Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga presides over a Eucharistic Concelebration for the liturgical memorial of Saint John of God, Patron Saint of the Vatican Pharmacy and of the Directorate of Health and Hygiene

We are all children of the same Father

Medicine, assistance and accompanying the sick require, not only the necessary professional qualifications, but also, and above all, a novel way of relating among brothers and sisters, all of whom are children of the same Father, said Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, President emeritus of the Governorate of Vatican City State, during a Eucharistic concelebration to mark the liturgical memorial of Saint John of God. The Holy Mass was celebrated on Thursday morning, 6 March, in the Palace of the Governorate’s Church of Mary, Mother of the Family, ahead of the official date of the liturgical memorial which falls on 8 March, to allow employees to participate.

The following concelebrated with the Cardinal: Father Franco Fontana, Coordinator of the Chaplains of the Directorates and Central Offices, Father Iulian Misariu of the Order of Friars Minors Conventual, Chaplain of the Vatican Pharmacy, and Brother Dario Vermi of the Order of Fatebenefratelli, spiritual guide of the Directorate of Health and Hygiene.

Brother Binish Mulackal, Director of the Vatican Pharmacy, and Professor Andrea Arcangeli, Director of the Directorate of Health and Hygiene, also attended the Eucharistic concelebration.

At the conclusion of Mass, Sister Raffaella Petrini, President of the Governorate, greeted those present and encouraged them, as they to continue to provide their service to the Vatican Pharmacy and to those who turn to the Directorate of Health and Hygiene’s facilities.

The following is the homily of Cardinal Vérgez Alzaga.

Dear Sister Raffaella,

Dear Andrea Arcangeli and Luigi Carbone,

Dear Brother Binish,

Dear brothers of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God,

Dear physicians, nurses, pharmacists and all employees,

We are gathered here to celebrate the liturgical memorial of Saint John of God, the founder of the Fatebenefratelli Order and Patron Saint of the Vatican Pharmacy and of the Directorate of Health and Hygiene. Saint John of God was a man of fire, a faithful disciple of Christ and a “giant” in his charity, because he had discovered the power of Christ’s love. To this day, the flame continues to burn in the hearts of thousands of brothers and lay collaborators who follow his charism.

Dear brothers and sisters, we have just begun Lent, a time in which the Church invites us to better understand what God represents to us. The mystery of our faith is enclosed in the face of the Trinity that Jesus revealed to us. God is an attentive and loving Father to his creatures. He is not a cruel vindictive tyrant who wants to punish us. He is “Abba”, a Father, to us and he wants us to participate in his holiness. The Aramaic word “Abba” is mentioned in the Talmud, the collection of Jewish tradition, as an affectionate title used by children to address their fathers. Thus, Abba is like our words, “Dad” or “Daddy”. However, there is no mention of this word used directly to address God.

Jesus instead overturns things and uses the word to address the Father, as mentioned in the evangelist Mark’s account of his Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus says, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt” (14:36). The Apostle Paul uses this word twice. It reveals our condition as adoptive children and thus, coheirs of Jesus Christ and participants in his glory.

Saint John of God had well understood that God’s nature is love. He knew with clarity that he was the adoptive son of the Father, from whom he expected nothing but mercy. He firmly believed in this love and highlighted the consequences that it involves. Universal fraternity is manifested in the paternity of God, which is extended to all humankind. One cannot erase this divine will. Therefore, those who refuse to share the grace of salvation with everyone, without exception, exclude themselves from what they wanted to take away from others.

The Gospel of Luke we have just heard, speaks of fraternal charity and gives us the opportunity to reflect on the parable of the Good Samaritan. Saint John of God did not merely listen to it and meditate upon it, but made it his model for life and for his spiritual brothers. Indeed, aware that he was a child of the Father, who loved him immensely, he could not but return this love by pouring it onto his brothers and sisters who were most in need. He would spot the defeated and the abandoned, to whom the evangelist Luke referred, in the sick, the suffering, the rejected and in those marginalized by society, as were some categories of sick people, during the time in which John lived.

The Saint drew near precisely to those who were considered useless or damaging, a burden to be removed. John fought against the prejudices of the time, to show that no one is a stranger to God’s charity and that we are all brothers and sisters.

Dear brothers who live with the example of giving of your Saint, as a reference point, your communion does not arise from the fact that you work in facilities of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God, but rather from being in harmony with the charism of service to the sick, the disabled and the rejected.

You are not merely an operative team, but free and profound participants in the dynamism of Saint John of God’s charism. The conviction of belonging to this communion makes you responsible for one another and responsible for those whose lives are made more difficult by illness or disability.

Let us ask the Lord that the work of those who are inspired by the charism of Saint John of God may manifest the truth to the world: that medicine, assistance and accompanying the sick require, not only the necessary professional qualifications, but also, and above all, a novel way of relating among brothers and sisters, who are all children of the same Father.

I offer you my heartfelt blessing and invoke the maternal protection of Mary and of Saint John upon you.