Sixth Annual Mass to honor St. Raphael

Patron Saint of Healthcare Workers

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Clovis

Sept 30, 2006

Homily by Bishop John T. Steinbock

Theme: Encyclical--God is Love

I first want to thank all of you who are involved in Health Care. You are a great gift of God for countless persons as you seek to fulfill your vocation. You are all part, in one way or another, in continuing the role of Jesus in his healing ministry.

You all were given a reflection on Pope Benedict’s first Encyclical entitled “God is Love” as you entered Church. I would just like to reflect on this Encyclical a little in this homily as your lives lived in the everyday responsibilities of your various professions, are meant above all to be inspired by God’s love and to proclaim that love.

Our Holy Father begins his Encyclical with a quote from the first letter of John, chapter 4, verse 16: “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”

He divides his Encyclical into two main parts, but which are profoundly interconnected: first, the love God offers to mankind and the interconnectedness of the love of God and love of neighbor. In the second part he speaks of the exercise of the commandment of love of neighbor for all who belong to the Church.

In this brief homily I can only touch on a few individual points, but I would encourage you to go to the Vatican website and you can download the full Encyclical. Our Holy Father states that the Bible brings a totally new concept of God into this world and that is that God loves us with a personal love, a love that is deep and even passionate, and above all with a forgiving love.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, makes this love visible to all of us, especially in that self oblation on the Cross. It is the Eucharist that draws us into Jesus’ act of self oblation. Through the Eucharist we enter into the very dynamic of his self giving love.

In this section on the Eucharist, our Holy Father tells us that union with Christ in the Eucharist is also union with all those to whom he gives himself. As he says “I cannot possess Christ just for myself.” “Communion draws me out of myself towards him, and thus also towards unity with all Christians.” Through the Eucharist Jesus continues his work in us and through us.

This applies to your lives so well in the health profession. It is Christ’s healing ministry, his touch of love, that continues in and through you, in whatever aspect of health care you are involved. Our Holy Father then emphasizes that a Eucharist which does not pass over into the concrete practice of love is fragmented and distorted. It is the Eucharist that helps us to understand that love of God and love of neighbor have become one: in the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself, and in Jesus we find God. Applied to your lives, you find, serve and love Jesus in each individual you deal with, and God is also revealing himself to you through those you serve.

This gradual unfolding of this encounter with God would lead us to realize that love is not simply a sentiment, but engages our will and our intellect, and the “yes” of our will to his will unites our intellect, will and sentiments in the all embracing act of God’s love. This process is never finished, but is the work of a lifetime. I learn to look on the other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings but from the perspective of Jesus Christ. His friend is my friend. I am called to see others with the eyes of Christ and love them with the heart of Christ. Our Holy Father concludes this first section on God love reminding us how we only come to know God’s love through our love of others. He puts it this way: “Only my readiness to encounter my neighbor and to show him love makes me sensitive to God as well. Only if I serve my neighbor can my eyes be opened to what God does for me and how much he loves me…. “

The second part of the Encyclical is entitled: “the practice of love by the Church as a community of love.”

It speaks of the responsibility of the church as well as individuals to practice charity, even stating that the works of charity are just as important as proclaiming God’s word and celebrating the Liturgy. These three responsibilities cannot be separated if the Church is to be true to its nature. And these three aspects, God’s Word, the Liturgy and works of charity, cannot be separated in our lives or we will not authentically live our Christian life. How important it is for you health care workers to reflect on God’s Word and to have prayer, personal and public prayer, in your life to keep you aware of your vocation and that it is God’s love that must be at the root of your lives and profession, if you are to keep your joy and enthusiasm in serving God in those to whom you attend.

In this section the Holy Father also speaks of the distinctiveness of the Church’s charitable activity. It must first of all live out the corporal and spiritual works of mercy: feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and imprisoned, clothing the naked, teaching others of God’s truth and love. This activity must always be independent of parties and ideologies, and must never be done to proselytize. “Love is free. …Pure and generous love is the best witness to the God in whom we believe and by whom we are driven to love.”

In the last part of this section, Our Holy Father speaks of the qualities needed by those who are responsible for the Church’s charitable activity. With this limited time for this homily I will not go into these. I have made available an examination of conscience for everyone, which you can receive as you leave Church. This examination of Conscience reflects on those qualities needed by us all if we are to witness to God’s love and find God revealing himself to us in those we serve.

May the Archangel Rafael who is the Patron Saint of healthcare workers, watch over you. May his healing touch be an example for your healing touch. May you, seeking God’s will in all things, and striving to make your will one with the will of God, truly make your touch God’s touch. This is the way you daily speak of God’s great love. How blest you are through your professions and how blest we are. Thank you for your lives of service.