CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- Pope Francis on Thursday announced the theme for the 25th World Day of the Sick, \u201cAmazement at what God has accomplished,\u201d explaining that in difficult circumstances we should look to Mary as an example of how to embrace God\u2019s will for our lives.<\/p>\n\u201cI encourage all of you,\u201d he said Dec. 15, \u201cthe sick, the suffering, physicians, nurses, family members and volunteers, to see in Mary, Health of the Infirm, the sure sign of God\u2019s love for every human being and a model of surrender to his will.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMay you always find in faith, nourished by the Word and by the Sacraments, the strength needed to love God, even in the experience of illness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instituted by St. John Paul II in 1992 \u2013 and first celebrated at Lourdes Feb. 11, 1993 \u2013 this year\u2019s theme for the World Day of the Sick centers on a line from the Magnificat: \u201cthe Almighty has done great things for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next World Day of the Sick is an opportunity, Pope Francis said, \u201cto reflect in particular on the needs of the sick and, more generally, on the needs of all those who suffer.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also a chance for everyone who assists the sick: family members, health care workers and volunteers, to give thanks to God for their vocation of accompanying the suffering and unwell, and for a renewal of this fundamental part of the Church\u2019s mission, he noted.
\n\u00a0
\nMentioning St. Bernadette Soubirous, a 19th century saint who experienced visions of Mary as a young girl in Lourdes, the Pope said that like her, \u201cwe stand beneath the watchful gaze of Mary.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe humble maiden of Lourdes tells us that the Virgin, whom she called \u2018the Lovely Lady,\u2019 looked at her as one person looks at another. Those simple words describe the fullness of a relationship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Although St. Bernadette was poor, ill, and illiterate, she felt that Mary looked at her \u201cas a person\u201d and spoke to her with \u201crespect.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis reminds us that every person is, and always remains, a human being, and is to be treated as such. The sick and those who are disabled, even severely, have their own inalienable dignity and mission in life,\u201d he emphasized. \u201cThey never become simply objects.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pope said God, who became a man and suffered with men, is united with us in our suffering. Christ became an \u201cexpression of God\u2019s merciful omnipotence\u201d made manifest in our life \u201cabove all when that life is frail, pain filled, humbled, marginalized and suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n
In this way, Christ fills our lives with the \u201cpower of hope that can sustain us and enable us to get up again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us ask Mary Immaculate for the grace always to relate to the sick as persons who certainly need assistance, at times even for the simplest of things, but who have a gift of their own to share with others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Pope Francis also met Dec. 15 with staff and around 150 children and their parents from the Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital in Rome.<\/p>\n
Asked his advice for those who daily encounter suffering in their work, especially doctors and nurses, the Pope said simply to \u201cdaily rediscover the value of gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSaying thank you nourishes hope \u2013 that hope by which St. Paul said we are saved,\u201d he noted. \u201cHope is the fuel of Christian life, you can\u2019t go without it. The fuel that makes you go forward every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Francis explained how this is something that even children know, and that to live as \u201cgrateful people, as happy, small, simple and joyful children of God\u201d is beautiful.<\/p>\n
We can learn a lot by watching children and trying to be like them, he said, especially in the way they \u201cfight for life,\u201d as nurses, doctors, and parents often witness.<\/p>\n
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