Brother Carlo Mangione, a Camillian

     Every year on 11 February the celebration takes place of the World Day of the Sick, an event that was instituted thirty years ago by St. John Paul II.

This is an important anniversary because it helps us to become more aware that our sick and suffering brothers and sisters are a most valuable gift in the Church.

They represent the living presence of Jesus – he identified with them. Together with the Eucharist, the poor and the sick are the real presence of Christ as well; for all of us they are the pathway of our sanctification, an opportunity for our spiritual growth. Our closeness to them enables us to exercise Mercy, learning to be merciful as our Father in heaven is merciful.

Pope Francis in his message of this year for this event wanted to remind us of this: ‘Be merciful as your Father is merciful’, a thrilling injunction to be credible witnesses to the Gospel who are able to be the salt and yeast of this human story of ours, at this time of pandemic, in today’s world.

 At the heart of the synodal pathway, as the Church, we have to ask ourselves if we are really journeying together, in a synodal way, with the poor, the sick and the suffering:

Are these ‘brothers and sisters’ subjects for us, that is to say companions on a journey of evangelisation?

Do we really grow in accompanying each other in daily life? Or are they only recipients of our pastoral care? That is to say: do we still generously dispense our possessions, with our self-sufficiency, convinced that they are in a state of need, or is not rather that we are mendicants for attention, reciprocity, company, support and gratification?