News

White Mass
Saint Peter Church, Greenville
October 23, 2008
(Romans, 14:7-8; Matthew 11: 28-30)

“Come to Me all you who are weary and find life burdensome and I will give you rest.”

Dear Brother Priests, Physicians, Physician Assistants, Nurses, Hospital Administrators and staff, medical personnel and dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Each and every day you meet people who have responded to the invitation of Jesus Christ in tonight’s Gospel. In your vocation and work, you encounter daily those who are weak and find life burdensome due to the physical and emotional sufferings they are experiencing and the heavy crosses they are carrying. You see their anxiety, fear and perhaps even despair. You strive to alleviate their burdens and sufferings. In and through you, they discover the abiding presence of the Lord our God, who alone can give them rest.

On behalf of all in the Diocese of Raleigh, I express profound thanks to all of you for your dedicated and generous service and for the compassionate care and genuine concern you extend to all of our brothers and sisters in need. On a personal note, this past year was one of great suffering for my beloved father, who died in August. My family and I stood in awe of those in the medical field who attended to him, never with complaint and always with respect. Like so many others, we would look at the medical staff and would constantly say, “What would we ever do without these wonderful people?”

Your vocation is a precious gift to those you serve, to our community, to our Diocese and to the entire Church! At this Mass, we give thanks to God for each one of you and also convey sincere appreciation to your spouses, children and families for the many ways they support and encourage you. At this Mass, we ask the Lord our God to sustain you in your work and ministry so that you may remain instruments in bringing His comfort and love to all those who are weary and find life burdensome.

Throughout the Gospels, the miraculous cures and healing power of Jesus are recorded. However, you will note that the Gospel passages emphasize not so much the “miracle” of Jesus but rather the “faith” of the recipient. It is this faith that allows the person in great need to experience the amazing grace of the Lord and newness of life in Him. Thus, we hear Him saying, “Your faith has saved you. Your faith has restored you.”

My brothers and sisters, you are powerful instruments of the Lord’s miraculous love. Thus, it is essential that you are continually renewed in faith. You must acknowledge each day the power of the Lord our God at work within you and recognize the countless ways He uses you to bring to others newness of life.

At this Mass, we are reminded of what is at the heart of our faith. We believe that the Lord our God is the Creator and Author of all life. We believe in the sacredness of all human life from the moment of conception to natural death. We believe that all persons are created in the image and likeness of God and are temples of the Holy Spirit. We believe that our vocation is from God and the One who calls us will sustain and nourish us in our work. We believe that our life here on earth is merely a journey to the life that will never end in the Kingdom of Heaven.

In a world that does not always embrace these truths, how essential it is that you profess your faith in word and deed each day. More than ever, such faith is essential! It will be reflected in these ways:

(1) You will be passionate servants of life, seeking always to protect and defend it, especially the life of the unborn, the terminally ill and those who are most vulnerable.

(2) You will treat every patient as a person and not as a case. You will care for them at every level of human existence.

(3) You will give thanks to God for the privilege that is yours every day to be His instrument. You will turn to Him for guidance and strength and realize that without Him you can do nothing.

(4) You will work each day to improve the quality of human life, and see the technology and resources that are ours as gifts from God, never to be abused.

(5) You will never despair in the midst of suffering or death because of your belief that through His own cross and resurrection, Jesus Christ has turned suffering into glory and death into life.

If this is the faith you profess and live, you will remain powerful instruments of the Lord, and through you He will continue to work miracles and accomplish marvelous deeds. If this is the faith you profess and live, then you will help and encourage others to respond to the words of Jesus: “Come to Me all you who are weary and find life burdensome and I will give you rest.”