It’s no secret that there’s profound suffering in our broken world. Serious illnesses plague countless of our beloved, and healing often seems far off. Amid the darkness of disease, it can be hard to hope.
But during this Jubilee Year of Hope, as Catholics worldwide are called to a renewal of the vital virtue, Colorado Catholics have the opportunity this weekend to delve deeper into hope and healing.
This Sunday, faithful from around the archdiocese are invited to come together in prayer, intercession and community with our seriously ill brothers and sisters and their caregivers for the annual World Day of the Sick Mass. Held at Holy Ghost Parish in downtown Denver, the noon Mass will be celebrated by Bishop Jorge Rodríguez and will include the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick for those who are ill.
“Most of us in some way carry some kind of baggage, and it’s not always only physical, but there are a lot of other things going on,” said John Gallegos, a member of the Order of Malta coordinating the World Day of the Sick effort in the Denver area. “The Mass is something that’s really helpful in helping individuals with healing and being at peace with whatever their role is, whether they’re the individual that is ill and is going to treatment or maybe is beyond treatment or they’re the caregiver whose life has been very affected by the people they’re taking care of. The Mass is really special for them. It brings peace, understanding and healing.”
Dating back to the eleventh century, the Order of Malta, to which Gallegos belongs, has a long and storied history of service to the poor and sick. In the nearly 1,500 years since its founding by Blessed Fra Gerard, the Order of Malta has established hospitals and medical schools and worked devotedly to serve those in need.
“I think the Mass is consistent with who we are,” Gallegos continued. “We have three tenants in the Order: to protect the faith, to assist the sick and to assist the poor.”
In the modern age, the Order sponsors annual pilgrimages to Lourdes for individuals seeking healing. For Gallegos, this very pilgrimage was the catalyst for his involvement in the Order of Malta. With a son suffering from a serious chronic illness, Gallegos and his family found themselves heading to Lourdes with the Order of Malta.
“That’s how we became familiar with the Order and the things that the Order does,” he shared, recalling that powerful pilgrimage and noting that many other Knights and Dames of Malta began their involvement in a similar way.
“We saw what they did and said, ‘Well, they do some really good things,’” he continued.
Among those “good things” that the Order of Malta does in the Denver area and worldwide is the annual World Day of the Sick Mass, usually held on or around the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes in February. The annual Mass provides the sick and their caretakers an opportunity to come together with the Catholic community in prayer and intercession, receiving sacramental grace as they journey through illness towards Christ, who “always comes first,” as Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila said in his homily for the 2024 World Day of the Sick.
“Christ is the one who we are to imitate, and everything, whether we are healed or not healed, is for the glory of God and his desire for our good,” he told those gathered for the Mass last year, emphasizing the need to put God first regardless of what happens in our lives. Recalling his own journey through his parents’ cancer battles, Archbishop Aquila encouraged the faithful to trust in the Lord, in the “gift of salvation” and “that God would bring good even out of death.”
In fact, Archbishop Aquila told those gathered for last year’s Mass, God can and often does bring about miracles whether physical healing occurs or not — those miracles are of a spiritual nature, though, rather than a physical one.
“Not all are healed, but there is a healing that occurs. It may not be physical, but the heart is healed. The willingness to surrender, the growth in trust, in faith, in confidence that, yes, the promises of the Lord are true,” he said.
Of course, physical healing can and does happen in accordance with God’s plan for our lives. From the Scriptures to the waters of Lourdes to our own pews, God brings about healing every day. But first and foremost, Archbishop Aquila said in his homily at last year’s Mass, we ought to seek the things that are above and place our trust in the Divine Physician rather than the potential healing he can bring about.
“In whatever way the Lord is speaking to your heart,” Archbishop Aquila concluded, “open your heart to him, always seeking his will, bringing every suffering, every sickness, every trial to him. Have confidence that he will see you through it. For some, that will mean healing. For others, it will mean a peace, an acceptance and a joy that he alone can give. But all is for the glory of the Father.”
+++
World Day of the Sick Mass with Bishop Jorge Rodríguez
Sunday, February 9, 2025
12:00 p.m. Noon
Holy Ghost Parish
19th & California, Downtown Denver
