On February 11 at 1:00 p.m. Mexico City time, on the occasion of the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, the “Day of Prayer for the Health of the Sick” was held. This event was organized by Terra Santa Mexico, Magdala Center, Catholic.net, From Faith, Zenit, Regnum Christi Mexico and Union of Wills. More than 700 thousand people participated virtually.
Reflections on the invocation of Our Lady of Lourdes and of the sick, together with the prayer of the Holy Rosary, were carried out from different Marian Shrines. The transmission of the day of prayer was carried out from the Catholic.net YouTube channel and was shared through the social networks of the organizing Catholic institutions. Roberto Yenny García, responsible for the Episcopal Dimension of Health Pastoral of the Catholic Church, was present at the event. Mexican Episcopal Conference, The author developed a biblical-pastoral reflection on the sick and the action of Jesus through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“Our Lady always alludes to water for healing. Not only physical health, but also mental and spiritual health,” Estrella Baz.
At the beginning of the transmission of the day, the explanation of the invocation to Our Lady of Lourdes and a reflection on the properties of water to heal the sick, this was shared from the Shrine of the Fifth Guadalupana Apparition, by the director of Terra Sancta Mexico, Ana Paula Morales, and Estrella Baz, a member of Regnum Christi; in turn, they presented the mysteries of the Rosary and each of the participants.
“With all those who came to him seeking health and deliverance from some illness and with everyone who came across his path, Jesus always sought that personal encounter,” Msgr. Roberto Yeny.
Bishop Roberto Yenny Garcia, Bishop of Ciudad Valles and responsible for the Episcopal Dimension of Pastoral Health, shared some reflections on Jesus, the sick and miracles: “Jesus Christ went through the world doing good, reflecting the loving face of the Father, leaving in the hearts of all those who shared with him a burning hope, an open faith, a charity that inflamed and prompted to respond to God”. He also mentioned that the mission entrusted by the Father to the Incarnate Word is in favor of the most vulnerable, that is, the physically, socially, mentally and spiritually ill, who cooperate in God's action by arranging the situation and their souls so that God's miracle may be worked. For them and for all Jesus gave his life on the cross to give eternal salvation: “Jesus is sensitive to their suffering, he looks at their needs”.
Gilberto Valdovinos, Rector of the Shrine of the Fifth Guadalupana Apparition, explained the action of the Blessed Virgin Mary in favor of Juan Bernardino, uncle of St. Juan Diego, who was sick during his apparitions. At the same time, he expressed the value of the water that resides in the Shrine that has helped many people and become a testimony of faith. Fr. Juan Solana, LC, spoke about Jesus' healing of a paralytic in the Pool of Bethsaida and asked to unite in prayer for the sick.
The sorrowful mysteries of the Holy Rosary were presided over by: Fr. Mauricio Elias, from the grottoes of the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes; Fr. Gilberto Valdovinos, Rector of the Shrine of the Fifth Guadalupana Apparition; Fr. Juan Maria Solana, LC, from the Pool of Bethsaida, in the Holy Land; Bishop Salvador Martinez, Rector of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who presided from the Chapel of the Most Holy; Fr. Luis Pablo Garaza, LC, from the Shrine of Mary Undoer of Knots. Lucero Ross participated in the musicalization. The litanies and the final blessing of the day were presided over by Bishop Roberto Yenny Garcia.
