The Holy Martyrs Menas, Victor and Vincent (138-61); Our Venerable Father and Confessor Theodore the Studite (826).
2 Corinthians 11:1-6; Luke 9:1-6.
Read Luke 9:1-6
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
One of the things that struck and surprised me at the time of my Clinical Pastoral Education training was the instruction coming from our supervisors, in accordance to which we had to address the physical needs of our patients first and to leave their spiritual needs to the very end of our visits. Preparing to become a hospital chaplain, I was very perplexed by such an attitude. I thought that the physical needs have to be taken care of by the doctors, the emotional needs can be resolved by the psychologists, while the spiritual needs are left to us, the chaplains. Yet, we were instructed that in order to arrive at the moment when a patient is ready to speak about his or her spiritual needs, we need to accompany a patient in a long process of building mutual relationships which starts from a simple question: “How are you?”
As the chaplains we were trained to stay in people’s pain, to support them emotionally, to provide them with relief from feeling lonely and abandoned. We needed to show the patients that we care for them, so they can trust us and open their hearts and minds to the spiritual message that after all was in the centre of our ministry.
In the same way, Jesus commanded his disciples not only to proclaim the Gospel, but also to cure the diseases and to expel demons. Every human being is composed of the spirit, soul, and body. Consequently, if we want to make a significant difference in the life of a person, we need to address all dimensions of that person’s existence. The success of the proclamation of the Gospel depends on our ability to be compassionate and caring about all the aspects of life of the people to whom we preach and manifest God’s love.
According to one of the best commentators of the Scripture, William Barkley, “Nothing has done the Church more harm than the repeated statement that the things of this world do not matter.” The promise of the heavenly reward is not sufficient if we do not even make an attempt to change our condition on earth, in the same way as the words of our preaching are empty as long as they are not confirmed by our actions directed towards satisfaction of the most basic needs of people around us.”
Bible References