Those who work in health care are instruments of Christ’s healing, Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre said during the Archdiocese of Louisville’s 10th annual White Mass celebrated Oct. 16 at the Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville.
Nearly 40 doctors, nurses, technicians and other healthcare professionals attended the liturgy, meant to honor those in the healthcare profession. It’s named for the white coats that doctors wear and its U.S. roots date to the early 1930s.
Archbishop Fabre said during his homily that in establishing the Mass, the National Catholic Medical Association understood the healing work of medical professionals as a continuation of the Lord’s work.
He noted that the liturgy falls near the Oct. 18 feast of St. Luke, considered to be the first Christian physician and the author of the Acts of the Apostles.
“The parallels are clear between St. Luke and you here,” the archbishop told the medical professionals. “We can say St. Luke gave us, quote, ‘a face of Jesus,’ unquote. Like St. Luke, in your care for and ministry to those who are ill, you bring Christ’s love to them.
“Curing the sick was one of the charges Jesus Christ gave his disciples,” he said. “Jesus sends you as instruments of his healing.”
Archbishop Fabre also cautioned his listeners, telling them that medical professionals must stay committed to their reliance on God to avoid the “disastrous results” of turning from him.
Quoting St. John Paul II, he said, “ ‘Man can build a world without God, but this world will end by turning against him.’ ”
“Stay rooted in God in all you do,” he said. “This is why we pause in the busyness of life and ask” for God’s grace.
He ended by thanking healthcare workers for their hard work and dedication to their profession.
“I know it’s difficult and has its challenge,” Archbishop Fabre said. “May Jesus Christ, the healer of every ill, grant you the insight you will need to serve as instruments of his healing.”
During the White Mass, medical professionals were invited to take the pledge of the St. Joseph’s Guild of the Catholic Medical Association. The pledge affirms their commitment to “imitate Christ, the divine physician, to make your work his work and his work yours, to dedicate yourselves to the needs of your patients, keeping all financial and political interest secondary to the personal needs of each patient.”
