Health Care Workers Mass
Sept 25, 2004, OLPH, Clovis
Homily by Most Rev. John T. Steinbock
Tobit 12:11-22; Luke 18:35-43
Beginning of Mass: Welcome; Mass in honor of St. Rafael, the patron of healthcare workers; ask his intercession; give thanks to God for you; give thanks to you for living a vocation of healing and love.
I. What we know of the archangel Rafael we know from the book of Tobit in the Old Testament. If you like a story with suspense, despair, treachery, family values, healing remedies, a good love story with a happy ending, I encourage you to read this book from the Old Testament. It is not really long and it will captivate your interest.
A. The passage we have just heard comes towards the end of the book of Tobit, when Rafael reveals that he is one of the seven angels, who enter and serve before the Glory of the Lord. This is why we call Rafael one of the Archangels. The other archangels we know by name are Gabriel who appeared to our Blessed Mother, and Michael who appears in the Book of Revelation. So you certainly have a powerful intercessor in heaven who serves before God himself.
B. Rafael had protected Tobiah on a long journey, saved his life, found him a wife, protected him from evil spirits, brought him back home safe to his father, and taught him a cure for his father’s blindness. In the passage we heard in the first reading, Rafael is emphasizing that all he did was to fulfill God’s will and to give glory to God, and tells both Tobit and his son Tobiah not to thank him but to thank God, seek always his will and give him glory and praise constantly. Good advice for us, especially for those in the health care ministry, as you know more than anyone how dependent you are on God’s power in your service to the sick, and how the source of your constant patience and care must be the very love of God in your own personal lives.
II The Blind man in the Gospel cries out to the question of the Lord what is it that he wants from Him: “Lord that I may see.” Each and everyone of you is meant to call out in faith to the Lord these same words: Lord that I may see, that I may know your will and understand what you are asking of me in relation to each individual person you care for, that you may trust that the Lord is guiding you and is with you in the daily decisions you must make for the good of those you serve, giving you also the wisdom to know you are serving Christ in each individual and pointing the way to Christ through your loving service.
A. Just as Rafael was a manifestation of God’s merciful and healing power in the life of Tobit and Tobiah, each one of you in your role in the health profession, becomes a manifestation of God’s healing power and love. You do much more than simply care for the physical life of those you care for. You bring Christ’s healing love to those you serve.
B. Just as Christ in his healing ministry always led people to a deeper inner and spiritual healing, so your healing and caring hand, leads people to understand Christ’s care and love in their lives, which leads not simply to a better quality of life, but can lead to the fullness of life that only Jesus can bring. This is done not so much with words, but with loving service.
III I give thanks to you in the name of all God’s people for giving of yourselves in a life of service and love, but I also challenge you.
A. In the complexities of the medical profession today and the rapid growth in technology, there is a tendency to put expediency and practical results as the determining factor of what is right and wrong, and not the eternal values we receive from God. This can so easily diminish the value and sanctity of all human life. Respect for life is redefined as quality of life and has nothing to do with the respect we are to have for each and every individual, from the moment of conception to the last breath of one’s life. Many in our society are so ready to divorce God’s plan and moral and ethical principles form medical research and the decisions that must be made every day.
B. You, the Catholic leaders in the health profession must be the ones who are speaking up for the respect for all human life and not be led by the popular and secular culture in which we live. You must study the issues, which are often so complex, and be ready to speak out with your friends and even publicly for the Truth of the sanctity of all human life.
C. One example of this is Proposition 71, which would lead to human embryo cloning and embryo stem cell research here in California. Opposition to Proposition 71 is not based on simply religious beliefs, but on the moral law and upon science itself. Opposition is based on the common scientific understanding that when a sperm fertilizes an egg, forming an embryo, a new DNA comes into existence, and human life appears. If this embryo is placed in a woman, nine months later there will be a baby. To say that a human embryo is merely a collection of cells in a petri dish that will never become a human being is misleading, misguided and scientifically incorrect, as the human embryo is already a human being at its beginning stage. By thinking more deeply about what it means to be human today will affect every aspect of human life in the future. At the end of Mass you will be receiving an excerpt from the introduction to the Charter for Health Care Workers written by the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance. It speaks of the valuable service to life that health care persons give, of the dignity of your profession, of the vocation that God calls you, of you continuing the healing ministry of Jesus Himself, and of the ethical responsibilities, which you are also called, and for your need of ongoing formation also for ethical and moral issues.
End: It is truly a high calling each and everyone of you has received. The greater the call, the greater the responsibility; the greater the responsibility, the greater the power of God must be in your life. Rafael who stands before the throne of God is your protector, your strength, and your model. Thank you for your service and your love. May God continue to bless you, so His blessings may flow through you to all you serve.