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INTENTION : |
Let us pray that the sick who are in the final stages of life, and their families, receive the necessary medical and human care and accompaniment.
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To Render A Caring Presence
Reality hits us hard when life draws visibly to a close. However, our capacity to nurture and render relentless care to our loved ones is evident through the work of palliative care. It is a holistic and honorable ministry to both the terminally ill and the family. We take consoling cues from Pope Francis' thoughts: on palliative care in facing this inevitable ministry accompanying of the dying and the family.
A Human Attitude
"Palliative care" is an expression of the truly human attitude of taking care of one another, especially of those who suffer. It is a testimony that the human person is always precious, even if marked by illness and old age. Indeed, the person, under any circumstances, is an asset to him/herself and to others and is loved by God. This is why, when their life becomes very fragile and the end of their earthly existence approaches, we feel the responsibility to assist and accompany them in the best way possible.
The Word of God is ever living and we clearly see how the Commandment proves central for contemporary society, where the logic of usefulness takes precedence over that of solidarity and of gratuitousness, even within the family. Therefore, let us listen with docile hearts to the Word of God that comes to us from the Commandments which, let us always remember, are not bonds that imprison, but are words of life." As St Peter would exclaim, the words of life come from the Author of Life, "where would we go Lord, You have the words of eternal life." (John 6:68)
A Duty
Today "to honour" could also be translated as the duty to have the utmost respect and to take care of those who, due to their physical or social condition, may be left to die or "made to die". All of medicine has a special role within society as a witness to the honour that we owe to the elderly person and to each human being. Evidence and effectiveness cannot be the only criteria that govern physicians' actions, nor can health system regulations and economic profits. A state cannot think about earning with medicine. On the contrary, there is no duty more important for a society than that of safeguarding the human person.
Palliative care has, until now, been a precious accompaniment for cancer patients, but today, there is a great variety of diseases characterized by chronic progressive deterioration, often linked to old age, which can benefit from this type of assistance. The elderly need, in the first place, the care of their family members - whose affection cannot be replaced by even the most efficient structures or the most skilled and charitable healthcare workers. When not self-sufficient or having advanced or terminal disease, the elderly can enjoy truly human assistance and have their needs adequately met, thanks to palliative care offered in conjunction with the supportive care given by family members."
A Service of Tenderness
Anyone who is incapacitated because of suffering, like a fragile infant, must be treated with tenderness. "The objective of palliative care is to alleviate suffering in the final stages of illness and, at the same time, ensure the patient appropriate human accompaniment (cf. Encyclical Evangelium Vitae, n. 65). It is important support, especially for the elderly who, because of their age, receive increasingly less attention from curative medicine and are often abandoned. Abandonment is the most serious "illness" of the elderly, and also the greatest injustice they can be submitted to: those who have helped us grow must not be abandoned when they are in need of our help, our love and our tenderness.
Palliative care accomplishes something equally important: it values the person. I exhort all those who, in various ways, are involved in the field of palliative care, to practise this task keeping the spirit of service intact and remembering that all medical knowledge is truly science, in its noblest significance, only if used as an aid in view of the good of man, a good which is never accomplished "against" the life and dignity of man."
"It is this ability to serve life and the dignity of the sick, also when they are old, that is the true measure of medicine and society as a whole. I repeat St John Paul II's appeal: "respect, protect, love and serve life, every human life! Only in this direction will you find justice, development, true freedom, peace and happiness!"
Adapted from the Address of His Holiness
Pope Francis, to Participants in The Plenary of
The Pontifical Academy for Life, 5 March 2015.
Below are short texts that may be recited with the terminally ill person, choose one or more, if necessary they may be softly repeated two or three times.
Who can separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:35)
Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.
(Romans 14:8)
We have an everlasting home in heaven.
(2 Corinthians 5:1)
We shall be with the Lord for ever.
(1 Thessalonians 4:17)
We shall see God as He really is. (1 John 3:2)
We have passed from death to life because we love each other. (1 John 3:14)
To you, Lord, I lift up my soul. (Psalm 24:1)
The Lord is my light and my salvation. (Psalm 26:1)
I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in
the land of the living. (Psalm 26:13)
My soul thirsts for the living God. ( Psalm 41:3)
Though I walk in the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for you are with me. (Psalm 22:4)
Come, blessed of My Father, says the Lord Jesus,
and take possession of the kingdom prepared for
you. (Matthew 25:34)
The Lord Jesus says, today you will be with Me in
paradise. (Luke 23:43)
In my Father's home there are many dwelling
places, says the Lord Jesus. (John 14:2)
The Lord Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you,
and I will come again to take you to Myself.
(John 14:2-3)
I desire that where I am, they also may be with Me,
says the Lord Jesus. (John 17:24)
Everyone who believes in the Son has eternal life.
(John 6:40)
Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.
(Psalm 30:5)
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. (Acts 7:59)
Holy Mary, pray for me.
Saint Joseph, pray for me.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, assist me in my last agony.
When the moment of death seems near, after the Litany of the Saints, the Prayer of Commendation may be said:
Go forth, Christian soul, from this world
in the name of God the Almighty Father,
Who created you,
in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,
Who suffered for you,
In the name of the Holy Spirit,
Who was poured out upon you,
Go forth, faithful Christian.
May you live in peace this day,
May your home be with God
With Mary, the Virgin Mother of God,
With Joseph, and all the angels and saints.
From the Roman Ritual
PASTORAL CARE OF THE SICK
Rites of Anointing and Viaticum
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