February 11. Our Lady of Lourdes. Portia shared, “ Sickness is part of family life as we well know and it affects members of all ages, but maybe most strongly the elderly.   But for many of us a sick baby or little child seems to be the most vulnerable. I think it is helpful to have a Day of the Sick, appropriately on the feastday of Our Day of Lourdes, because that gives everyone a chance to reflect seriously on how we deal with the subject, even considering our pets or other creatures.” Maurice added, “right now on this feastday in 2023 let us remember the thousands of people injured through the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria.”

Pope Francis: On the thirty-first World Day of the Sick, as the whole Church journeys along the synodal path, I invite all of us to reflect on the fact that it is especially through the experience of vulnerability and illness that we can learn to walk together according to the style of God, which is closeness, compassion, and tenderness. The World Day of the Sick calls for prayer and closeness towards those who suffer. Yet it also aims to raise the awareness of God’s people, healthcare institutions and civil society with regard to a new way of moving forward together. The prophecy of Ezekiel judges harshly the priorities of those who wield economic, cultural, and political power over others: “You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost.  (Eze 34:3-4). God’s word is always illuminating and timely; not only in what it denounces, but also in what it proposes Reflect, share, act and pray. Invite Mary to pray with you for those who are sick.