“Servants and custodians of human life”

A doctor’s testimony

Each person is a gift, a value to be welcomed, guarded and protected. Each person has a history, a life experience to be respected. Over time I learned that the patient cannot be identified in his infirmity. Being a doctor does not only mean taking care of physical health but being able to put yourself in the shoes of the other, in the mystery of his illness, in the fear and discomfort that it causes, while remaining lucid, oriented and above all capable of bringing healing and relief. Who is more fragile than a new born baby? What joy is greater for a family than to welcome a nascent life?

Faith helped me to hope against all hope, to commit myself to the health of tender lives, it taught me to see the greatness of the Father in their eyes. Even today, after many years, I am moved by the miracle of life that is born and struggles with all its strength for healing. The years of my formation have been years of spiritual journey in the womb of the Apostolic Movement. Respect and love for brothers and sisters, the joy of offering oneself unconditionally to others and working in communion with the Church, has allowed me to grow as a person and as a doctor. The example of the Inspirer Maria Marino who dedicated and still dedicates her life to the mission that the Lord has entrusted her, continues to motivate me by encouraging me to go on despite tiredness, frustrations and helplessness in the face of illness and death.

Each of us has a vocation, a mission that God has entrusted to us and giving it a voice fills me with joy, aware that this requires commitment, study, dedication but also a lot of empathy and love. I thank God for having called me to take care of these more fragile children of his. I thank him even when illness and despair seem to have the upper hand. In those moments I entrust everything to him trying to be a useful tool in his hands. I make my own the exhortation of John Paul II who, in the Evangelium Vitae, invited doctors and all health workers to be servants and custodians of human life. I entrust my life to the Mother of the Redemption so that she grants me to be a docile instrument of healing and comfort, always remaining in the joy of my vocation.

Dr. Immacolata Guzzo
Neonatologist pediatrician