WelCom February 2022
Covid casualty – planned event cancelled
Fr James Lyons
Wellington’s ‘Little Lourdes’ provides an ideal focus for the celebration of this month’s 30th World Day of the Sick, 11 February.
A pilgrimage, with prayer for the sick, was to be held at the site honouring Our Lady of Lourdes in the grounds of the Home of Compassion, Island Bay, this month.
Covid-Omicron had other ideas and the restrictions designed for public protection from the pandemic forced cancellation of the pilgrimage.
The World Day of the Sick is marked annually on 11 February. Pope John Paul II started the observation in 1992 as a way for us to offer prayers for those suffering from illnesses and for their caregivers. The day coincides with the commemoration of Our Lady of Lourdes.
In his message for this year’s commemoration, Pope Francis calls us to ‘stand beside those who suffer on a path of charity’ and urges us not to forget ‘the dignities and frailties’ of each person.
He writes, ‘Even when healing is not possible, care can always be given. It is always possible to console,it is always possible to make people feel a closeness that is always more interested in the person than in the pathology.’
Pope Francis reflects in his message on various aspects of ‘mercy’, starting with the mercy of the Father. He says God’s mercy is part of His very nature and combines ‘strength and tenderness’.
‘God cares for us with the strength of a father and the tenderness of a mother. He unceasingly desires to give us new life in the Holy Spirit.’
Although the planned event at the Home of Compassion grounds is cancelled, organisers, including the Sisters of Compassion and members of the Order of Malta, encourage all to pray for the sick and their caregivers, especially over the weekend of 11–13 February.
Modelled on the original Grotto in Lourdes, France, the local shrine, affectionately dubbed ‘Little Lourdes’, was constructed by Home of Compassion supporter and benefactor, Bill Kraus, and blessed in 1973 by Bishop Owen Snedden.