Jesus summoned the Twelve . . .
and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God
and to heal the sick.
(Lk 9:1-2)

The mission of the Twelve: to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. The mission hasn’t changed: to preach, to heal. My mother was a nurse. She worked 20 years in obstetrics and then 10 years in juvenile cancer. But I remember when she went to help out at Blessed Martin de Porres Hospital in Mobile (it became SAINT Martin de Porres Hospital when he was canonized in 1962). It was a maternity hospital for black women run by the Sisters of Mercy. The sisters opened the hospital to allow black doctors to admit their patients when they were refused privileges at the “white” hospital. I remember my mom telling me that the archbishop of Mobile had a suite at Blessed Martin de Porres Hospital whenever he needed hospitalization. The archbishop did NOT go to the “white” hospital. And here we are in 2020 with the same struggle: to preach and to heal “no importa la raza ni el color de la piel” (without regard for race nor the color of one’s skin) as the old song says.