Editorial Professing Faith, Professing Medicine

The Linacre Quarterly 81 (1) 2014, 1–11

Editorial

Professing faith, professing medicine: Physicians and the call to evangelize

PHILIP G. BOCHANSKI The Philadelphia Oratory of St Philip Neri, Philadelphia, PA, USA

The Hippocratic Oath traditionally establishes medicine as a profession: A career, or vocation based on the professing of an oath regarding personal and public behavior. For Catholic physicians, the commitments of the Oath of Hippocrates take on new meaning when seen in light of the promises made at Baptism and renewed every Easter. This paper, originally an address to medical students, considers the role of Catholic physicians as evangelizers, those who spread the message and values of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Keywords: Profession, Vocation, Evangelization, Hippocrates, Catholic, Popes, Papal teaching

Some years ago, I was at a parish celebration reimbursements … less revenue equals less —a cocktail party sort of event—and while productivity.” Inodded,andquickly circulating through the crowd, I came upon changed the subject to when his oldest was a man whom I had met just once a few making First Communion, before things months before. We recognized each other got any stranger. and exchanged pleasantries, and, fairly sure Maybe I am the only one to whom such that I was remembering correctly that the a conversation would seem odd. As a man was a physician, I inquired how things society we seem to have become so accus- were going at his place of work. “OK, I tomed to referring to “the healthcare suppose,” he responded, “although our pro- industry” as if it ranked alongside the steel ductivity was down the last two months.” industry, the automotive industry, or the This was not what I expected to hear: I mining industry. Few people, perhaps, immediately started to wonder if I had the would bat an eye to use words like “pro- wrong man. “Oh, I thought you were a ductivity,”“revenue,” and “cost–benefit doctor,” I offered. “Yes, of course,” he said, analysis” as if they were working for and reminded me of the hospital where he General Motors instead of Mercy General. practiced, with a quizzical look on his face Thankfully, though, there is still a trend to to match the one on mine. “So, what was speak of medicine as a profession rather that you said about ‘productivity’?” Isaid. than as an industry. The question remains, “Oh,” he replied, “I meant that the number however: Is this terminology any better? of patients we see in the office has been It depends, of course, on what we mean dropping. Fewer patients, fewer by “professional.” Here we run into

another entity that seems to have no pro- much as whether it is useful for us—for ductivity or revenue problems in recent you who are dedicating so much time, times: The life-coaching/human resources/ energy and resources to preparing your- professional development industrial selves to be medical “professionals.” And, complex. In the language of mission state- if we decide that it is too nebulous to be ments, goals, and objectives, just what of much help to us (which I think is modern man intends by the word “pro- clearly the case), then is there another, fessional” remains frustratingly vague. more helpful definition to be found? I While I am aware of the danger of using think there is, and the purpose of my talk crowd-sourced online encyclopedias as a is to propose and develop it. source of facts and reliable data, they often The fact that our Wikipedia definition provide a rather clear insight (for better or of “professional” could be applied to so worse) into the collective mindset of the many “helping” careers means that it is culture. Here is what Wikipedia has to say not only terribly vague but also historically on the subject: “A profession is a vocation disconnected. For centuries, there were founded upon specialized educational only three “jobs” or “careers” on which was training, the purpose of which is to supply bestowed the additional title of “pro- objective counsel and service to others, for fession,” namely law, medicine, and holy a direct and definite compensation, wholly orders. The distinguishing characteristic apart from expectation of other business that set the professions apart from the gain” (Wikipedia 2013). Quoting econ- other arts and sciences was not simply omic regulations from the European prestige: In much of the ancient and early Union, it goes on to note that “liberal pro- medieval world the most respected public fessions are ‘those practiced on the basis of figures were the rhetoricians—who prac- relevant professional qualifications in a ticed that most fascinating of ancient arts personal, responsible and professionally that was part politics, part communi- independent capacity by those providing cations, part marketing, and very intellectual and conceptual services in the profitable. Nor was it the fact that people interest of the client and the public’” found the professions, and the pro- (Wikipedia 2013). fessionals, the most useful people to have Ihadamomentofhopethereatthe around. For the bulk of ordinary daily life beginning of the definition, when it used in the Middle Ages, a good farmhand or the word “vocation,” but as the author day laborer could provide much more neither defined the term in context nor used useful services than a lawyer hanging out it again in the rest of the article, it seems his shingle in the village. No, what made like there is not much to be gleaned from one of these men (in those days they were that area. Instead, what we have is a defi- almost always men) a professional was pre- nition of a professional as someone who: cisely that he had something to profess— • has specialized training; that he made a public oath that simul- • is engaged in offering “intellectual and taneously outlined the duties and conceptual services” to others (rather responsibilities that he was to undertake, than industrial or commercial products); and conferred on him the right and obli- • for a set fee or salary; and gation to fulfill them. • in the public interest. Historians trace the oath by which attorneys are admitted to the bar (which The question, it seems, is not exactly tends to be uniform in all jurisdictions) to whether this definition is accurate, as around the time of King Edward I of Bochanski – Professing faith, professing medicine 3

