Dear sons and daughters
1. Your presence awakens in my soul a special feeling, something of that emotion and affection that our Lord Jesus Christ felt, during the ministry of his public life, for the sick who flocked from all sides to hear his word of salvation and to be cured of their infirmities.
Among the many episodes of healings narrated by the four Evangelists, you will certainly remember the one described by St Luke: the sick man who, with his face to the ground, pleaded with him: 'Lord, if you are willing, you can heal me'. Jesus stretched out his hand; he touched him and said: "I will, be healed!". And all signs of the disease disappeared (cf. Lk 5:12-13).
The humble Vicar of Christ is among you today with the same intensity of affection with which the divine Master welcomed and blessed the crowds and, in a special way, those afflicted with the infirmity that afflicts you too.
2. Many comment that the external purification of the body was symbolic of an inner transformation: the rebirth of a purity, a confidence, a courage that comes from above. The Pope would like his contact with you to bring these priceless inner feelings. He exhorts you not to let yourselves be brought down by fear or lack of trust. To not give in to the temptation of isolation. To unite your trust in the progress of medicine with an attitude of constant, confident prayer.
3. In the name of that same Jesus whom I represent before you today, I also urge you to make good use of and value the suffering that you carry imprinted in your body and spirit. Always remember that pain is never in vain, never useless. On the contrary, precisely at the moment in which it wounds your existence, limiting it in its human affirmation, if it is elevated to a supernatural dimension it can sublimate and redeem this existence for a higher destiny, one that goes beyond the threshold of the personal situation to draw upon the whole of society, so in need of those who know how to suffer and offer themselves for its redemption.
If you apply these great intentions, which go beyond the purely human level, to your intentions, you will collaborate with Christ in the plan of salvation and be able to spread wonderful examples of moral strength around you, which only those who suffer with this faith in their souls can communicate to others.
4. I have great confidence in your remembrance, in your help and in your prayers, not only for the success of this apostolic journey to Brazil, but also for all the cares that I carry in my heart as pastor of the universal Church.
With these thoughts, greeting you with kindness and expressing my high appreciation for those who care for you and assist you, I entrust you to the maternal protection of the Most Blessed Virgin, to whom I know you are very devoted, and I wholeheartedly grant you the Apostolic Blessing.
[Pope John Paul II, meeting with lepers, Salvador da Bahia (Brazil), 7 July 1980]
