Church marking World Day of the Sick

(February 10, 2012) The Catholic Church worldwide is marking the annual World Day of the Sick on Saturday. In a message released on Jan. 3, much ahead of the actual Feb. 11 observance, Pope Benedict XVI has drawn attention to the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick as one that "deserves greater consideration today" because of its spiritual benefits to both minister and recipient. The Holy Father explained that anointing of the sick is one of the church's two "sacraments of healing," together with the "medicine of confession," penance. “A time of suffering, in which one could be tempted to abandon oneself to discouragement and hopelessness, can thus be transformed into a time of grace,” with contrition and confession the Pope said. Both penance and the sacrament of the sick "have their natural completion in Eucharistic Communion," Pope Benedict added.
The World Day of the Sick was instituted on May 13, 1992 by Pope John Paul II, to be a special time of prayer and sharing, and offering one's suffering. It is marked on February 11 each year on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, who is venerated in a major Marian shrine in southern France which is very popular with the world’s sick and infirm seeking grace and healing. The Catholic Church of India joins other Christian Churches in observing the Healing Ministry Week in the run-up to the World Day of the Sick.