World Day of the Sick

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World Day of the Sick 2010

The experience of sickness and suffering can become a school of hope, maturity and union with Christ, and benefit the whole Church, Benedict XVI says in his message for the 18th World Day of the Sick. World Day of the Sick will be celebrated on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, February 11, 2010, and coincides with the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry.

laymissionary

The pull of the call to be a missionary is great. This British lay volunteer works with the Missionaries of Charity in India. He left a promising career in banking to dedicate himself to those most in need of a representative of Christ’s love and care. The Sisters have taught him how to bathe the ill and how to dress their wounds. More importantly, they have taught him how to be a presence to the most forgotten and lonely. This young man and many other faith-filled lay missionaries stay with the dying to the very end. They pray with them and help them to die so that they may live in the fullness of life in the Lord.

World Day of the Sick

Missionaries Through Prayer

Each year, on February 11, the Church celebrates the "World Day of the Sick." On this day in particular, we focus on the redemptive value of human suffering and on the important role of those who are sick in the work of spreading the Gospel. Whether your cross is your own illness, loneliness or pain, or that of a loved one, you have a special bond with Christ Crucified and also with the suffering people of the Missions and those who serve them. As you pray and offer your crosses, in union with Christ, as you pray and sacrifice on behalf of all who serve in the missionary work of the Church, may God in his mercy bless you with peace.

Read the Holy Father's Message for World Day of the Sick