England; that is, to the end of the thir- To break an oath, or to swear it falsely, is teenth and beginning of the fourteenth not only a sin against justice, but a sin centuries. Those who are to be ordained against the Second Commandment, which deacons, priests, or bishops through the forbids invoking the Name of the Lord in sacrament of holy orders make an Oath of vain. “A person who freely swears an Fidelity that incorporates the Profession of oath,” the Code continues “is specially Faith developed at the First Ecumenical obliged by the virtue of religion to fulfill Council of Nicea in the year 325. But it is that which he or she asserted by the the profession of medicine that boasts the oath.”2 longest tradition, reaching back four A second point you must consider as centuries before the birth of Christ to the Catholic medical students and aspiring Greek physician Hippocrates. His oath for professionals is that the Oath of Hippo- doctors set him and his disciples apart from crates will not be the first public promise the practitioners of his day, and established you will make calling on God to bear the standards by which generations of phys- witness to your words. A defining icians were guided for millennia. Although moment in the life of the Christian— the ideals and principles of Hippocrates indeed, the necessary prerequisite that threaten in modern times to separate those makes possible the reception of the Sacra- who profess them from many of their col- ment that makes a Christian—is the leagues, the importance of professing the profession of faith in the Triune God that oath and putting it into practice has, if any- is made immediately before Baptism. So thing, become even more essential in our important is this profession of faith that own day. the Church directs parents and godparents What will it mean for you, as Catholic to make it in the name of those little ones men and women, to profess at the end of who cannot speak for themselves. So your studies the Hippocratic Oath? To essential is it to the ongoing life of the answer the question fully, we should begin Christian that the Church sets aside six with two introductory concepts. First, the weeks every year with the express purpose Church has developed her own definition of preparing—through prayer and penance— of an oath, which is enshrined in the for the renewal of this Baptismal oath at Code of Canon Law (canons 1199–1204). the celebration of Easter. On receiving the It raises several important points. “An Baptismal oath, the celebrant of the oath,” it says, “is the invocation of the liturgy proclaims, “This is our faith. This divine Name as witness to the truth. It is the faith of the Church. We are proud cannot be taken except in truth, judgment to profess it in Christ Jesus our Lord.” and justice.”1 An oath is a particular kind The connection of the life of the disci- of promise, in other words, in which a ple with the life of the doctor, then, is to person calls on God by name, command- be found at the intersection of one’s Bap- ing God to bear witness not just to good tismal promises with the Oath of intentions, but to the honesty and sincerity Hippocrates—the Catholic physician is of the oath-maker. It means not only that one who professes faith and professes the professing person asks God to help medicine. “With this awareness,” Blessed him or her to fulfill the oath, but in fact John Paul II wrote to a meeting of Italian calls on God to guarantee that the oath is Catholic physicians in 2004, “as Catholic being taken sincerely. doctors you are called as believers to This gives a profound significance and witness to Christ … effectively helping to gravity to the obligation to fulfill the oath. eliminate the causes of suffering that 4 The Linacre Quarterly 81 (1) 2014 humiliate and sadden humankind.”3 You abreast of advances in medicine” as a are called to bear witness to Christ, the necessary component of good practice, and pope insists, at the very moment that you “seek the counsel of particularly skilled are called to practice your art. The two physicians where indicated for the benefit obligations are never opposed; in fact, the of [the] patient.” effective exercise of the second depends on Speaking to an assembly of Army phys- the first. icians from various nations, meeting in Given that these two professions are so Rome while the Second World War was closely united, it would be beneficial to still ravaging the continent, Pope Pius XII read the Hippocratic Oath in light of the underscored the need for dedication to promises we made at Baptism, and in learning and instruction. Their meeting light of the eternal truths in which we demonstrated, the pope said, that they professed our faith, which give a new were “keenly alive to the first duty of every context and meaning to every aspect of physician, to be constantly increasing his human life. This is no new idea. In the fund of knowledge, and to keep quite same letter I mentioned a moment ago, abreast of the scientific progress being John Paul told the Italian physicians, “I made in his particular field. This duty reassert in your presence those ethical arises at once,” he went on, “from the principles that are founded on the Hippo- doctor’s responsibility to the individual cratic Oath itself: no lives are unworthy of and the community. … Man’s need will be living; no suffering, however, terrible, can the measure of the doctor’s responsibil- justify the suppression of a life; no reason, ity.”6 The communal aspect of the doctor’s however, lofty, makes it plausible to role and responsibility means that atten- ‘create’ human beings for subsequent tion to learning is an act of charity. It exploitation and destruction.”4 If it is assures that the physician will be able to possible to “baptize” Hippocrates, so to serve his patients in the best way possible, speak—to read his ancient commitments with knowledge that he acquires at the in light of the eternal Truth of the Gospel— cost of personal sacrifice. it can provide a foundation on which to Commitment to learning demands build a life as disciples and as doctors. gratitude toward one’s teachers, which can The first reality to which Hippocrates often be best expressed by a willingness to calls the new physician’s attention is the teach others—both students of medicine fact that the art of medicine is imparted and the patients and groups with whom from teacher to student. The professing one comes in contact. Writing about the doctor takes the oath in the presence of challenges surrounding organ donation, his or her teachers as well as peers, and Pope Benedict XVI noted the unique swears “to reckon all who have taught me ability of the physician to shape the minds this art equally dear to me as my parents, not only of an individual but of entire and in the same spirit and dedication to communities: impart a knowledge of the art of medicine The right road to follow, until science is to others.”5 While the profession of the able to discover other new forms and oath typically marks a transition from more advanced therapies, must be the years of classroom and clinical instruction formation and the spreading of a culture to the beginning of the actual practice of of solidarity that is open to all and does medicine, it insists that learning never not exclude anyone. A medical transplan- ceases. The professional swears that he or tation corresponds to an ethic of she will “continue with diligence to keep donation that demands on the part of all Bochanski – Professing faith, professing medicine 5

