To the entire Hospital Family of St. John of God

Dear friends,

Let us celebrate the feast of St. John of God with joy and gratitude to the Lord. Our Founder was a model of hospitality for everyone, especially for those who benefited from his charity. His life was an example and an inspiration for religious, his spiritual sons, and for people of all walks of life and social classes of his time, but also of our time. He lived in very difficult times in which, in addition to poverty and misery, which were the common conditions of most people, there were various conflicts and strong social inequalities. We have confirmation of all this from history, by testimonies about him, and the biographies that have come down to us. Starting from this premise, I would like to try to say something about the choices made by John of God. 

The times of St. John of God were as difficult, as ours are today. What St. Augustine says in one of his Discourses is very enlightening: "These are bad times, painful times!" people say. But let us try to live well, and the times will be good" (80.8). This expression, so true and profound, sheds light on the radical and prophetic choices of John of God. He lived in a time that was far from better than ours; precisely for this reason, his experience of hospitality, born of direct contact with human suffering and sustained by a deep faith in God, enabled him not only to embody Christian values in a radical way, but also to give a new face to the era in which he was called to live for Christ, united with Christ and totally in Him.

St. Augustine, with his expression, helps us to understand the path that John of God followed in order to make his small contribution to building a more humane, evangelical, and just world. St. Augustine affirms that the improvement of the temporal condition depends not only on the external context, but also on the behavior and actions of individuals. "Let us try to live well" is an invitation to live with ethical principles, integrity, and mutual respect. It is a call to action to change the way we relate to one another and to the world. Furthermore, by saying "times will be good," he clearly means that we are the times. This final statement is particularly powerful; it emphasizes that "times" are not abstract entities, but are the result of people's choices and actions. Each individual has a role in determining the quality of the present time. If people live well, they contribute to creating a better environment for all.

Dear friends, I have recalled these words of St. Augustine to invite us to look within ourselves and recognize the human, spiritual, and "charismatic" resources we have to shape our reality. The time of "crisis" we are experiencing requires a great effort of change on our part; it is easy to fall into the temptation of blaming external factors. We must remember that it is we, through our daily actions, who shape the world in which we live. Living well, promoting values of justice, respect, quality, empathy, spirituality, and social responsibility are actions that can positively influence society and the reality in which we are called to operate.

During the meeting with the Provincial Superiors last October, I recalled that we are in a rapidly changing and often disoriented world and that our Hospitaller Order is called to remain a living sign of God's mercy: an open house where everyone, regardless of their wounds or frailties, can find welcome, a listening ear, and comfort. The radical changes that our societies are undergoing, whether political, economic, environmental, cultural, or spiritual, could discourage us or push us to close in on ourselves.

Yet it is precisely in these times of uncertainty that our vocation to hospitality takes on its full meaning. Expanding hospitality means choosing to love again, to believe again, to hope again. It means refusing to let fear, weariness, or resignation have the last word.

St. John of God teaches us hospitality of the heart: the kind that begins by seeing the other as a brother or sister. Herein lies the first miracle: recognizing in every person, - the sick, the poor, the exiled, the co-worker, the elderly brother or sister, or the young person in formation - the face of the suffering and loving Christ. It is this inner attitude, made up of humility and respect, that forms the basis of our way of being in the world, so that we may be a presence of hope.

Today we live in contexts that are very diverse in terms of culture and religion. There are many challenges ahead of us. St. John of God taught us to live every context as an opportunity given to us by God to care for and evangelize, or rather, to evangelize by caring. The charism of St. John of God sprang from the Gospel of Mercy; for this very reason, we cannot give up our mission, even in the most resistant environments. We need to discover the potential of our charism in order to respond to the challenges of our time. We feel the need for serious discernment so as not to run the risk of a purely horizontal approach to hospitality that could obscure the dimension of grace that lives in the gift of Hospitality. Structures may fail, but not the holiness of the charism that made them flourish. True attachment is not to the place, but to the charismatic life lived in that place. When the charism is lived fully as a fire of charity, it can be transmitted elsewhere in new forms, new spaces, and new opportunities.

In this regard, I would like to recall a concrete example of evangelization by our Father John of God. Witnesses recount that one day, John of God entered the Albayzín (Arab Quarter) of Granada; many Moors gathered around him and said to him, "Tell us, good man, what miracles did your Christ perform?" And the man of God replied: It is no small miracle, but a great one, that I have not yet lost my temper with you, and that I have not lost my patience, for my Lord Christ commands me to do so, while you treat me so badly and hurl so many insults at me"^[1] . This very meaningful story urges us to live our presence where we are called to live Hospitality as credible witnesses of the message we proclaim with our mission.

Each of us is called to live our time in a place, to make our life a time given with love, so that the new we want to create may be God's time in which his Kingdom can continue to be present by caring for the sick, assisting the poor, including the marginalized, and sharing the joys and sufferings of humanity.

Dear friends, with this letter, I would like to remind you that this year marks the anniversary of the proclamation of St. John of God and St. Camillus de Lellis as Heavenly Patrons of Hospitals and the Sick. On May 27, 1886, the Sacred Congregation of Rites promulgated the Decree Inter omnigenas virtutes recognizing their special patronage, and on June 22, 1886, Pope Leo XIII, with his supreme apostolic authority, solemnly ratified the proclamation with the Brief Dives in misericordia.

It has been 140 years since this historic event, which we wish to commemorate not only to remember a historical fact, but also to renew our motivation as people dedicated to hospitality, with the awareness that only the Holy Spirit can maintain the freshness and authenticity of our charismatic beginnings and instill the courage of initiative and inventiveness to respond to the signs of the times.

As every year, I take this opportunity to inform the entire Hospitaller Family about the results of the 2025 Campaign dedicated to "Home care and support for people fleeing the war in Drohobyč (Ukraine)". The efforts of all the Provinces of the Order, united in their condemnation of the horror of war, which unfortunately continues, and united in their desire to support their confreres, volunteers, and lay people, who have tirelessly sought and continue to seek to give hope to the many who suffer physically and psychologically, have enabled us to raise €307,212. Thank you for your generosity and sensitivity.

For this year, 2026, the annual Solidarity Campaign will be dedicated to the American continent, with a project aimed at "Improving access to and quality of mental health care in Honduras." This project is fully in line with the Declarations of the six-year term, in which I invited the entire Order to "strengthen assistance in the field of mental health, especially in the local area, and to be prepared and available to respond to new health and social needs."

We invoke the intercession of St. John of God and our elder brother St. Raphael the Archangel to help us live with renewed fidelity the mission entrusted to us as the Family of St. John of God.

I extend my warm and fraternal greetings to all of you. May you live and celebrate the feast of St. John of God as an opportunity to rekindle the gift of Hospitality that we have received freely.

Brother Pascal Ahodegnon, O.H.

Superior General