Love God by loving the sick, Cardinal Czerny preaches on World Day of the Sick
February 12, 2026
Preaching at the principal Mass of the 34th World Day of the Sick (video, background), Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, asked the faithful to pray for the grace of conversion, that they might love the sick as an expression of love for God.
In his homily, delivered at the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace in Chiclayo, Peru, the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development reflected on three aspects of the day: “conversion,” shared mission, and faith.
“First of all, if the experience of healing love is, and must be, a personal one, it always unfolds—starting with those who choose to bear the pain of others—as a true journey of ‘conversion,’“ Cardinal Czerny preached. Referring to the Pope’s message for the day, he said:
Let us ask the Lord today for this first gift: make me a neighbor to others, capable of “converting” to them, of allowing their pain—which I want to bear—to radically change the course of my feelings, my thoughts, my plans! In this way, I will be able to learn—according to the words of the Pontiff—that “personal participation in another’s suffering involves the gift of oneself. It means going beyond the simple satisfaction of needs, so that our very person becomes part of the gift.”
“A second noteworthy aspect, therefore, concerns the sharing of the mission in caring for the sick,” the prelate continued, adding:
Today, in this sanctuary dedicated to Mary, Our Lady of Peace, we ask for a second gift: make me capable of collaborating with others for the good of all and—especially—of the most vulnerable, offering what I can and overcoming the temptation of that distrustful or, at times, presumptuous individualism that separates me from my brothers and sisters in the mission of caring for those most in need.
“Finally, in his Message, the Pope reminds us that ‘serving our neighbor is loving God in action’: in other words, as Christians, we can never forget that our love for others is always a concrete expression of our love for God and that, conversely, we cannot say or think that we love God without following the path of love, that is, the love given to the other who is in need of me,” Cardinal Czerny said. He concluded:
Let us therefore ask the Lord for the gift of that faith that he praises in the centurion, while with the words of the Psalmist we still invoke him, for ourselves and for all suffering humanity: “Lord, hear my prayer; let my cry come to you. [...] Let this be written for the generation to come, and a new people will praise the Lord” (Ps 101:2, 19). Amen.
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