the commitment to invest every possible When you acknowledge your limit- effort in formation and information, to ations, while at the same time making make the conscience ever more sensitive visible your faith in the omnipotent God, to an issue that directly touches the life of you spread the truth of the Gospel. This is many people. Therefore it will be called evangelization, and throughout this necessary to reject prejudices and misun- Year of Faith the popes have called upon derstandings, widespread indifference and fear to substitute them with certainty and the whole Church to take up again this guarantees in order to permit an ever urgent task to make Christ better known more heightened and diffuse awareness of in the world. When the Synod of Bishops the great gift of life in everyone.7 issued its preparatory documents for their meeting about what has come to be called Of course, all the science and learning the New Evangelization, they noted that in the world will only take the medical the spreading of the Gospel must take student or physician so far. There is not into account several “sectors” of modern an answer for every question, a cure for life, and made special mention of the every disease. The only definitive answer realm of science and technology, marked to the questions of human suffering is to by continual advances “on which we are be found in the Passion, Death, and becoming increasingly dependent.”9 Resurrection of the Word-made-Flesh; Evangelization in medicine, as in the the only healing that leads to everlasting rest of human life, will come not from life comes from the hands of Christ the technical instruction as much as from your Divine Physician. You are called to bear constant witness to the power of Christ in witness to these eternal truths as well, in your life, especially in those areas and the problems you solve and in those that moments when you are most powerless. go beyond your human abilities. At the As Pope Paul VI wrote about the end of the Second Vatican Council, Pope missions, and Pope Benedict reiterated in Paul VI spoke on behalf of the Council regard to the New Evangelization, “It is Fathers “to the poor, the sick and the primarily by her conduct and by her life suffering” of the world: that the Church will evangelize the world, in other words, by her living witness of Our suffering is increased at the thought fidelity to the Lord Jesus—the witness of that it is not within our power to bring poverty and detachment, of freedom in the you bodily help nor the lessening of your face of the powers of this world, in short, physical sufferings, which physicians, 10 nurses and all those dedicated to the the witness of sanctity.” Or as Hippo- service of the sick are endeavoring to crates put it, “with purity, holiness, and relieve as best they can. beneficence” you must “pass [your] life and practice [your] art.” But we have something deeper and more You are called to give this witness valuable to give you, the only truth through the powerful medium of personal capable of answering the mystery of encounters with those you care for, and suffering and of bringing you relief the Oath of Hippocrates outlines carefully without illusion, and that is faith and union with the Man of Sorrows, with how you will conduct yourself in those “ Christ the Son of God, nailed to the encounters. First, I will treat without cross for our sins and for our salvation. exception all who seek my ministrations, … This is the Christian science of so long as the treatment of others is not suffering, the only one which gives compromised thereby.” Without exception peace.8 —the practice of medicine could not exist 6 The Linacre Quarterly 81 (1) 2014 without this commitment that encom- That man who places himself in the care passes the poor, the difficult, the of a doctor is something more than ungrateful, the foreign, and all the rest of nerves and tissue, blood and organs. And humanity without exception. The call of though the doctor is called in directly to the physician to this kind of concern and heal the body, he must often give advice, make decisions, formulate principles that receptivity is reflected in the image that is affect the spirit of man and his eternal used most often in the writings of the destiny. It is after all the man who is to popes to describe the mission of the be treated: a man made up of soul and Catholic doctor: That of the Good Samar- body, who has temporal interests but also itan, which, as Pope Pius XII pointed out, eternal; and as his temporal interests and “has been preserved for posterity in the responsibility to family and society may Gospel written by St. Luke, who was not be sacrificed to fitful fancies or despe- himself a doctor.”11 “The setting may be rate desires of passion, so his eternal different from the circumstances that are interests and responsibility to God may ” never be subordinated to any temporal common in your experience, the pope 13 admits, “but the spirit of prompt and advantage. unselfish devotion, of lofty principles inspiring sacrifice of self in the interest of Hippocrates next goes on to describe another, of tenderness and love—that is the “dos and don’ts” of medical practice. “I the same spirit that has characterized your will follow that method of treatment,” the profession at all periods of human history. “ 12 oath reads, which according to my ability Alas for mankind, were it not so.” and judgement, I consider for the benefit The receptivity of the physician to all of my patient.” Furthermore, the profes- who seek his or her care is, for the Catho- sing doctor swears to “abstain from lic doctor, another moment of whatever is harmful or mischievous”:No evangelization. It bears witness to the fun- lethal doses nor acts or omissions for damental truth of the dignity of the euthanasia; no abortion; no research human person, created in the image and without consent; no seduction or abuse of likeness of God and redeemed and the doctor–patient relationship. adopted as a brother or sister of Jesus The list seems obvious, self-evident— Christ, and through Christ to us. Pius XII however, this is not the case for all stu- continues: dents and physicians. Writing in the Georgetown Undergraduate Journal of The doctor is not handling inert matter, Health Sciences in July 2012, Emily however priceless. Suffering in his hands Woodbury notes that: is a human creature, a man like himself. Like himself that patient has a post of duty in some family where loving hearts Today, 100% of medical school graduates are anxiously awaiting him; he has a in the United States swear to some mission to fulfill, even though humble, in variation of the Hippocratic Oath (as human society. What is more, that ailing, opposed to just 24% in 1928). Most of crippled, paling form has a rendezvous these oaths are vague in language and with eternity; and when breath leaves his contain the principles of non-maleficence, body, he will there begin an immortal life beneficence, patient autonomy, and social whose joy or misery will reflect the justice. Only 14% of these oaths prohibit success or failure before God of his euthanasia, 11% reference a deity, 8% earthly mission. Precious creature of forbid abortion, and 3% prohibit sexual God’s love and omnipotence. relationships. (Woodbury 2012) Bochanski – Professing faith, professing medicine 7

