In Communion with the Elderly, the sick and the disabled

Day 7 – Christmas Novena

O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart; O Keystone of the mighty arch of people, come and save the creature you fashioned from the dust.

“The mystery of human suffering overwhelms the sick person and poses disturbing new questions: Why is God allowing me to suffer? What purpose does it serve? How can God who is good permit something which is so evil? There are no easy answers to these questions asked by the burdened mind and heart. Certainly, no satisfying answer can be found without the light of faith.

Our Saviour knows well the many special needs of those who suffer. From the beginning of his public ministry, together with his preaching of the Good News of the Kingdom, “he went about doing good and healing”. When he sent forth his own disciples on their mission, he gave them a special power and clear instructions to follow his example.

And indeed, it was the suffering and death of Christ that displayed the works of God most eloquently. By his Paschal Mystery, Jesus won for us our salvation. Suffering and death, when accepted with love and offered with trust to God, become the key to eternal victory, the triumph of life over death, the triumph of life through death. “

(Address of St. John Paul II to the elderly, sick and disabled)

STORY

Battle with Disease

He was 47, having been tormented by cancer for three months. He was still living in illusion, still unable to tear himself away from the transitory world…, not knowing that he was in the later stages of cancer. Every day, the priests and sisters came to visit him, neighbours came to encourage him, and members of the SSpSA (Holy Spirit Mision Association) came to comfort and pray for him, but he was unmoved, refusing to speak a single word with closed eyes or gazing blankly at the ceiling with no response. So some members of the SSpSA decided to fast and start a novena, praying to the Blessed Mother for him, totally relying on God. In time, God’s grace started to work on him: He, a lukewarm believer, finally opened his mouth to speak. He repented of his sins before the Heavenly Father, received the Holy Communion, and fell asleep in the loving embrace of the Lord. This is how the members of the SSpSA bring the love of God to those in need.

PRAYER:

Lord Jesus Christ, though You are the Son of the Most High, yet You deigned Yourself to be born into the world. Come, help the elderly people living alone in the peripheries of society and be their comfort, that they may spend the rest of their life in Your love.

Lord, being Emmanuel, You willingly chose to be in the company of the humble and insignificant. Come speedily to bring those afflicted with disease and loneliness the consolation they need.

Lord Jesus Christ, hope and strength of the nations, come quickly. Fill us with confidence and strength, and endow the disabled all over the world with indomitable will and tenacious spirit for life, that, with the strength which Your birth brings them, they may always keep hope despite the sorrows and hardships in the journey of life.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Most High, please hearken to our humble prayers. You willingly became man through the Virgin Mary and dwelt among us to share our weakness and woes. We ask that all, especially the elderly, the sick and the disabled, may experience Your presence in communion with us and attain the true faith and the happiness we desire. You are God, forever and ever. Amen.

Click here for the complete text of Christmas Novena 2016 (in different languages).