Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

The Mercy of God and Modern Medicine 143 another document called Dolentium Hominum, On the Sufferings o f Mankind, (February 11, 1985), in which he announced the institution of a Pontifical Commission, or Committee, for Healthcare Workers. In this document, the Pope emphasized that the Church’s works on behalf of the suffering are guided by her precise concept o f the human person and our destiny. This is very important because how are we going to define what true mercy is, what true kindness is, unless we understand who the human person is? Can the human person be defined by medicine? Can the human person be defined by society alone? Truly, no! Men and women are a psychosomatic unity — a unity o f body and soul. And the relief o f suffering and true mercy has to respect and direct itself towards that unity. “For the Christian,” the Pope wrote, “Christ’s redemption and His salvific grace reach the whole man in his human condition and, therefore, also reach illness, suffering and death.” The Holy Father in issuing this Letter, established this Commission so that it might act as a support to stimulate and foster the formation, the continuing study and the activities o f Catholic healthcare on all levels throughout the world, and also be a support to individual Catholics who are engaged in health­ care. The Charter, the document that I mentioned at the beginning, is intended for any Catholic healthcare provider, any Catholic lay person, who is going to face sickness and illness and death in their own lives and the lives o f those whom they love; it is for everyone to read. The Commission was also going to be involved in coordinating the activities of all of the Roman departments of the Curia that might speak to health­ care issues, and to maintain contacts with national organizations and with local churches. And, finally, its overall puipose was to explain, to spread and to defend the Church’s teachings on the subject of health­ care, and to encourage their penetration into practice. Now, the organi­ zation immediately undertook this work by taking the first global sur­ vey o f all Catholic healthcare institutions. In addition to that survey the Committee began hosting global con­ ferences every year on healthcare issues (held at the Vatican and now attended by over two-thousand people each Fall); publishing a Journal in five languages, and other publications as well; and, more recently, this Commission, which was later raised to the level of a Council, has been put in charge o f the World Day o f the Sick, which is February 11th, the Feast o f Our Lady o f Lourdes. Thus, February 11th is an excellent day for you to schedule a public recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy