“Jesus said to the Twelve: “Fear no one.” Who is it we typically fear? Likely people willing to cause us physical harm, for example, angry men. What is it we typically fear? Likely things able to cause us physical harm, for example, a deadly disease like the coronavirus. Some centuries back, the people of Italy feared both, the physical harm of angry men like Camillus de Lellis (1550-1614) and the harmful disease of the Bubonic Plague. In the mystery that is Christ’s power to heal, the feared man helped save fearful people from the feared disease.
Camillus was born to an elderly mother who died when he was twelve. His father was a soldier who trained the young Camillus in his traits of selfishness, anger, and violence. He was a terror to all who came in contact with him. Eventually Camillus, like his father, also joined the military, as a brawling six-foot-six warrior. In war he suffered a serious leg injury but was not nursed back to health. He was instead neglected and turned away by the military which had no more use of him. He got work, when able, as a laborer. One site for his labor was a monastery. He tended the gardens and the monks tended him. He experienced from the monastic men a witness entirely unlike that of the military men. He was no longer among selfish men who were afraid and destroyed but among selfless men who were courageous and made whole. The men nursed Camillus. They brought their skilled care to healing him in body and soul. Camillus was changed. He began to devote himself to their same life of community, care, and healing. As the monks had treated him as Christ, so too Camillus cared for others as Christ. Camillus specifically devoted himself to caring for those who were sick and dying. He did so during a time hospitals, and subsequently their patients, suffered under appalling conditions. These conditions were especially dangerous given the existence of the Bubonic Plague during Camillus’ lifetime. Camillus began to introduce healing practices. They were the practices he learned while tending the monks’ gardens: fresh air, nutritious food, and healing herbs. Other men joined Camillus in his healing ministry. In time, they became a recognized ministry within institutional Catholicism. The community’s clothing consisted of a rather typical religious habit emblazoned with a large red cross. It was an early, perhaps the earliest use of the red cross as a symbol for healing services amidst people’s suffering. Camillus had known pain for much of his life. His commitment to healing other people’s pain resulted in his being canonized a saint (July 14). He is the patron saint of both those who suffer and those who tend to them, nurses.
“I saw the bitter tears of unhappiness Running down your agonizing face, Ravaged with pain, And I became a sponge of compassion To absorb them. … I sensed the presence of sickness In your tormented body Devouring your vibrant well-being, And I became salutary medicine to nurse you Back to health. I felt the terror In your trembling gracious heart … And I became your constant Caring companion.” (Because I Love You – Demetrios Trifiatis.)
Prayer: Spirit, move us in the world as a Healing Power.
Question: Who are the healers I can thank for their ministry?
June 21, 2020 Gospel Matthew 26-33 Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time