We act not in our own name, not for our own prestige, but with the power of the One who has called and inspires us.

TO BE PART OF THE LONG HISTORY of living out the healing ministry shown to us in the life and work of Jesus Christ is to know oneself as called to join in relationship with others. It is to be aware of and to respond to the needs of the communities we serve. Identity in this holy work involves attention to the memory that grounds and inspires us; it involves honoring the holy women and men who have begun these works and shown us how to do them as faithful servants. At the same time, the Catholic health ministry is most true to its identity when it remains open and attentive to the signs of the times, the call of the moment, the emerging gifts and challenges of our day, our time, our people. Catholic identity demands that all of us be wise stewards, holding lightly but reverently the gifts given us. It is based in faith, lives in trust, gifts others with hope.

There is an incident recounted in the community's memory of the earliest days of Christianity that perhaps best captures what it is that we seek to do and be. Shortly after the experience of Pentecost, the followers of Jesus went to pray in the temple. On their way, they encountered a paralyzed man begging at the gate to the temple. They heard his cry, saw his plight and spoke with him. They told him that they didn't have any money, but that they would give him what they had. They then said a startling thing. "In the name of Jesus, arise and walk." The paralyzed man, we are told, didn't just walk but rather leaped up, began to dance, and praised God (Acts 3:1-10).

Catholic Health East tries to do the same thing. It recognizes in whose name its work is accomplished: the name of Jesus Christ, the name of a Church called Catholic, the names of foundresses and heroes and leaders. We act today in the name of all who have gone before us. We must be true to these names, faithful to what they have begun and what they stand for.

As the disciples knew they had very little of their own to offer, but what they had was the healing power of God, so too we know we act not in our own name, not for our own prestige, but with the power of the One who has called and inspires us. The disciples acted for the sake of the person who was suffering. They did not act for themselves, their own self-interest. They did not act for the sake of some organization or fledging church. They acted for the sake of the other.

As long as Catholic Health East remembers in whose name it acts, as long as the system is clear about for whose sake it does all that it does, it will be true to its identity. And the people will know healing. And the people will praise our God, and they - and we - will be transformed.

• In whose name do you work?
• Why do you do this work?

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Newtown Square, PA 19073 | 610.355.2000
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