The Healing Journey

August 30, 2025

In his homily at the Church of St. Agnes in New York City, a priest told the story of a man in his town who wanted to die. He was old and he was sick, and he insisted that assisted suicide was his “right.” He wrote letters to the editor and called legislators, urging them to pass a law recognizing “his right.”

Then one day, the letters and calls mysteriously stopped. Everyone assumed the man had died, but the truth was much different. He no longer wanted to die.

A Little Sister of the Poor, who worked with the elderly, had begun visiting him and accomplished the miraculous. She didn’t cure him physically, and she didn’t cure his grief, but she reaffirmed that his life — as broken as it may have seemed to the outside world — had value. She showed him the love of Christ, a love we’re all entitled to, no matter our condition or health or wealth. Her compassion and caring made all the difference, and his personal suffering became easier to endure. Someone else saw the value of his life, so he did too.

The Little Sisters of the Poor is an order founded by St. Jeanne Jugan in 1839 in France. St. Jeanne was devoted to caring for the neediest elderly. One of their sisters said that no one in their care ever wanted to take their life. Do you know why? Because the Little Sisters helped them realize their lives, all lives, have value. You see, compassion and caring can be the greatest antidote to the despair, loneliness and depression that come with age and infirmity.
©J Pisani

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