By Archdiocese of Miami -
Homily by Archbishop Thomas Wenski on the 75th anniversary of Mercy Hospital in Miami, on Sept. 24, 2025, feast of Our Lady of Mercy.
There is a story about a kid who was enrolled in his parish’s religious education program. When asked by a neighbor about his class one day, he answered that the teacher told them about the water changing into wine. Then, the neighbor said, “What did you learn about that?” He replied, “Well, if you’re going to have a wedding, you ought to invite Jesus and Mary.”
Well, today, we are not celebrating a wedding but the 75th anniversary of Mercy Hospital, and we are celebrating this diamond jubilee on the feast day of Our Lady of Mercy. Today’s gospel tells us of Jesus’ first miracle, when Jesus turned water into wine. Mary in this story of Jesus’ first miracle represents the caring and interceding Church. She tells us, as she told the servants at the wedding feast, “Do whatever he tells you.” “Do whatever he tells you.” It is in obedience to Christ’s word that we taste the “good wine” of the Gospel.
And really that’s the whole point of the Gospel reading today. It is the presence of Jesus that converts the water of our ordinary lives, its routines, its ups and downs, into the good wine of grace capable of producing true joy in whatever life circumstances we find ourselves in.
We thank God for the doctors, nurses, and health care professionals who over the past 75 years have cared for thousands who came to this hospital seeking comfort and healing. Nor can we forget the long service of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Saint Augustine who accepted the invitation of Archbishop Joseph Hurley in 1950 to take on this health care ministry here on the shores of Biscayne Bay.
The mission of this hospital and the mission of the Church in her pastoral care for the sick and their families is to embrace the sick person as a whole person. As Christians, we must strive to recognize in the features of every suffering person the face of Christ himself. Too often, the sick complain of being depersonalized by the experience of their illness. And it’s no wonder – in a highly technological and bureaucratic world, it can seem that by becoming ill they lose their identity, their personhood. They can easily be reduced to “the lung case” in Room 1080-B; or the “Medicaid" case in cubicle D.
And so, to Mary, the Mother of Mercy, we commend the sick of our communities so that they will never feel that they are abandoned or disvalued because of their illness and frailty. We also entrust to her the family members of the sick and all health care professionals so that they, in their care of the sick, may reflect Mary’s own tender and maternal care towards the suffering members of the Body of Christ.
A Nuestra Señora de la Merced, le encomendamos a los enfermos de nuestras comunidades para que nunca se sientan abandonados y desvalidos debido a sus enfermedades o fragilidades. También le encomendamos a ella los familiares de los enfermos y todos aquellos profesionales de la salud para que en su cuido del enfermo puedan reflejar el tierno y maternal cuidado de María hacia los miembros del Cuerpo de Cristo que sufren.
It has always been hard for us to accept the mystery of pain and human suffering especially when this mystery touches the young and innocent. Why does a loving and just God permit us to suffer? This question is as old as time itself. Yet, like Job in the Old Testament, we still demand answers, we want reasons. But as with Job, so too with us, God is not forthcoming with pat answers – at least, not on this side of heaven. God’s response is just one word: Jesus.
Of course, Jesus did not come to explain away suffering; he came to take it upon himself. His solidarity with the world of pain transforms it – for “pain received with faith becomes the door by which to enter the mystery of the redemptive suffering of Jesus and to reach with him the peace and the happiness of his Resurrection” (Message for World Day for the Sick 2004).
In Christ, our suffering acquires a new meaning; in Christ, our suffering attains new power – and a mysterious fruitfulness. United to Christ, the one who suffers with hope and with meek self-abandonment to the will of God, becomes a living offering for the salvation of the world. Offering up our own pains and sufferings becomes an eloquent and a powerful prayer. In other words, if the Lord takes us to it, he’ll help us through it.
As a Haitian proverb says so well: Ou peye doktè a, men se Bondye ki geri (You pay the doctor, but God heals). And so, over the centuries, people of faith have found in times of sickness and trial strength in prayer. And many – through Mary’s intercession – have experienced healing. But even when prayers were not answered by a physical cure, people of faith have been helped by the Mother of Mercy to find peace in their acceptance of God’s will.
María experimentó dolor y sufrimiento en su vida terrenal como la Madre Dolorosa. Así como la Madre Dolorosa se paró frente a la cruz de su hijo agonizante, María aún se coloca al lado de los miembros del Cuerpo de su Hijo quienes en su propio sufrimiento llevan las marcas de su pasión.
For 75 years, Our Lady of Mercy has watched over this hospital and all those involved in its healing mission and the community it serves. We remember these 75 years with gratitude, and as we look to the future with confidence and hope, we remind ourselves of Mary’s words to the servants at the wedding feast at Cana: “Do whatever he (my Son) tells you.” For it is in obedience of Christ’s Word and we will continue to taste the “good wine” of the Gospel.
