December 1999 Print

A Presentation to the Medical Guild of St. Raphael, St. Marys, Kansas, by Mr. Mark Downey

And unto Adam He said, "Because thou has hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and has eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, 'Thou shalt not eat of it': cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shall thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field, in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou returneth unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: For dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." —Gen. 3:17-19

Suffering entered the world when material creation followed the disorder started by its highest representatives. The world had been created for man and man for God. At one horrible moment in time, man failed to serve his Creator, therefore, the world failed to serve man. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they separated themselves from their ultimate Good and thus death entered the world. "But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death" (Gen: 2:17).

All pain has its root in separation, and death is the ultimate separation. All suffering, therefore, proceeds from Original Sin whereby mankind lost intimate union with Almighty God and was driven from, as the book of Genesis says, "the paradise of pleasure": "And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure to till the earth from which he was taken" (Gen. 3:23).

If suffering is the result of sin and separation from Almighty God, why are we commanded by our Lord to relieve suffering? In order to arrive at an answer, let us consider the following Scripture:

Now when John had heard in prison the works of Christ: sending two of his disciples he said to him: "Art thou he that are to come, or look we for another?" And Jesus making answer said to them: "Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them." (Mt. 11:2­5)

The first thing we should notice is that our Blessed Lord did not answer, "Tell John, I am the Christ." Mere men would answer in such a way, but not the God-man. The true Savior of mankind referred the Baptist to His supernatural works.

The second thing we should consider is that our Lord did not refer to just any kind of supernatural works. For instance, our Lord did not say, "The Holy Ghost takes on the form of a dove and speaks from Heaven," or, "The future is prophesied," or, "Storms are calmed." No! Our Lord Jesus Christ referred to the Messias as One who mitigates suffering! John knew quite well that the Messias would restore the unity between God and man. If suffering entered the world with separation from God, then mercy would take precedence with the Redemption. Justice, and punishment, was emphasized in the old covenant in order to show man that something was lacking to him.

The New Covenant, sealed with the Precious Blood of this Redeemer, is to be one of mercy and forgiveness. And yet, we know that our Lord did not come to take away all suffering. Our Divine Savior commanded His disciples to pick up their cross and follow Him. Our Lord came, primarily, to take away eternal suffering. The Church teaches that, while the eternal punishment due to sin is wiped away by the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ administered in the Sacrament of Penance, there still remains a certain amount of temporal punishment.

The question remains: If we are to pick up our cross and bear temporal punishment, why are we commanded to take away the crosses of our neighbor? Our Savior makes it very clear that our eternal reward depends upon this.

Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink, I was a stranger, and you took me in: Naked, and you covered me; sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me." (Mt. 25:34-35)

If we relieve our neighbor of his suffering, how does he pay his debt of temporal punishment? In other words, if Dr. X takes away the suffering of Mr. Y, does this not rob Mr. Y of his opportunity to perform penance? Pope Pius XII gives us an answer:

This heroism [e.g., bearing pain and suffering] can, in fact, reveal itself in many other ways. Take, for example, a Christian who carries out, day after day, from morning till night, all the duties of his state or profession, the laws of God and of men: one who prays with recollection, does his work wholeheartedly, resists his evil passions, shows his neighbor the charity and service that is his due, endures bravely, without murmuring, whatever God sends him: that man is always living beneath the sign of the Cross of Christ whether physical suffering is present or not, whether he endures it or avoids it by means which are lawful. Even if one considers only obligations binding a man under pain of sin, he cannot live or carry out his daily work as a Christian without being ever ready for sacrifice and, one may say, without constantly sacrificing himself. The acceptance of suffering is only one way, among many others, of indicating what is the real essential: the will to love God and to serve Him in all things it is, above all, in the perfection of this voluntary disposition that the quality of the Christian life and its heroism consists.¹

 

The Medical Guild of St. Raphael was founded by a group of traditional Catholics assisting at the Latin Mass in St. Marys, Kansas, who work in the healthcare field. Inspired by the motto of the Society of Saint Pius X, "To Restore All Things in Christ," they wished to do their part in restoring our Lord Jesus Christ in the medical care field. The Guild meets the last Thursday of each month. At these meetings, the Guild considers certain situations where members can be of service to the healthcare needs of parishioners and non-parishioners. Guild members freely discuss the physical and spiritual needs within and without their parish, share their medical expertise with each other, and pray for fellow Guild members and for the Guild apostolate. The Medical Guild of St. Raphael is currently studying the feasibility of establishing a Catholic healthcare center. A registered medial sonographer and Guild member begins a diagnostic examination of a patient with a high resolution ultrasound probe.   This Guild member, a licensed physical therapist, services a patient to restore proper leg function.

