Ministers of Life: A Call to Mission for Healthcare Workers

In its new charter, the Vatican calls on healthcare workers to be ministers of life. This is a challenging task and a most noble mission. The mission field itself is the vast, complex and mysterious field of suffering (Pope John Paul II). For Catholic healthcare professionals, it is not so much to have a mission, but to be a mission on this earth, as Pope Francis often reminds us. The daily mission needs to be nourished by a commensurate spirituality. Each deed can be offered to the Lord as part of our response. Healthcare professionals may feel called to specific mission fields too, such as working to reduce the culture of gun violence or to promote the culture of life. The ongoing formation of conscience is a vital prerequisite, so we can continually respond to the novel ethical challenges that progress in technology and medicine inevitably bring. May we each respond enthusiastically to the call to mission: "Here I am Lord, send me!" (Isaiah 6:8).