Woodbury goes on to say that “the procured abortion and euthanasia. ancient religious foundation of the oath “Causing death” can never be considered has become irrelevant, and current diver- a form of medical treatment, even when gence of opinion on specific issues such as the intention is solely to comply with the ’ abortion and euthanasia make the original patient s request. Rather, it runs comple- tely counter to the healthcare profession, oath intolerable” (Woodbury 2012). While which is meant to be an impassioned and it is difficult to determine how widespread unflinching affirmation of life.14 this assertion is in the culture at large, the statistics Miss Woodbury cites about Here again we are dealing with the role omissions in modern versions of the oath of the doctor as evangelizer. This is a are chilling. reality that has to permeate every aspect of Against the prevailing trend of watered- one’s life, especially in the modern world, down oaths and promises, the Catholic which so successfully compartmentalizes physician is called to bear witness to the life, reserving discussions of moral issues inherent value of human life from for Sundays, and rejecting reflection on conception to natural death, and to give abortion, euthanasia, and marriage as this witness as much in his or her practice “wedge issues” that have no place in the and orders as by words. In his magnificent political discussions of mature, serious encyclical Evangelium vitae—“The Gospel people. In the face of such an attitude, of Life”—Blessed John Paul II explained Pope Benedict insists that: the nature and importance of the testi- mony to life offered by doctors, which he [I]t is important to realize that being Christian is not a type of clothing to wear finds, in fact, in the oath we have been in private or on special occasions, but is discussing: something living and all-encompassing, able to contain all that is good in modern A unique responsibility belongs to health- life. … [W]e cannot forget that the life- … care personnel. Their profession calls style of believers needs to be genuinely for them to be guardians and servants of credible and all the more convincing for ’ human life. In today s cultural and social the dramatic conditions in which those context, in which science and the practice who need to hear it live.15 of medicine risk losing sight of their inherent ethical dimension, healthcare The remaining passages of the Oath of professionals can be strongly tempted at Hippocrates speak of the obligations of times to become manipulators of life, or the physician when he or she encounters even agents of death. In the face of this the patient in the patient’s own home or temptation their responsibility today is in another setting. “I will go for the greatly increased. Its deepest inspiration ” and strongest support lie in the intrinsic benefit of the sick, the professing phys- and undeniable ethical dimension of the ician acknowledges, and he or she healthcare profession, something already promises to avoid all corruption and recognized by the ancient and still seduction, and to keep in confidence relevant Hippocratic Oath, which requires everything that he or she sees and hears. every doctor to commit himself to absol- Pope Benedict places this obvious need for ute respect for human life and its trust between doctor and patient in the sacredness. context of Christian faith about the dignity of the human person: Absolute respect for every innocent human life also requires the exercise of Respect for human dignity, in fact, conscientious objection in relation to demands unconditional respect for every 8 The Linacre Quarterly 81 (1) 2014

