Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)
Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)
Gospel Mark 1:40-45 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)
A leper came to Jesus, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.
And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him
away at once, and said to him, “See that
you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to
them.” But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and
to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but
was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every
quarter.
I have used this material before. The story of Dr Carlo Urbani is one that gives me hope during the current pandemic. It is a story of a person inspired by his Christian faith to serve the poor as a doctor with the full support of his wife Giuliana. And in serving the sick he gave up his life. Covid-19 is closely related to SARS, the disease that he discovered and from which he died.
Towards the end of February 2003 Dr Carlo Urbani, an Italian, went to Vietnam, representing the World Health Organisation, to investigate an American businessman who was showing unusual symptoms. It turned out to be severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a highly contagious virus. The man who discovered this new disease died from it himself about a month later on 29 March. In a conscious moment, while in the ICU in a hospital in Bangkok, he asked for a priest to give him the Last Rites.
Vladimir Redzioch of Inside the Vatican interviewed Giuliana Chiorrini, the widow of Dr Urbani. MISYON, the Columban magazine in the Philippines, published the interview, with permission, in its March-April 2004 issue. Here are extracts from it.
ITV: Your husband chose to work with the sick and
poor around the world. Why?
Giuliana Chiorrini: Carlo was always involved in volunteer work and since his youth was attracted by the poor. He cultivated the desire to discover new horizons. To do this he left for Africa with the missionaries. Since his days as a young student with a backpack full of medicines, he had traveled in Africa (Mali, Niger, and Benin). Afterwards he work in solidarity camps run by the Xaverian Fathers, Catholic Action and Open Hands. He was always in contact with missionaries. As a doctor he wrote for the missionary magazine Missioni Consolata. Carlo also fulfilled his desire to help he poor during his 10 years working at the hospital in Macerata. This confirmed him in his work with Médecins Sans Frontières, of which he was the president, and in this capacity he received the Nobel Peace Prize when it was conferred on the organization in 1999.
ITV: What role did his faith play in his choice of
life?
Chiorrini: Faith had an extremely important role in my husband’s life. Everything
he did enriched the spiritual lives of the people who were in contact with him.
He was also very sensitive to the beauty of creation - he even used to go
hang-gliding to admire nature.
That year St John Paul II invited the family of Dr Urbani to carry the Cross during the Via Crucis on Good Friday, 18 April, in the Colosseum.
ITV: This year, during the Via Crucis at
the Colosseum, you and your son carried the cross. How did you react when you
heard you had been chosen by the Holy Father, and what significance did it have
for your family to participate in this Good Friday liturgy?
Chiorrini: I am a believer, as was my husband, and knowing I was to carry the
cross during the Via Crucis touched me a great deal, as well as
giving me an enormous joy. It was a very intense moment of the interior
spirituality and in all honesty it was also very moving, with the evocative
atmosphere which was created that evening.
If you will, you can make me
clean. Like Jesus, Dr Carlo Urbani chose and made many
clean, sacrificing his own life in doing so.
The video is based on a letter that Dr Carlo Urbani wrote in May 2002. It is in Italian and contains many photos of his family and in his work situation. He writes very warmly about his family and thanks God for the generosity he has experienced from so many.
There is a longer video, with English subtitles, about the life of Carlo Urbani here. It is just over 16 minutes in length and I would encourage you to view it.
Healing Scenes from the Life of JesusAuthentic Beauty
Authentic beauty, however, unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond.
Pope Benedict XVI meeting with artists in the Sistine Chapel, 21 November 2009.
Music: Noel Gay / Lyrics: Norman Newell
Orchestra of Roberto Inglez
I have posted a number of times about St Valentine's Day, a feast day that is observed in the calendar of the Traditional Latin Mass, though not this year, as it falls on Sunday. In an audience with newly-married couples Pope Francis reminded them of the importance of three expressions: May I?, Thank you and I'm sorry. He told them: The second word: be appreciative. How many times the husband needs to say to his wife, ‘Thank you’. And how many times the wife must say to her husband, ‘Thank you’. Thank each other, because the sacrament of marriage is conferred by the two spouses, one to the other. This sacramental relationship is maintained with gratitude.
The song above is just that: My Thanks to You, a husband singing to his wife. The singer, Steve Conway, was a husband and the father of a young daughter when he died after heart surgery in 1952 at the age of 31. As a child I loved his voice, which I would now describe as beautiful.
This weekend we are holding the first online Marriage Encounter in Ireland, led by three couples ans myself. I would appreciate your prayers very much.
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