Hugh Patrick Corrigan (Dublin, Ireland, 1954), Augustinian Recollect, tells us about his vocational experience and, from his degenerative illness, about how he lived this Jubilee of the sick and the world of health.
When and how did your vocation of being Augustinian Recollect come about?
At the end of the 80s I was working as a hospital pharmacist in Newcastle. I was going out with a catholic girl, that also lived in Newcastle. We met in the University of Bradford. We were going to get married. I had the ring of commitment and bought the house that was going to be our home.
However, we had a point of difference: she didn’t want to have children, she didn’t want to bring them to an environment of nuclear energy and contamination. That’s why I thought a lot and, after a while, I started to meditate on what I really wanted to do with my life.
It made me think about what I could get from God’s love, compared to human love. In one of my meditations, while I was praying, an inner voice said to me: “I’ve been with you so long, but you don’t know me.”
After these experiences of prayer and discernment I decided on religious life and requested to enter the Company of Jesus. The Jesuits proposed spending a weekend in one of their communities and offered me a reading that opened my other eyes: the Confessions of Saint Augustine.
So I decided to join the Augustinian Recollect Family. Today I can say that in the Recollect community there is always someone to talk to and share with; I am never alone. I find comfort every day in my community life.
Faced with this Augustinian value of community, I must also say that I avoid the selfish people I encounter in life, it is particularly difficult for me to relate to them. They represent the way of life diametrically opposed to my Augustinian and Recollect vocation.
The illness has marked the last years of your life. How did you confront him?
For me, the key to life is believing in a God who is compassionate and merciful. The Word of God has helped me to understand this nature of God. For example, the Old Testament is full of pacts of God with Humanity, which acquire special meaning in the New Testament in which we will celebrate liturgically in the next few seasons: God died for our sins.
Basically, this idea is what helped me face the challenges I faced regarding my own health. In fact, I give thanks to God for everything he has done in me and with me.
God is always there to help, even in adverse circumstances. And we must do his will even in difficult times. I am sure that God will always be with us to help us.
Was there any joy in the midst of illness?
The most intense work I have done during my ministerial life has been that of a parish priest. Along with this task of service to the People of God, I also carried out a certain ministry of healing.
It has given me a particular joy and excitement to be able to help people, especially the youngest, through this parish task.
Any advice to help people living through difficult times?
When Jesus invites you, it is not easy to follow him. Here I propose an example that is not based on me: Baldwin IV (1161-1185), known as the Leper King, king of Jerusalem since 1174 until his death in 1185. He suffered from leprosy, but God blessed him and was a good king, despite his suffering.
For me, it is better to suffer and have God with me, than not to suffer but not to have God. Suffering for me means counting on the Lord, knowing that he is by my side. Jesus in the exercise of his ministry, as told in the Gospels, has always been a great source of consolation and encouragement to me.
John the Baptist wanted to know if Jesus was the one who would come, the Messiah; and many others did not accept Jesus due to his appearance. The message is that God does not judge by appearances or by problems for which each one of his children passes, He accepts everyone as he/she is.
How have you lived this Jubilee of the Sick 2025?
I believe in the power that resides in God and I always give thanks: « Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest».
It is important to know that God is with us and we must always give him thanks. This has been my experience of this Jubilee.
