Divine Mercy: The Heart of the Gospel

148 Divine Mercy: The Heart Of The Gospel except through a sincere gift o f s e l f ’ (Gaudium et Spes, no. 24). The Holy Father said, in Salvifici Dolores, a Good Samaritan is the person capable of exactly such a gift of self: How much there is of the Good Samaritan in the profession of the doctor or the nurse, or others similar, considering its evangeli­ cal content, we are inclined to think here of a vocation rather than simply a profession, and the institutions which from generation to generation have performed good Samaritan service have devel­ oped and specialized even further in our times. This undoubtedly proves that today people pay even greater and closer attention to the sufferings o f their neighbours, seek to understand those suffer­ ings and deal with them with even greater skill. They also have an ever greater capacity and specialization in this area. In view of all this, we can say that the parable o f the Good Samaritan o f the Gospel has become one of the essential elements of moral culture and universally human civilization. So, we are called to make ourselves images o f “the merciful Christ who went about doing good and healing everyone” by finding the Face o f Christ in the faces o f the sick and suffering and offering Him solace and, in a real sense, worship, and at the same time, as the Pope wrote: It is love for Christ, He is the sick person — “I was sick and you helped Me” — who assumes the face o f a suffering brother. What a stimulus for the desired personalization of medicine could come from Christian charity which makes it possible to see in the faces and features o f every sick person the adorable face of the Great, Mysterious Patient, Who continues to suffer in those over whom your profession bends, wisely, providently and mercifully. So, the healthcare worker is the servant or minister o f God who in scripture is presented as “the lover o f life” (The Book o f Wisdom, 11:26). He serves God in the person who suffers and requires his assistance, and collaborates with God in the work o f healing. The limitations and frailties of human life become opportunities for turning to God in rev­ erent acknowledgement. So the work o f healthcare is not just a thera­ peutic work; it is a therapeutic ministry, a share in the pastoral and the evangelizing work o f the Church which makes the caregivers witnesses