World Day of the Sick was instituted in 1992 by St. Pope John Paul II to be observed on February 11 every year as the Memorial Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. Bishop Timothy Senior celebrated Holy Mass for residents and healthcare workers at Menno Haven Senior Living Center in Chambersburg on February 13 to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the day, set aside to “see the face of Christ in the sick and suffering,” as the late pontiff said in 1992 while just learning of his diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. On this feast day in 2013, Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation, citing his own deteriorating health.
Pope Francis has been battling numerous health issues this winter and is currently hospitalized in Rome with complex respiratory issues, according to the Catholic News Service. In his message for the 33rd annual observance, the Holy Father said, “Suffering always brings with it a mysterious promise of salvation, for it makes us experience the closeness and reality of God’s consoling presence…. God does not abandon us and often amazes us by granting us a strength that we never expected and would never have found on our own.”
Bishop Senior celebrated Mass for nearly 60 residents and staff, joined by concelebrating priests Father Allan Wolfe, pastor, and Dominican Father Benjamin Kwaghbba, parochial vicar, both of whom tend to the spiritual needs of residents at the facility who are parishioners at Corpus Christi Parish, Chambersburg. Students from the school choir from Corpus Christi School provided the sung prayer for the Mass.
In his homily, Bishop Senior told the faithful that “It is not obvious to all of us, but God did not intend for us to be alone…. Christians must have God-like concern for anybody who needs us. Who is my neighbor? Whoever needs us.”
After Mass, Bishop Senior visited with residents and blessed 97-year-old Mary Finegan, whose birthday it was. She has just arrived in the Chambersburg area from western North Carolina where she was displaced by the flooding ravages of Hurricane Helene’s late 2024 summer deluge on the Tar Heel State.
(Photos by Chris Heisey, The Catholic Witness.)
By Chris Heisey, The Catholic Witness
