A Redemptorist priest urged Catholic nurses in Singapore to regard bedside care as a ministry of compassion and human dignity, particularly when accompanying patients through illness and vulnerability.
Early this month, Father Victorino Cueto, vice-provincial superior of the Redemptorists in Malaysia and Singapore, addressed about 230 Catholic nurses and health care professionals during the Catholic Nurses Guild’s annual Nurses’ Day Mass and blessing at the Church of St. Alphonsus, also known as Novena Church.
According to Catholic News Singapore, Cueto told the nurses that their presence with patients should go beyond simply being physically present and reflect Christ’s compassion.
“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account of the multiplication of the loaves, Cueto noted that Jesus responded to the needs of the crowds despite having withdrawn after learning of John the Baptist’s death.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, Cueto 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 people 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 pediatric 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.
Filipino nurse Jennifer Andaya, who moved to Singapore in 2003, said her work in gynecological 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 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 health care 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.
