“The sick have an experience of the spiritual that we often do not have, nor are we able to perceive and welcome from books and other formative realities.”

This is the view of Sr. Agata Villadoro of the Congregation of the Hospitaller Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The UISG spoke with the Italian sister in the context of the current Jubilee of the Sick and the World of Health between 4 - 6 April. She is on a pilgrimage to Rome together with fellow sisters, pastoral workers, the sick, their families, and volunteers. They have also prepared a small guide to lead them through the moments of the Jubilee: “I also feel motivated by the certainty that Grace will surprise us a lot.”

The sick and fragile people are often perceived as a burden for society. Sr. Agata admits this viewpoint, but she also sees the reason: “It is because we have absolutized the value of perfection, efficiency, and of health. This way of seeing reality, as Pope Francis says, automatically produces waste.”

Sr. Agata goes on to mention her personal experience. For her, the sick, fragile and vulnerable people are the revelation of true human dignity: “I have been able to see, despite the drama that goes with suffering, how wounds become openings for a Light of Wisdom that perceives God. The sick have spiritual intuitions worthy of the highest schools of theology and they trigger dynamics which characterize the human in social coexistence. I assure you that spending time with them is a human and spiritual resource!”
In addition, “the sick has an experience of the spiritual that we often do not have, we are not even able to perceive and welcome from books and other formative realities.”

Moreover, Sr Agata who takes care of the sick, fragile, and vulnerable, quotes Pope Francis in this regard: How many times, at the bedside of a sick person, do we learn to hope! How many times, by being close to those who suffer, do we learn to believe! How many times, by bending over those in need, do we discover love! We realize that we are angels of hope, messengers of God, for each other, all together: the sick, doctors, nurses, family members, friends, priests, men and women religious.”

Today people often talk about inclusion. Sr. Agata Villadoro shared with us how to include and fully integrate these people into the community, the church and society at large:
“Simply by inserting them into common social and ecclesial contexts, without prejudice and with the willingness to interact, to act and be with them naturally. Family members and operators experience that we can communicate (with more or less difficulty, with more or less time). So here is the extraordinary discovery of their sensitivity and the meaning of their life: “the limit” not only does not limit their joy, but purifies it from so many superstructures that we bring in which are not only useless, but also harmful.”

We learn so many fundamental human virtues from these people, such as humility, patience, fortitude, entrusting oneself, trusting, resilience, and cooperation, enumerates the Hospitaller Sister of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Finally, Sr. Agata sees this as an evangelical value, and as an evangelization. “The poor evangelize us” is not a slogan, but truth, underlines the Italian sister.