by Don Giuseppe Longo
Today, in front of the entrance to the liturgical hall of the Hospital Cannizzaro, an extraordinary audience welcomed His Excellency Monsignor Luigi Reina, Archbishop of Catania, on his first official visit to the great Etna Hospitals.
Archbishop Reina, who arrived a few moments before the regional health advisor, is a lawyer. Rogerio Raza, received by the Director General of the hospital, Dr. Salvatore Giuffrida. Dr.. Diana Sina Director of Health and Dr. Giuseppe Modica, Managing Director.
Waiting for the Archbishop in the liturgical hall to participate in the Divine Liturgy in addition to the many health authorities of the city – among others Dr. Giuseppe de Bella and Dr. Antonino Rapisarda, General Manager and Director of Health at Catania ASP, Dr. Fabrizio Di Nicola. General Der. Garibaldi and Dr. Gaetano Sirna, General Manager Osp. Policlinico – San Marco – Many volunteers from AVULSS, VOI, della Misericordia and a large number of doctors.
Don Mario Torraca, the real protagonist in preparation for the event, at the beginning of the Divine Liturgy with an introduction recalling the 22 years of existence in Cannizzaro, first as a cardiologist and later as a chaplain in the hospital, focusing on the many activities that tend, as far as possible, to harmonize with the rhythms of The liturgical year, and thanks in particular to the volunteers of the Archdiocese for the patients of the Blessed Card. Benedetto Dusmet, who tries to alleviate the suffering of loneliness in which the patient is drowning by anchoring himself in that narrow space just over a meter from his bed.
Archbishop Reina emphasized at the beginning of the homily that he felt it was his duty in the first days of his arrival in Catania to go to the hospital where, at such a delicate moment in our history many starvation patients had passed, at such a delicate moment in our history, some of whom were cured some while others were not, especially when Remember their mother. This visit represented an encouragement to the frontline doctors and volunteers”, as well as “a reason for hope for the many patients” who were welcomed into the various hospital departments.
The archbishop, citing Pope Francis’ famous expression “the church of the field hospital”, pays tribute to the role played by health structures during the pandemic of health structures that acted according to the motives of scientific research. And “it should come as no surprise that the Church places her trust in reason-guided science, because it, too, like man and all created things, is the work of God.”
It is necessary to resort to “a science in the service of the person by accepting those remedies which guarantee the preservation and preservation of human life, notwithstanding any form of perseverance.”
Therefore science and conscience, and specifically from the latter, arise the privileges of our humanity and the “richness of our values which I place in the heart of the person” for whom God predestined creation itself. In fact, “The God we believe in is that God who became man.”
The page of Mark’s Gospel today brings us back the words of Jesus, who calls the blessed who succeeds in giving a glass of water only to those who are his disciples, because this happens to Christ himself.
Therefore, giving a glass of water and giving some treats constitute the daily path towards bliss from which no one is a priori excluded. Because we must never forget that “behind every patient there is always the face of Jesus Christ’s suffering.”
“Faith always has two images before it: the doctor, who is Christ, and the patient, who is always Christ,” precisely because “the mystery of the Incarnation can recognize the face of Jesus in the other.”
The glass of water is an expression of care, not only as medicine, but also as a concern for the other and especially for the young, for whom one must use mercy in the sense of “giving the heart to the poor,” and with which today we can recognize the old and the terminally ill. “We must avoid that this age can be discriminatory in deciding whether to provide treatment.”
Archbishop Reina concludes by pleading for blessings on this hospital structure so that all health workers work not only with science, but also with conscience, to care for the sick with dignity at all stages of suffering: physical, psychological and spiritual.
The Archbishop’s visit to Cannizzaro Hospital ended with a quick tour of the various departments, especially the emergency room, the intensive care unit and the Covid ward.
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