individual human being, born or unborn, with someone who is suffering is enough healthy or sick, whatever his condition. to bring relief, and to help the person In this perspective the relationship of draw closer to the saving mystery of mutual trust that is built up between the Christ’s redeeming love. “Suffering and doctor and the patient is of prime impor- being at the side of the suffering: whoever tance. It is thanks to this relationship of lives these two situations in faith comes trust that the doctor, listening to the patient, can reconstruct his clinical into particular contact with the sufferings history and understand how he copes of Christ and is allowed to share ‘a very with his illness. Furthermore, it is in the special particle of the infinite treasure of context of this relationship based on the world’s Redemption,’” John Paul II 17 reciprocal esteem and the sharing of realistic tells us. goals to be pursued that a therapeutic The presence of a fellow Christian in program can be defined: a plan that can the home or the hospital room of the sick lead to daring life-saving interventions or person is a reminder of the presence of the to the decision to abide by the ordinary Church and of the patient’s enduring means that medicine offers.… connection with the Body of Christ. This It is good not to forget that it is these reminder is an invitation and encourage- human qualities, in addition to pro- ment toward reintegration, and a fessional competence in the strict sense, challenge to the infirm to recall their which the patient appreciates in his responsibilities toward the community. doctor. The patient wishes to be seen in a The person who visits the sick is able to kindly manner, not merely examined; he love them with that particular dimension wants to be listened to, not merely sub- of Christ’s love called compassion, which jected to sophisticated diagnoses; he means “suffering with.” He or she also wants to be certain that he is in the mind 16 offers a gift of consolation; in his encyclical and heart of the doctor treating him. on hope, Pope Benedict explains the Thus, we are not only dealing here with meaning of that word: a professional visit, whether a house call or rounding in the hospital. The charity To accept the “other” who suffers, means which binds us together to Christ and to that I take up his suffering in such a way one another compels us to acknowledge that it becomes mine also. Because it has the importance of the visit as such—to now become a shared suffering, though, remember our obligation to respond to the in which another person is present, this one whose judgment will include the suffering is penetrated by the light of words “I was sick and you cared for me. love. The Latin word con-solatio, “conso- … Whatever you did for one of these least lation,” expresses this beautifully. It ” suggests being with the other in his brothers of mine, you did for me (Mt 18 25:36, 40). solitude, so that it ceases to be solitude. The importance of the visit as an expression of compassion and solidarity is As he reveals the secret of this consoling the way that you will bear witness to and love, by which every disciple is called to imitate Christ the Good Shepherd, who “be with” those who are isolated, Pope “came to seek and to save what was lost” Benedict admits that it is not always easy (Lk 19:10). Your willingness to “be with” to love like this. We each have our own the suffering person is of great importance suffering to bear; it can be difficult to in overcoming the isolation inherent in share the burdens of others as well. The suffering. Often, simply being present virtue of hope, however, makes Bochanski – Professing faith, professing medicine 9 consolation possible, even when on our pernicious procrastination which has own we have no help to offer, no words to already brought many to everlasting pun- say: ishment and daily continues to do so through the illusions of the devil.21 In all human suffering we are joined by one who experiences and carries that suf- C.S. Lewis, in his witty and insightful fering with us … and so the star of hope book The Screwtape Letters, writes from rises. … [The] capacity to suffer depends the perspective of the demon Screwtape, on the type and extent of the hope that who advises his nephew, a junior tempter, we bear within us and build upon. The to keep his new “patient” away from places saints were able to make the great journey like the battlefield, where he might be pre- of human existence in the way that pared for death: Christ had done before them, because 19 they were brimming with great hope. How much better for us if all humans died in costly nursing homes amid One more aspect of your visits to the doctors who lie, nurses who lie, friends sick is worth mentioning. “The physician who lie, as we have trained them, promis- is not the lord of life,” Blessed John Paul ing life to the dying, encouraging the II said bluntly, “but neither is he the con- belief that sickness excuses every indul- queror of death.”20 Often enough you will gence, and even, if our workers know visit your patients with bad news instead their job, withholding all suggestion of a of good, sometimes to tell them that, priest lest it should betray to the sick man despite your best efforts and good inten- his true condition! (Lewis 2001, 23–24) tions, there remains nothing that you can Both of these passages urge us to be do with your medical knowledge and art. honest with a dying person about his con- You must not be afraid of these conversa- dition, primarily from a negative tions, for your own sake or that of your viewpoint: if he does not know he is patient. To hesitate or obscure the truth in dying, he will not have time to repent and these encounters does more harm than confess his sins, and may run the risk of good, for there is more going on at that condemnation. This is, of course, a real moment than only the physical state of the and serious concern. There is also, sick person. however, a positive reason for a healthy The old Roman Ritual advised pastors appreciation for the reality of death. The to speak clearly to their parishioners about Good Shepherd lays down his life for the the reality of death, and pointed out that sheep, in order to take it up again (cf. Jn some people do not want to admit that a 10:15, 18). In his resurrection, he gives loved one is mortal: life to all those who believe in him, and Whenever the condition of the sick this is the source of hope for every person becomes critical, the pastor should Christian. Those who speak compassio- warn him not to be deceived in any way, nately yet unflinchingly of death and whether by the devil’s wiles, or by the resurrection give witness to the power of insincere assurances of the physician or Christ to conquer all things, even sickness false encouragement of relatives and and death itself. friends, so as to delay the timely concern for his soul’s welfare. On the contrary, he Thanks to faith in Christ’s victory over should be urged to receive with due speed death, [the Christian] trustingly awaits and devotion the holy sacraments, while the moment when the Lord “will trans- his mind is still sound and his sense figure our mortal body to conform it to intact, casting aside that false and his glorious body, by virtue of the power 10 The Linacre Quarterly 81 (1) 2014

