ADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II
11th WORLD DAY OF THE SICK
TO THE SICK PERSONS
ON THE MEMORIAL OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES
Wednesday, February 11, 2003
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
1. I meet you with great joy, as I do every
year, at the end of this celebration dedicated
especially to you, dear sick people.
My first greeting is for you, the primary
participants of today's World Day of the Sick. I
greet all who are close to you, relatives,
friends and volunteers, and the members of the
Italian National Union for Transporting the Sick
to Shrines (UNITALSI). I greet the Cardinal
Vicar, and the bishops and priests present, the
men and women religious and those who in various
ways place themselves at the service of the sick
and the suffering.
I also greet the members of the "Opera Romana
Pellegrinaggi" (the Roman Work for Pilgrimages
to Lourdes), and those who take part in the
national theological-pastoral convention held in
Rome on the theme: "the Pilgrimage, Path of
Peace". This reminds me of the Holy Land. I
express the hope and the prayer that as soon as
possible those places sanctified by Christ's
presence may recover a stable peace that will
allow the return of the groups of pilgrims.
2. Today we celebrate the 11th World Day of the
Sick, placed under the protection of the
Immaculate Virgin Mary. In a little while, the
hymns and prayers will take us in spirit to
Lourdes, a place blessed by God and dear to you.
At the same time, we join the faithful who have
thronged the National Shrine in Washington, also
dedicated to the Immaculate Virgin, where this
year the principal celebrations of the World Day
of the Sick take place.
As we look to the revered image of Our Lady of
Lourdes, our eyes are drawn to the Rosary that
hangs from her joined hands. The Virgin in
prayer seems to want to renew her invitation to
young Bernadette to recite the Rosary
confidently. With great joy we accept this
exhortation on the World Day of the Sick, an
important date in the Year of the Rosary! Today
Lourdes, Rome and Washington form a providential
"crossroads" in a concerted invocation to the
God of life that he instil confidence, comfort
and hope in those who are suffering all over the
world.
3. Dear sick people, the Rosary offers the
Christian response to the problem of suffering,
drawing it from the Easter mystery of Christ.
Those who pray follow, with Mary, the whole
itinerary of life and faith, an itinerary that
has as an integral part human suffering, that in
Christ becomes divine - human suffering, the
saving Passion.
In the sorrowful mysteries we contemplate Christ
who takes upon himself, we can say, all the
"sickness" of the human person and of the human
race. As the Lamb of God, he not only bears the
burden of their consequences, but of their
profound cause, that is, not just the evils, but
the radical evil of sin. His struggle is not
superficial but radical; his cure is not
palliative but definitive.
The power through which Christ overcame the
dominion of evil and healed the human person is
his confident abandonment in an attitude of
filial submission to the Father's will. This
same attitude operates in us, thanks to the Holy
Spirit, when, in the experience of sickness, we
travel with Mary the way of the sorrowful
mysteries.
4. Dear Brothers and Sisters, the heart of the
Virgin Mary that was pierced by the sword
teaches us to "learn Christ", to be conformed to
him and to pray to him (cf. Apostolic Letter On
the Most Holy Rosary, nn. 13-16). She guides us
to proclaim his love (cf. ibid., n. 17); those
who carry the cross with Jesus also offer an
eloquent witness to those who are unable to
believe or to hope.
In this year, troubled by such great anxiety for
the future of humanity, I wished the prayer of
the Rosary to have as specific intentions the
cause of peace and of the family (ibid., nn. 6;
40-42).
Dear sick brothers and sisters, you are "on the
front line" to intercede for these two great
designs.
May your life, marked by trial, instil in
everyone that hope and serenity which can only
be experienced in meeting Christ. Let us entrust
this hope and all our special intentions to Mary
Immaculate, Health of the Sick.
To you who are here, and to your loved ones, I
affectionately impart my Apostolic Blessing.
The Holy Father gave his blessing from his study
window to the candlelight procession in St
Peter's Square
I warmly thank you for this candlelight
procession. Let us remember all the sick across
the world. Let us join Our Lady of Lourdes and
the sick people who are in Lourdes. Let us also
join those in Washington, where this year the
World Day of the Sick is being celebrated.
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
