SINGAPORE (LiCAS News): Early in August, Father Victorino Cueto, vice-provincial superior of the Redemptorists in Malaysia and Singapore, addressed around 230 Catholic nurses and healthcare professionals during the Catholic Nurses’ Guild’s annual Nurses’ Day Mass and blessing at the Church of St. Alphonsus, also known as Novena Church.
Father Cueto told the nurses that their presence with patients should go beyond simply being physically present and should reflect Christ’s compassion, according to Catholic News Singapore.
“Every day at work, you are at somebody’s bedside,” he said.
“Think of it not just as being there physically, but from the perspective that it is a ‘liturgy’,” he added.
Reflecting on the gospel account of the multiplication of the loaves, Father Cueto noted that Jesus responded to the needs of the crowds, despite having withdrawn after learning of John the Baptist’s death.
Drawing a parallel with the Eucharist, the priest said nurses lift up those entrusted to their care, accompany people whose lives have been broken by illness, and share in their suffering.
The nurses later recited the Catholic Nurses’ Prayer and received the Blessing of Healing Hands, entrusting their ministry to God.
Doreen Tay, a guild member who has worked as a nurse for six decades, said her faith shaped the way she regarded those under her care.
She said she learned to see every patient “not simply as a diagnosis, but as someone with dignity, deserving respect, compassion, and hope”.
Tay, who works in paediatric oncology, said the guild’s faith formation and fellowship sustain her through the emotional and spiritual demands of nursing.
“Nursing is not a task but a healing ministry. It is a calling,” she said.
Jennifer Andaya, a Filipino nurse who moved to Singapore in 2003, said her work in gynaecological oncology and palliative care had shaped her understanding of healing.
“My faith reminds me to care for my patients with compassion and dignity. Every time I care for a patient, I think about Christ and how I would show care for him,” Andaya said.
Andaya also volunteers in caregiver training for domestic workers through the Archdiocesan Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants & Itinerant People.
She recalled a patient who initially doubted her, as she was then a new nurse, but later came to trust her during repeated hospital admissions for chemotherapy and treatment-related side effects.
Over the next two or three years, the two developed a close therapeutic relationship. Andaya attended the patient’s funeral after she died, and several years later, the woman’s son sought her out while on a house officer posting at the hospital.
Andaya said such encounters remind her that “every patient is an opportunity to show Christ’s love through kindness and compassion”.
Catholic Nurses Guild president, Yvonne Lew, thanked healthcare professionals for their dedication, resilience, and service to patients and their families.
“Through your hands and hearts, you bring comfort, hope, and healing to countless patients and their families,” Lew said.
“May we always recognise Christ in those we care for and continue to be a living witnesses of His compassion and mercy,” Lew added.
