causes of their sufferings, about where their life is going, about their sense of personal value in fragility. They suffer emotionally as well as physically. Our empathy moves us to do everything possible with available resources to meet their needs at every level. Finally, we should encourage them in their vulnerability with the hope of the Glorious Cross of Christ. But there is another way we attend to these confreres. It is like the attention we give to preachers. These confreres, in their weaknesses, remind us of the great mystery of human destiny. Because of sin, we all live with the sentence of mortality. In our weaker brothers, we get a graphic view the effects of sin in the world. At the same time, their sufferings remind us of the suffering of Jesus who saved us. Seeing them, we see him. Their weakness helps us contemplate the great act of the love of God in Christ who took on our burdens. We are touched again by the mystery of the Cross that leads us to Resurrection. Our sick and elderly brothers in the community become proclamations of the Paschal Mystery before our very eyes. We should pay attention to them.
It's the guardian of the heir that knows the value of the inheritance. (Balari)
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