Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers: The Patient and Physician’s Pilgrimage
On the occasion of the Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers, April 5 to 6, Dr. Nisha Fernandes offers a reflection on the meaning of the Jubilee year in light of her experiences as an internal medicine physician at Markham-Stouffville Hospital. She is also a member of the St. Joseph Moscati Toronto Catholic Doctors’ Guild (https://www.canadiancatholicphysicians.com).
It was a podcast by the Franciscan Fathers of the Renewal that helped me most in understanding the Jubilee year. They drew parallels between its main principles as originally practiced by the Jewish people - freedom from bondage, forgiveness of debts, a pilgrimage home and a year of rest – to the parable of the prodigal son. With the Church celebrating the Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care workers this April 5 to 6, the principles and parable provided a useful framework for understanding how the Jubilee is applicable to my work with patients admitted to hospital.
The prodigal son’s journey home starts in a place of darkness and despair, feeding the pigs while he himself is starving and neglected. I had a patient admitted for progressive illness who indicated that he had already sought out and been approved for a MAID death. In trying to convince him that there were palliative options instead, it quickly became apparent that his suffering was not physical. He described being a burden, confined to bed unable to care for himself and taking up resources. He could not seem to accept that his life held dignity and value regardless of what he had capacity to do. He was the prodigal son feeling unworthy. It is a darkness that involved all around him. The healthcare workers, family and friends who supported his decision in a misguided belief in respecting his wishes instead validated his sense of worthlessness. Rather than words of encouragement and hands reaching to pull him from the muck, conversations became coldly logistical over when and where the MAID ‘procedure’ could be arranged. It’s at these times that I can’t help sensing evil spirits swirling, resorting to the Prayer to St. Michael to cast out these demons seeking the ruin of so many souls. How I wish my patient would have turned back in the direction of the Father waiting and watching the horizon for his son’s return, offering forgiveness and freedom.
Despite often not leaving their beds, patients in hospital are nonetheless on a pilgrimage. Those who have faith and family, do not make this journey alone. Pope Francis, in his letter on the 33rd World Day of the Sick in the Jubilee Year 2025, said “the word of God accompanies us and offers us […] an encouraging message: ‘Hope does not disappoint’ (Rom 5:5); indeed, it strengthens us in times of trial.” I have been blessed to witness these true pilgrims of hope, moved by love and grace in enduring suffering together. I think of my patient and his wife and siblings enduring a complex several month course in hospital, once again facing a serious infection and need for risky surgery. Yet they were resilient, reassuring and encouraging each other in pressing forward. And despite all they were going through, the staff couldn’t help notice their kind and friendly manner. I was caught off-guard when they, in the midst of worry and uncertainty, were concerned that I had a string of long days, wishing me rest for my weekend off. Their compassion mirrored that of the crucified Christ statue that he had propped up against his window.
I had the honour of caring for a woman in her final days of life after a rapidly progressive cancer. As she slipped deeper into unconsciousness, I watched as her children took turns keeping a constant vigil by her bedside attending to her, brushing her hair, playing her favourite music, filling her room with pictures of her grandchildren and displaying her favourite saint’s statue by her bedside. They laughed through tears sharing memories so that everyone would know the woman they knew. I was struck by the abundance by which she was giving of herself in how she taught her children to love. They accompanied her as she took her final steps towards her eternal home.
While I can understand forgiveness, freedom from sin and journey homeward to the Lord, it’s the fourth principle of rest that seems impossible. I’m accustomed to making diagnostic and treatment plans to produce results. How does one allow fields to lie fallow and actually rest without anxiety? The prodigal son was determined to work to earn his place, yet was invited to receive the gifts and refreshment that his father provided. I recently took over care for a patient towards the end of his hospital course, needing a few days of physiotherapy. There was little for me to do for him with no further tests or treatments to follow. His cancer required extensive throat surgeries that left him without the ability to talk, with progression to a noncurative stage. He would respond to questions through a combination of gestures and written words on a page. Despite the challenges facing him, he had an easygoing manner, quick to offer a smile and handshake, and emanating peace. I found myself reading his gaze, understanding his nonverbal cues, letting him take the lead on discussions. I stopped trying to produce results, instead learning to be present and communicate with more than words. And though we had not discussed faith, I was somehow not surprised when on discharge home he handed me a Daily Bread prayer booklet. “My time is in God’s hands” he wrote. God was not asking me to do but to receive a lesson in surrender and trust.
As Father Angelus said in the podcast, the Church doesn’t ask us every 25 years to just walk through doors. It’s about seeking restoration to the Lord so that we can be sent out again on mission. And while I hope to go to Rome later this year, I’m blessed to already be making the pilgrimage with my colleagues alongside our patients’ journeys. As captured in the Camino’s Beatitudes of the Pilgrim, ‘Blessed are you pilgrim, if what concerns you most is not to arrive, as to arrive with others.”
