Pope Francis releases message for 2017 World Day of
Sick
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has released his message
for the 25th World Day of the Sick to take place on 11 February 2017, the
commemoration of Our Lady of Lourdes.
The Day of the Sick was instituted by Pope St. John Paul II
in 1992, who called it “a special time of prayer and sharing, of offering one’s
suffering”.
Pope Francis entitled his message for the 2017 celebration
of the World Day of the Sick “Amazement at what God has accomplished: ‘The
Almighty has done great things for me…’ (Lk 1:49)”.
He said the commemoration “gives the Church renewed
spiritual energy for carrying out ever more fully that fundamental part of her
mission which includes serving the poor, the infirm, the suffering, the
outcast, and the marginalized.”
The Pope also expressed his “closeness to all of you, our
suffering brothers and sisters, and to your families, as well as my
appreciation for all those in different roles of service and in healthcare
institutions throughout the world who work with professionalism,
responsibility, and dedication for your care, treatment and daily well-being.”
He said all the infirm and those who help them should look
to Mary, “Health of the Infirm, the sure sign of God’s love for every human
being and a model of surrender to his will.”
Mary’s apparition at Lourdes to the “poor, illiterate, and
ill” Bernadette, he said, reminds us “that every person is, and always remains,
a human being, and is to be treated as such. The sick and the those who are
disabled, even severely, have their own inalienable dignity and mission in
life.”
In his message, the Holy Father said God’s solicitude for
“the world of suffering and sickness” is revealed in Jesus.
“The solidarity shown by Christ, the Son of God born of
Mary, is the expression of God’s merciful omnipotence, which is made manifest
in our life – above all when that life is frail, pain-filled, humbled,
marginalized, and suffering – and fills it with the power of hope that can
sustain us and enable us to get up again.”
He said the celebration of the World Day of the Sick should
provide “new incentive to work for the growth of a culture of respect for life,
health and the environment” and “inspire renewed efforts to defend the
integrity and dignity of persons, not least through a correct approach to
bioethical issues, the protection of the vulnerable and the protection of the
environment.”
Finally, Pope Francis invited the sick, healthcare workers,
and volunteers to turn to Mary in prayer.
He said, “May her maternal intercession sustain and
accompany our faith, and obtain for us from Christ her Son hope along our
journey of healing and of health, a sense of fraternity and responsibility, a
commitment to integral human development, and the joy of feeling gratitude
whenever God amazes us by his fidelity and his mercy.”
He concluded the message with a short prayer to Our Lady:
Mary, our Mother,
in Christ you welcome each of us as a son or daughter.
Sustain the trusting expectation of our hearts,
succour us in our infirmities and sufferings,
and guide us to Christ, your Son and our brother.
Help us to entrust ourselves to the Father who
accomplishes great things.
Please find below the text of Pope Francis’ message:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On 11 February next, the Twenty-fifth World Day of the Sick
will be celebrated throughout the Church and in a special way at Lourdes.
The theme of this year’s celebration is “Amazement at what God has
accomplished: ‘The Almighty has done great things for me….’” (Lk 1:49).
Instituted by my predecessor Saint John Paul II in 1992, and first celebrated
at Lourdes on 11 February 1993, this Day is an opportunity to reflect in particular
on the needs of the sick and, more generally, of all those who suffer. It
is also an occasion for those who generously assist the sick, beginning with
family members, health workers and volunteers, to give thanks for their
God-given vocation of accompanying our infirm brothers and sisters. This
celebration likewise gives the Church renewed spiritual energy for carrying out
ever more fully that fundamental part of her mission which includes serving the
poor, the infirm, the suffering, the outcast and the marginalized (cf. JOHN
PAUL II, Motu Proprio Dolentium Hominum, 11 February 1985,
1). Surely, the moments of prayer, the Eucharistic liturgies and the
celebrations of the Anointing of the Sick, the sharing with the sick and the
bioethical and theological-pastoral workshops to be held in Lourdes in those
days will make new and significant contributions to that service.
