VISIT THE SICK & COMFORT THE SORROWFUL


VISIT THE SICK

I was sick and you took care of me (Mt 25:36). Sickness is one of the miseries in the world. All of us have to pass through this suffering. It depends upon us to make this suffering into a joy. When peter’s mother-in-law was sick Jesus visited her and healed her (Lk 4:38-40). Even In the tradition of the church we could see that the faithful visiting the sick persons in his/her home and praying for them. Visiting the sick is our Christian necessity. It is a spiritual encouragement. It enthuse the person to get rid of his/her sickness. It is our solidarity with that person.

If the sick person does not have any visitor then s/he may feel lonely. That would become a great sickness. In the Gospel according to Luke we could find Jesus as a physician who heals all kinds of sickness. Luke portrays healing ministry as a primary work of Jesus mission on earth. Even today we, Christians are known for healing ministry and offering prayers for the sick. Sick persons are waiting for someone to be with them. Our mere presence amidst them would make a great difference.
The greatest of all sickness is uncaring. If there is no one to care for a person, that is the biggest disease. Our Christian charity does not restrict ourselves to visit only the known persons rather it invites us to care for all the people on earth. Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me” (Jn 14:1). Today for sick persons we need to become Jesus. They should be able to believe in us and in our prayers.

COMFORT THE SORROWFUL

This is the sixth spiritual works of mercy. Today everyone wants to lead a comfortable life but is there anyone among us who would comfort the person filled with sorrows, pain and affliction? At the outside the person may seem to be fine. But in his/her inner world s/he may be going through lot of sufferings whether they are of personal or family problems. In times of sorrow and affliction people want somebody to listen to them and help them rise again from the pit of affliction. On the one hand people may be longing for our help but on the other hand some people don’t want let their suffering known to us because of fear. They feel uncomfortable to share with us.

Some of us understand that undergoing a crisis or experiencing a sorrowful moments are due to one’s weakness or failure. It is not true. The sufferings may be caused by illness, death of dear ones, some unimaginable things might have happened... it all happens by chance. We don’t intend to get into the suffering. We all undergo these moments of suffering and affliction in our lives. All that we have to do is we have to getup from those sufferings as well as need to offer comfort the sorrowful persons. By taking part in the sorrows of the other, we are standing with them. There are very many ways through which we can offer comfort to the sorrowful. We can help them to come out of those miseries. We can offer some words of consolation that would encourage them to accept the sorrows.



Jesus Said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). Today, we need to become Jesus to one another. We need to offer rest and comfort for the afflicted. The sorrowful person should feel comfortable with us to share his/her sufferings. It involves lot of courage to trust a person. We should be reliable in the moments of sorrow. We cannot solve all their problems but we can suffer with those persons which comforts them. 

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