These men and women are in a profession that demands complete attention to the needs of the patient, placing the needs of the patient before their own personal needs.
The healthcare professional usually has a heart filled with love, charity and devotion. It is a profession that makes the individual healthcare worker participate in the divine attribute of God – protecting life from conception until natural death and mending the broken body.
As a doctor, myself, and a religious, I can attest that ministering to the sick, the poor, the elderly and most especially the children has been a wonderful experience. The feeling that one is assisting a person in pain to feel better, a dying person to have the feeling they are not alone, the relatives of a sick person to know their loved one is being taken care of, all these constitute the joys of serving as a healthcare professional.
All healthcare workers (medical, non- medical and ancillary services) are involved in taking care of God’s creation, human life. They are available to us in our very vulnerable moment when we may not be able to do anything for ourselves. They are patient, kind, tolerant, diligent and most careful to protect life.
As the diocese honors and celebrates these men and women, we are challenging them to always remember what they are called to do. Their vocation is to protect, defend and promote life. They are never to get involved with any actions that undermine this mission of caring for the well-being of God’s creation. This means they are to reach out in love and charity equally to everybody irrespective of social, economic, academic status or sex and race.
The Bishop of the Diocese, Most Rev. Gerald R. Barnes and the entire people of this diocese appreciate our healthcare professionals and will always remain grateful to God for their gift in our Diocese. We pray that God who called you to this noble profession will reward all your efforts with His gift of eternal life in His heavenly kingdom at the end.
Sr. Chilee Okoko is the Director of the Diocesan Department of Life, Dignity and Justice, and a licensed physician in California.