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A Church of Compassion and Care

February 9, 2026

(sweet_tomato / Shutterstock.com)

From the Office for Social Ministry

“Let us raise our prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Health of the Sick, asking her to assist all who suffer and are in need of compassion, consolation, and a listening ear.”
— Pope Leo XIV, Message for World Day of the Sick, 2026

Each year on February 11, the Church marks the World Day of the Sick, a moment to remember those who are ill, those who care for them, and those who quietly carry physical, emotional, or spiritual burdens. It is fitting that this day is observed on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, when the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Bernadette with a message of hope and healing. Through these apparitions, Mary reminds us that the journey toward healing often begins with compassion.

Pope Leo XIV echoes this Marian spirit in his message for the 2026 World Day of the Sick, inviting the Church to become a place of tenderness and accompaniment. Reflecting on the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan, he reminds us how the Samaritan does something simple but very inspiring. He sees someone in need. He stops, draws near, cares, and accompanies. As Pope Leo writes, “Love is not passive; it goes out to meet the other.” The Good Samaritan not only meets the other but gives something precious—his time. In that gift, Pope Leo tells us, we glimpse the very gaze of Jesus. The pain of sickness is never just physical, it also carries fear, isolation, and uncertainty. But our faith tells us we were all created as children of God, and we are all called to be the Body of Christ. Therefore, when anyone suffers, all are affected. As the Pope puts it: “The pain that moves us to compassion is not the pain of a stranger; it is the pain of a member of our own Body.” To care for and with the sick is an essential expression of following Christ. In our busy lives, this can be challenging. It can be tempting to “pass by on the other side.” Yet the Pope calls us back to the heart of the parable which reveals “the gift of encounter in caring—the joy of offering closeness and presence.”

This year, that invitation feels especially close to home. Just weeks earlier, on January 23, we celebrated the feast of St. Marianne Cope, whose life remains a compelling witness to Christ’s healing presence among the sick and outcast. When she arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1883, she encountered men, women, and children with Hansens disease (leprosy), who had been isolated and feared because of their affliction. She did not look away. She did not pass by. She saw, stopped, drew near and compassionately cared for those on the margins and lifted up those who felt forgotten, invisible. In doing so, she revealed the agape love of God by dedicating her life to the most vulnerable accompanying the dying, the forgotten, and the forsaken patients of Hansen’s disease who had been banished to the land of exile at Kalaupapa, Molokaʻi. That gift of encounter was at the heart of St. Marianne’s courageous mission. She once said she was not afraid of disease because her confidence rested in Christ. Her faith was so deeply rooted that fear did not have the final word. Like the Good Samaritan, she looked upon suffering with unconditional love. To care for the sick is essential to who we are as a faith community. Pope Francis once described the Church as a “field hospital,” and Pope Leo continues that vision of a Church where all need healing and all can participate in God’s amazing healing grace.

Here in Hawaiʻi, this mission is lived every day. Families accompany loved ones through illness. Caregivers serve in hospitals, clinics and hospice, including those shaped by the legacy of the Sisters of St. Francis and continue to follow in the footsteps of St. Marianne. Parish ministries visit the homebound, distribute vitally needed food, and provide prayerful presence to support mental health. Community organizations such as the Institute for Hope Services Hawaii and Institute for Human Services provide healing medical care in the streets and secluded rural areas to those experiencing homelessness. In countless quiet effective ways, Christ, the Good Samaritan and St. Marianne still walk among us.

Pope Leo assures us that this love, when offered in faith, unites us more deeply with Christ, who himself drew near to a wounded humanity: “The true remedy for humanity’s wounds is a style of life based on fraternal love.”  Let us continue in the healing spirit of the World Day of the Sick on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes opening our hearts by taking time to truly see those who suffer. As we enter into the healing fasting, prayer and acts of mercy during the season of Lent, may we stop, draw near, and encounter Christ in their midst—just as St. Marianne did—so that all may experience God’s healing and life-giving grace. For Pope Leo XIV’s full message for the World Day of the Sick, please visit humandevelopment.va. Mahalo.