Even now, I am spiritually present at the grotto of
Massabielle, before the statue of the Immaculate Virgin, in whom the Almighty
has done great things for the redemption of mankind. I express my
closeness to all of you, our suffering brothers and sisters, and to your
families, as well as my appreciation for all those in different roles of
service and in healthcare institutions throughout the world who work with
professionalism, responsibility and dedication for your care, treatment and
daily well-being. I encourage all of you, the sick, the suffering,
physicians, nurses, family members and volunteers, to see in Mary, Health of
the Infirm, the sure sign of God’s love for every human being and a model of
surrender to his will. May you always find in faith, nourished by the
Word and by the Sacraments, the strength needed to love God, even in the
experience of illness.
Like Saint Bernadette, we stand beneath the watchful gaze of
Mary. The humble maiden of Lourdes tells us that the Virgin, whom she
called “the Lovely Lady”, looked at her as one person looks at another.
Those simple words describe the fullness of a relationship. Bernadette,
poor, illiterate and ill, felt that Mary was looking at her as a person.
The Lovely Lady spoke to her with great respect and without
condescension. This reminds us that every person is, and always remains,
a human being, and is to be treated as such. The sick and the those who
are disabled, even severely, have their own inalienable dignity and mission in
life. They never become simply objects. If at times they appear
merely passive, in reality that is never the case.
After her visit to the Grotto, thanks to her prayer,
Bernadette turned her frailty into support for others. Thanks to her
love, she was able to enrich her neighbours and, above all, to offer her life
for the salvation of humanity. The fact that the Lovely Lady asked her to
pray for sinners reminds us that the infirm and the suffering desire not only
to be healed, but also to live a truly Christian life, even to the point of
offering it as authentic missionary disciples of Christ. Mary gave
Bernadette the vocation of serving the sick and called her to become a Sister
of Charity, a mission that she carried out in so exemplary a way as to become a
model for every healthcare worker. Let us ask Mary Immaculate for the
grace always to relate to the sick as persons who certainly need assistance, at
times even for the simplest of things, but who have a gift of their own to
share with others.
The gaze of Mary, Comfort of the Afflicted, brightens the
face of the Church in her daily commitment to the suffering and those in
need. The precious fruits of this solicitude for the world of suffering
and sickness are a reason for gratitude to the Lord Jesus, who out of obedience
to the will of the Father became one of us, even enduring death on the cross
for the redemption of humanity. The solidarity shown by Christ, the Son
of God born of Mary, is the expression of God’s merciful omnipotence, which is
made manifest in our life – above all when that life is frail, pain-filled,
humbled, marginalized and suffering – and fills it with the power of hope that
can sustain us and enable us to get up again.
This great wealth of humanity and faith must not be
dissipated. Instead, it should inspire us to speak openly of our human
weaknesses and to address the challenges of present-day healthcare and
technology. On this World Day of the Sick, may we find new incentive to
work for the growth of a culture of respect for life, health and the
environment. May this Day also inspire renewed efforts to defend the
integrity and dignity of persons, not least through a correct approach to
bioethical issues, the protection of the vulnerable and the protection of the
environment.
On this Twenty-fifth World Day of the Sick, I once more
offer my prayerful support and encouragement to physicians, nurses, volunteers
and all those consecrated men and women committed to serving the sick and those
in need. I also embrace the ecclesial and civil institutions working to
this end, and the families who take loving care of their sick. I pray
that all may be ever joyous signs of the presence of God’s love and imitate the
luminous testimony of so many friends of God, including Saint John of God and
Saint Camillus de’ Lellis, the patrons of hospitals and healthcare workers, and
Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, missionary of God’s love.
Dear brothers and sisters – the sick, healthcare workers and
volunteers – I ask you to join me in praying to Mary. May her maternal
intercession sustain and accompany our faith, and obtain for us from Christ her
Son hope along our journey of healing and of health, a sense of fraternity and
responsibility, a commitment to integral human development and the joy of
feeling gratitude whenever God amazes us by his fidelity and his mercy.
Mary, our Mother,
in Christ you welcome each of us as a son or daughter.
Sustain the trusting expectation of our hearts,
succour us in our infirmities and sufferings,
and guide us to Christ, your Son and our brother.
Help us to entrust ourselves to the Father who accomplishes
great things.
With the assurance of a constant remembrance in my prayers,
I cordially impart to all of you my Apostolic Blessing.
8 December 2016, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
(Devin Sean Watkins)
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