he has to subject all things to himself” countless others who put their lives at the (Phil 3:21). service of the sick for the love of God. But the blessings of professing faith and pro- Unlike those who “lack hope” (cf. 1 Thes fessing medicine begin in this present age, 4:13), the believer knows that the time of and flow from the tremendous privilege of suffering represents an occasion for new cooperating with the Lord in bringing life, grace, and resurrection. He expresses about his saving work. He calls us his this certainty through therapeutic dedication, a capacity for accepting and friends, he tells us his plan (Jn 15:15), and accompanying, and sharing in the life of he invites us to put ourselves at his service Christ communicated in prayer and the by serving those in need, especially the sacraments. To take care of the sick and sick. dying, to help the outward man that is Few people in the twentieth century decaying so that the inward man may be did more in cooperation with Christ to renewed day by day (cf. 2 Cor 4:16)—is alleviate the pain and suffering of the this not to cooperate in that process of sick and dying than Blessed Teresa of resurrection which the Lord has introduced Calcutta, known to the world as Mother into human history with the Paschal Teresa. Although she was not a phys- Mystery and which will be fully consum- ician and had little medical training, she mated at the end of time? Is this not to reached out with compassion and conso- account for the hope (cf. 1 Pt 3:15) which has been given to us? In every tear lation that worked little miracles of love which is dried, there is already an in the lives of those whom illness and announcement of the last times, a fore- weakness had placed on the margins of taste of the final plenitude (cf. Rv 21:4 society. As we strive to heed the call of and Is 25:8).22 the Lord in our lives and in our professions, we can share in Mother’s little Because, as we have seen, an oath-taker prayer as instruments in the hands of the calls upon God to witness his or her sin- Divine Physician: cerity and the truth of what he or she is Lord, do you want my hands to spend swearing, the Oath of Hippocrates con- this day helping the poor and the sick cludes with a prayer and an imprecation. who need it? “While I continue to keep this oath unvio- lated,” we read, “may it be granted to me Lord, today I give you my hands. to enjoy life and the practice of the art and Lord, do you want my heart to spend this science of medicine with the blessing of day loving every human being simply the Almighty and respected by my peers because he is a human being? and society, but should I trespass and Lord, today I give you my heart. violate this Oath, may the reverse be my lot.” Surely the Lord will bless and reward those who respond to his call to evangelize, to heal and to console the sick in his ENDNOTES Name. “Your reward will be great in heaven” (Mt 5:12), of course, where there 1. Code of Canon Law, canon 1199.1. will be great rejoicing with the holy ones— 2. Code of Canon Law, canon 1200.1. St. Cosmas and St. Damian, St. Giuseppe 3. Pope John Paul II. Letter on the occasion of the 23rd National Congress of the Moscati, St. Riccardo Pampuri, St. Italian Catholic Physicians’ Association, Gianna Beretta Molla, St. Anna Schäffer, November 9, 2004. the Servant of God Jerômé Lejeune, and 4. Ibid. Bochanski – Professing faith, professing medicine 11

