MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS FOR THE 22nd WORLD DAY OF THE SICK 2014
Faith and Charity: “We Ought to Lay Down Our Lives for One Another” (1 Jn 3:16)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
1. On the occasion of the Twenty-second World Day of the Sick, whose theme this year is Faith and Charity: “We Ought to Lay Down Our Lives for One Another” (1 Jn 3:16), I turn in a special way to the sick and all those who provide them with assistance and care. The Church recognizes in you, the sick, a special presence of the suffering Christ. It is true. At the side of – and indeed within – our suffering, is the suffering of Christ; he bears its burden with us and he reveals its meaning. When the Son of God mounted the cross, he destroyed the solitude of suffering and illuminated its darkness. We thus find ourselves before the mystery of God’s love for us, which gives us hope and courage: hope, because in the plan of God’s love even the night of pain yields to the light of Easter, and courage, which enables us to confront every hardship in his company, in union with him.
Prayer for the XXI World Day of the Sick
Almighty and eternal God,
you are our foundation and our support,
you are the hope that never abandons us,
and the Love that gives itself on the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus.
Make your Face shine on all sick people,
the suffering and the dying.
Be merciful with them.
Still send Good Samaritans
who will serve and heal sick, suffering and dying people,
and help the weakest, disinterestedly.
Message of the Holy Father on the occasion of the twenty-first World Day of the Sick
(11 FEBRUARY 2013)
“Go and do likewise” (Lk 10:37)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
1. On 11 February 2013, the liturgical memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Twenty-first World Day of the Sick will be solemnly celebrated at the Marian Shrine of Altötting. This day represents for the sick, for health care workers, for the faithful and for all people of goodwill “a privileged time of prayer, of sharing, of offering one’s sufferings for the good of the Church, and a call for all to recognize in the features of their suffering brothers and sisters the Holy Face of Christ, who, by suffering, dying and rising has brought about the salvation of mankind”
Message of the Holy Father on the occasion of the twentieth World Day of the Sick
(11 FEBRUARY 2012)
"Stand up and go; your faith has saved you" (Lk 17:19)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On the occasion of the World Day of the Sick, which we will celebrate on 11 February 2012, the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, I wish to renew my spiritual closeness to all sick people who are in places of care or are looked after in their families, expressing to each one of them the solicitude and the affection of the whole Church. In the generous and loving welcoming of every human life, above all of weak and sick life, a Christian expresses an important aspect of his or her Gospel witness, following the example of Christ, who bent down before the material and spiritual sufferings of man in order to heal them.
Message of his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for the celebration of the World Day of Peace
1 JANUARY 2012
EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE IN JUSTICE AND PEACE
1. The beginning of a new year, God's gift to humanity, prompts me to extend to all, with great confidence and affection, my heartfelt good wishes that this time now before us may be marked concretely by justice and peace.