Once again we return to the Corporal Works of Mercy as we come close to the conclusion of the Jubilee Year of Mercy. As we have noted before, those works are the actions of faith traditionally identified as the principal means of reflecting God’s mercy for the worldly needs of our brothers and sisters.
We have already reflected on the first four Corporal Works of Mercy: feeding the hungry; giving drink to the thirsty; clothing the naked and giving shelter to the homeless. The next work for our reflection is visiting the sick.

To understand our concern and our unity with the sick often begins with our own experience of illness. Even if we have been of generally good health, and illness has simply been the short bursts of headache or seasonal cold, everyone has some firsthand experience of the inward focus of sickness.
The ones who are sick are drawn to concentrate less on others and more on themselves. After all, “I am the one who is sick.” Illness, then often leads to isolation that is sometimes psychological, sometimes physical.

In addition, for many who are ill, they become dependent on others in a new way. And that need for others entails a loss of personal independence, which itself brings challenges.

The response of faith is that of Jesus in the Gospels. We are told in the Gospel of Luke, “All who had people sick with various diseases brought them to Him.” Jesus made clear that He wanted to be with the sick, and they wanted His comfort.

For ourselves then, visiting the sick takes on an expanding importance corresponding to the nature of the illness. For example, if one’s child or spouse is home with a cold, how welcome is just that rap on the door, that check on how things are going, that acknowledgement of suffering? But if the illness or injury requires treatment or longer term restrictions, we need to respond accordingly.

Visiting the sick can, of course, be a pleasant experience. If we give of our time and find a cheerful person on the road to recovery, it’s hard not to feel good as we are driving home. In such moments we feel our own spiritual strengthening as an agent of God’s mercy.

But such visits can also require from us an element of courage and spiritual resolve. To visit the sick is not infrequently to find someone dealing with pain or with the fear of an unknown future. They might be worried about whether they will be able to recover fully, or whether the treatment will be drawn out, perhaps with inevitable painful interludes.

In those moments, to visit the sick is often to enter into elements of their suffering with them.

Such circumstances remind us of the limits of our power to control events in this life. At times, when visiting the sick, one encounters someone in pain that cannot be taken away. Even more distressing can be to find someone who has become depressed or spiritually burdened.

Once more, it is a condition for which we can offer our accompaniment and prayer. But we are impotent to remove that burden.

It is at such moments that we draw on our own spiritual reserves. We rely on our trust and hope in God’s love for those who are suffering.

If in a given moment that suffering is not taken away, then our task is to comfort the one joined to Christ’s suffering, as Mary did at the foot of the cross. Often then, there is nothing that we can say that seems helpful. We are reduced simply to being with the sick, and praying with them.

We should not, however, underestimate the importance of our presence in those moments. Over the years of my priesthood, I have encountered situations time and again where weeks after leaving a sick visit with that vague sense of not having accomplished anything, I would meet the recovering person or a family member. How often they mentioned the visit. And that moment of solidarity was one that was never forgotten.

Finally, as we reflect on the visiting of the sick, we should pray as well for all of those who care for the sick professionally. The many hours of healing and presence offered by doctors, nurses and therapists of all sorts, acting in keeping with our moral principles, brings Christ to this great need.

Be it by our prayer, our presence, or our professional service to the sick, we seek to fulfill Jesus’ words, “I was ill and you cared for me.” (Mt 25:36).