5. Restatement of the Oath of Hippocrates. 19. Ibid., n. 39. Philadelphia: National Catholic Bioethics 20. Pope John Paul II. Address to the scien- Center, 1995. tists of the Pontifical Academy of 6. Pope Pius XII. Address to members of the Sciences, October 21, 1985. Army Medical Corps, February 13, 1945. 21. Rituale Romanum: De Visitatione et Cura 7. Pope Benedict XVI. Address to partici- Infirmorum, n. 10, quoted in Weller, The pants at an international congress Roman Ritual, 377. organized by the Pontifical Academy for 22. Pope John Paul II. Message for the sixth Life, November 7, 2008. annual World Day of the Sick (1997), 8. Pope Paul VI. Address to the poor, the n. 9, original emphasis. sick and the suffering, December 8, 1965. 9. XIII general assembly of the Synod of Bishops. Lineamenta, n. 6. REFERENCES 10. Pope Paul VI. Apostolic exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, n. 41. Lewis, C.S. 2001. The Screwtape letters. 11. Pope Pius XII. Address to a group of San Francisco: HarperCollins. specialized physicians from several allied Wikipedia. 2013. Profession. http://en.wikipe nations, January 30, 1945. dia.org/wiki/Profession. 12. Ibid. Woodbury, E. 2012. The fall of the 13. Ibid. Hippocratic Oath: Why the Hippocratic 14. Pope John Paul II. Encyclical letter Oath should be discarded in favor of a Evangelium vitae, n. 89. modified version of Pellegrino’s precepts. 15. Pope Benedict XVI. Address to partici- Georgetown Undergraduate Journal of pants in the plenary assembly of the Health Sciences 6(2): 9–17. Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, Clementine Hall, May 30, 2011. 16. Pope Benedict XVI. Address to partici- BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE pants in the National Congress of the Italian Surgery Society, October 20, 2008. Rev. Philip G. Bochanski, C.O., is a priest 17. Pope John Paul II. Message for the fourth of the Philadelphia Congregation of the annual World Day of the Sick, n. 5, original Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, and the cha- emphasis, quoting idem, Salvifici doloris, n. 27. plain for the Philadelphia Guild of the 18. Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Encyclical letter Catholic Medical Association. His email On Christian hope Spe salvi, n. 38. address is [email protected].