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By Junno Arocho Esteves
While the suffering brought on by the coronavirus pandemic continues to make headlines, Pope Francis has recently highlighted another serious illness plaguing today’s world that deserves attention.
“What is the biggest disease in life? Cancer? Tuberculosis? The current pandemic? No. The greatest disease in life is the lack of love – not being able to love,” he said on 27 June during his Sunday Angelus address.
The Holy Father reflected on the Sunday Gospel reading from Saint Mark in which Jesus raised a girl from the dead and healed a woman afflicted with haemorrhages after she touched his cloak.
Although both episodes of healing are meant “to tell us that neither suffering nor death have the last word”, the pontiff said Christ wanted to focus on the healing of the woman with haemorrhages who suffered not only physically but also emotionally since she was marginalised and deemed impure due to her illness.
As a result, he said, the woman “lived alone with a wounded heart” and “tried many treatments” to heal from her suffering to no avail.
“We, too, how often do we throw ourselves into the wrong cures to satisfy our lack of love?” Pope Francis asked.
“We think that success and money make us happy, but love cannot be bought; it is free. We take refuge in the virtual world, but love is concrete. We do not accept ourselves as we are and we hide behind the exterior ‘make up,’ but love is not an appearance. We search for answers from magicians and from gurus, to then find ourselves without money and without peace, like that woman.”
However, he said the woman’s healing emphasises the importance of direct contact with Jesus who, in turn, “waits for us to encounter him, to open our hearts to him” and looks beyond “the ugly matters of our history” in order to heal.
“Jesus goes beyond sins. Jesus goes beyond prejudices. Jesus does not stop at appearances, but reaches the heart,” the Holy Father added.
“Sister, brother, you are here, let Jesus look at and heal your heart. I too must do this: let Jesus look at my heart and heal it. And if you have already felt his tender gaze upon you, imitate him, and do as he does.”