Pope Benedict XVI’s Homily on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the World Day of the Sick

(February 11, 2010) “The Church, which is entrusted with the task of extending in space and time, the mission of Christ, can not ignore these two essential works: evangelization and care of the sick in body and spirit,” said Pope Benedict XVI in his Homily on the World day of the Sick in Rome, on the 11^th of February, on the Feast of our Lady of Lourdes. God wants to heal the whole person as in the Gospel of Mark where the remission of sins is accompanied by the physical healing. The Pope said that Mary is invoked and venerated as the Health of the Sick, who has a special concern for the suffering, indicated by the thousands of people who go to visit Marian shrines to invoke the Mother of Christ and find in her strength and relief. On this day said the Pontiff “The Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, established 25 years ago by Pope John Paul II is undoubtedly a privileged expression of that concern.” Motherhood of the Church said the Holy Father, is expressed by prophet Isaiah: "As a mother comforts a child so will I comfort you; ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem". Speaking of the Apparitions in Lourdes the Pope said that it is a place chosen by Mary to show her motherly care for the infirm which is explained in the prayer the Magnificat. Referring to the anointing of the Sick from the Letter of St James, the Pope said “In this Year for the Priests, I like to emphasize the link between the sick and the priests, a kind of alliance, of "complicity" evangelical. Both have a task: the patient must "call" priests, and they must respond, to draw on the experience of the disease's presence and action of the Risen Lord and his Spirit.” The Pope then concluded with the words of Pope John Paul II in the Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris: "Christ taught man to do good by his suffering and to do well to those who suffer. In this double aspect he has completely revealed the meaning of suffering."