 

The Holy Father says that there are other ways to perform acts of penance than by bearing pain or sickness. In fact, His Holiness informs us that pain can be a hindrance to prayer and spiritual reflection:

It is possible that suffering may be preferable for a particular person in a definite situation; but, in general, the harm caused forces men to protect themselves against it.²

In these words, Pope Pius XII confirms the teaching of his predecessor:

Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins. Using hospitality one towards another, without murmuring, as every man hath received grace, ministering the same one to another: as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. (I Pet. 4:8-10)

The first Pope tells us that charity covers a multitude of sins. The charity of which St. Peter speaks in this instance is nothing other than hospitality. Hospitality is taken from the Latin, hospitium, which is translated, "guest chambers; inn." What is an inn if not a place to give comfort to a weary traveler? In other words, St. Peter tells us that comforting one another takes away the temporal punishment which is due our sins. Members of the Guild should note, immediately, that hospitality contains the word "hospital." Let us consider why hospitality covers a multitude of sins.

To begin, we need only consider the words of St. Peter already quoted: "As every man hath received grace, ministering the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." The merciful charity of our Lord Jesus Christ has gratuitously taken away the eternal suffering which is due our sins. St. Peter tells us to "minister the same one to another." We understand that we are to minister this grace, which we have received, to our neighbor.

We begin to answer the question. As mere men, we could not restore the unity between God and man. We could not, therefore, take away the eternal punishment that awaited every child of Adam. As having received this unity by being members of His Body through baptism, we can bring the Divine Physician to other souls by works of mercy.

Suffering, as we've already considered, shows man that something is wrong with his situation here on earth. Suffering should lead man to reflect upon the ultimate Good. In other words, suffering should lead man to our Lord Jesus Christ, the suffering God, who makes sense of all suffering! The purpose of the corporal works of mercy, and the relief of suffering, is to bring our Lord Jesus Christ to the one who suffers. It begs to be repeated. Suffering should bring well-intentioned souls to our Lord Jesus Christ. The purpose of relieving suffering is to bring Christ to these souls.

This brings me, then, to the conclusion and point I want to make. There is a difference between the Catholic who works in health care and the healthcare professional. We bring the Divine Physician to the suffering or we bring the patient nothing but a temporary reprieve. If science could relieve all the pain in the world, this would do nothing more than lead people further away from Him who has a cure for eternal pain.

We formed this Guild in order to do our small part to restore the proper order to the care of the sick. This is the order whereby our Lord Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega. This does not mean that we give every patient a rosary. This means that we should do all in our power to establish a truly Catholic healthcare center for the sick. In this environment, our patients will know that we do what we do because we have received mercy, and mercy is what we desire to minister.

In the current system, where suffering is relieved because there is money to be made and a utopia to build, we are limited in our resources and reach. By forming this Guild, we have taken the first small step in order to establish a true Catholic commitment to the suffering. This is not some idyllic dream mentioned in order to make everyone feel good inside. Traditional Catholics will work to bring our Lord back into society, or else traditional Catholics will lose what little they have been able to salvage from Christendom. Let us recall the words of Pope Leo XIII:

Masonry has confiscated the inheritance of public charity; fill the void, then, with the treasure of private relief. It has placed pious works in the hands of its followers, so you should entrust those that depend on you to Catholic institutions.³

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Footnotes

1. Address to the Ninth National Congress of the Italian Society of the Science of Anesthetics (Feb. 24, 1957).

2. Ibid.

3. Pope Leo XIII, Custodi di Quella Fede, (Guardians of That Faith) (Angelus Press, 1998), p. 12.