For a believer, illness and suffering are not a tragic fate that must be passively endured but, rather, a task, thanks to which he can live his Christian vocation in a special way. They are the invocation of God to mankind: an invocation to us to be fraternally close to those who are suffering and to help them using all the means offered by medical science; an invocation to the sick not to resign themselves to their suffering, or rebel out of bitterness, but, rather, to recognize in it the possibility of a more intense form of following Christ. Faith alone can give us courage and strength. If we are trustfully accepting, every human suffering can become personal participation in the offering of Christ who suffered for our sins in order to save the world. Thus the Passion of Christ continues in the individual who suffers. So, too, all the help and love we can manifest are in the end addressed to Christ. “I was sick and you visited me,” Christ says, and continues, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”
