On 11 February last the Camillian missionaries of the Indonesian Delegation in Maumere on Flores Island celebrated the World Day of the Sick. Not being able, as had happened in previous years, to organise a special celebration of the Eucharist because of the current pandemic connected with Covid-19, we had the idea of visiting the sick directly in their homes.

This initiative also gave us an opportunity to meet their families and to realise the wretched conditions in which many of them live. A special ‘food parcel’ offered to each one of them made the meetings more fraternal and it was often met with visible tears of joy and gratitude.

This fine day enriched us with a new missionary enthusiasm and made us appreciate, once again, our commitment to pastoral care which is joyously shared with the lay people of the Camillian Family and the Legion of Mary.

       For this special occasion, on the previous evening we organised a fraternal meeting with about fifteen young medical doctors who work in our local hospitals. This provided us with an opportunity to share with them the message of Pope Francis in which he expresses appreciation of their medical profession, encouraging them to be ‘little missionaries’ of faith and listening in their meetings with sick people. This message was especially well received by our group which is made up not only of Catholics but also of doctors who belong to other faiths: Protestants and Muslims. We are certain that this fraternal meeting, enriched by a fine dish of ‘Italian spaghetti’ and by a ‘St. Camillus ice cream’, provided a different vision of their profession and perhaps from now on we will be able to compose ‘hymns of Good Samaritans’ as Pope Francis writes in his message.