Mercy," says St. Augustine, "is the luster of the soul," because it makes it appear good and beautiful and covers the multitude of sins because "he who begins to have compassion for the misery of another begins to abandon sin. This is why it is so opportune to be accompanied by that friend whom we try to bring closer to God when we go to visit a sick person. Concern for others, for their needs, for their hardships and sufferings, gives the soul a special refinement to understand the love of God. St. Augustine affirms that by loving our neighbor we cleanse our eyes to be able to see God.
The gaze becomes more penetrating in order to perceive divine goods. Selfishness hardens the heart, while charity disposes us to enjoy God. Here charity is already a beginning of eternal life18 and eternal life will consist in an uninterrupted act of charity19. What better reward, for going to visit Him, could the Lord give us but Himself? What greater reward than to increase our capacity to love others? "No matter how much you love, you can never love enough.
"The human heart has an enormous coefficient of dilation. When it loves, it widens in a crescendo of affection that overcomes all barriers.
"If you love the Lord, there is no creature that cannot find a place in your heart.
The elderly and the sick, the sad and abandoned, form today an ever-growing legion of suffering beings who demand the particular attention and help of us Christians. "There will be among them those who suffer in their homes the rigors of sickness or of shameful poverty, although these are perhaps the fewest. Today, as is well known, there are numerous hospitals or homes for the aged, promoted by the State and by other institutions, well equipped in material terms and intended to accommodate a growing number of needy people. But these large buildings often house multitudes of lonely individuals, who live spiritually in complete abandonment, without the company and affection of relatives and friends ". Our attention and companionship to these suffering people will draw upon us the mercy of the Lord, of which we are in such great need.
In the Liturgy of the Hours, a petition is addressed to the Lord today that we can make our own at the end of the prayer: Grant that we may know how to discover you in all our brothers and sisters, especially in those who suffer and in the poor22 . Mary is always close to those who suffer. She disposes our hearts so that we never pass by a sick friend, or one who is in need in soul or body.
Hablar con Dios