THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: Offaly columnist travels on a journey of compassion, healing, and mercy

“I was sick, and you visited me…Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:36-40). Every single day, I pray for the sick. Some prayers are whispered in the quiet of early morning. Some are carried through long days of work. Some are spoken through tears at night. I pray for those who ask me directly. I pray for those who can no longer ask. I pray for the sick in our homes, our hospitals, our care facilities, our prisons, our streets, our war zones and for those who care for them with hands that are tired and hearts that are stretched thin. Every February, the Church invites us to pause, reflect, and pray for the sick, for those who suffer in body, mind, and spirit.

Those prayers take on a deeper weight, because during the month of February it brings together two great movements of mercy - The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and The World Day of the Sick. This is not a coincidence. It is providence. Our Lady of Lourdes, whose first appearance to St. Bernadette Soubirous took place in 1858 at Massabielle, a site of neglect, waste, and abandonment. Once a place where townspeople discarded rubbish, hospital waste, and forgotten debris, Massabielle now shines as a beacon of hope, mercy, and healing, reminding us that even the most broken and overlooked can become vessels of grace.

The Grotto of Massabielle: From waste to grace

Massabielle was not merely a rock or a riverbank. It was a place of abandonment, a symbol of a world too often indifferent to the frail, the sick, and the poor. And yet, it was here that God chose to manifest His tender love through Our Lady Mary, the Immaculate Conception. Into the cold and muddy riverbanks, Our Lady Mary brought warmth. Into a place of rejection, she brought attention, care, and sacred purpose. St. Bernadette, a fragile, sickly girl living in 'le cachot', a dark, cramped cell with her family, could barely walk to the Grotto without fear of an asthma attack. Yet, it was her weakness, her suffering, and her humility that drew Our Lady Mary’s attention. In her frailty, St. Bernadette became a vessel for God’s mercy for the world. “She told me also that she did not promise to make me happy in this world, but in the next.” (St. Bernadette). In this, we see a profound truth that suffering, when united with Christ, can become transformative, redemptive, and a source of grace for others.

READ NEXT: GoFundMe appeal launched for Offaly teenager who received life-altering injuries in road collision

St. Bernadette: An ordinary girl chosen for extraordinary mercy

St. Bernadette’s life reminds us that God often works through the seemingly insignificant and overlooked. She was poor, sickly, uneducated, and living in extreme hardship. She could not fully read, write, or attend school regularly. She could barely participate in her parish life because of her fragility. Yet, Our Lady, Mary chose her. When St. Bernadette first saw Our Lady Mary, she could not even make the Sign of the Cross. Trembling and fearful, she struggled, until Our Lady Mary’s gentle guidance gave her strength. This encounter reminds us that weakness is not a barrier to grace. Suffering can become a channel of divine mercy. God sees and values the overlooked, the abandoned, the frail. Through St. Bernadette’s humility and obedience, Our Lady Mary taught us the power of prayer, penance, and trust. By digging in the mud for water, kissing the ground, and even eating bitter herbs, St. Bernadette modeled complete surrender to God’s will, embracing what the world might call humiliation or hardship, but which Our Lady Mary calls love and service.

Healing through encounter

The message of Lourdes is a message of encounter. Healing is not only physical, it is the restoration of the heart and soul. When we bring our wounds such as emotional, spiritual, or physical before God, we are invited into intimate communion with Him. Grace flows as we open ourselves to encounter Christ such as In prayer. In the service of others. In embracing our own suffering. Through these encounters, pain becomes a doorway to a deeper love of God, and suffering becomes a ministry of hidden grace.

The Rosary: Healing in the hands of Mary

The Rosary is more than repeated prayers, it is a divine embrace. Saint Padre Pio called it “the weapon for these times.” Joyful Mysteries: God is with us even in suffering. Sorrowful Mysteries: Our pain, united with Christ’s Cross, becomes redemptive. Glorious Mysteries: Resurrection assures us that suffering does not have the final word. Luminous Mysteries: Jesus continues His healing work today through Mary’s intercession. Praying the Rosary is to invite heaven into our hearts, allowing grace to transform despair into hope, weakness into courage, and isolation into connection.

Personal reflections: Serving the sick

From ages 15 to 21, I journeyed to Lourdes as part of the Meath Diocese pilgrimage, serving the sick and unwell. I learned firsthand that healing often comes through presence, compassion, and silent love. One memory that stays with me was caring for Dermot “Spyder” Sympson, a young Irish singer, trapped in a coma after a car accident. Spyder had been full of life, music, and light, but now lay motionless. Sitting by him, holding his hand, whispering prayers, I realized that love itself becomes ministry, even when no words are spoken, even when the world sees no progress. In caring for Spyder, and countless others over the years, I learned: to be with the suffering is to be with Christ. Every act of presence, every shared tear, every whispered prayer reflects God’s mercy into the world.

St. Mother Teresa: Love in action

My encounters with the sick, needy and poor of our world especially in Africa and Asia reminded me of Mother Teresa of Calcutta whom I worked closely with for a number of years, who taught that: “We are not here for the work. We are here for Jesus. All we do is for Him.” Feeding, washing, comforting, and holding the sick, the needy and the poor are sacred acts. Every small gesture of love transforms pain into grace, darkness into light, and despair into hope. “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.” (Isaiah 66:13). “By His wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5). “Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2). “Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40). These verses are living invitations to mercy, care, and prayer.

The call of Lourdes today

Lourdes is a call to transform our hearts into miniature Grottoes of mercy. Lourdes reminds us that healing flows through love, prayer, presence and mercy. Whether physically cured or spiritually renewed, every person who suffers is called to be embraced, prayed for, and loved. Even if we cannot travel to France, we can pray for the sick daily. Sit in silence with those who suffer. Carry another’s cross with patience and love. Be the hands and heart of Christ in a world that often forgets the weak and frail. Our Lady Mary’s smile at Massabielle reminds us that every human life is precious, and every act of compassionate love echoes in eternity. Also as Pope Francis reminded us that, “Sick people are at the center of God’s people, and the Church advances together with them as a sign of a humanity in which everyone is precious and no one should be discarded or left behind.” So as Pope Francis asked us when he was alive to bring Lourdes with us everywhere, not just with miraculous water, but with presence. With a listening ear. With a phone call. With patience. With prayer. With practical help. With tenderness that refuses to turn away. Closeness, he says, is the balm that soothes.

READ NEXT: Offaly TikTok sensation, 'The Digger Dad', reveals his 'Seven Deadly Sins'

Thought for the week

As your thought for the week, take up the challenge of Lourdes in action and ask ourselves - Who is sick in my family, my community, my workplace, my parish, my world? Who is suffering quietly, waiting for someone to notice? Who is asking, perhaps without words, for prayer, for help, for love? And then let us act. Let us pray more intentionally for the sick, by name, with tears if needed. Let us offer our own aches, fears, and limitations for those who suffer more. Let us visit, write, cook, donate, advocate, sit beside, and stay. Let us see Jesus where it costs us something. Be a messenger of mercy, reflecting God’s love in every gesture. On Calvary, Our Lady Mary received us as her children in the moment of her greatest sorrow. A sword pierced her heart, and yet she did not turn away. From that place of suffering, she became Mother of us all, especially of the sick, the poor, the forgotten. In February and always, she invites us again to stand with her. To see suffering not as something to flee, but as a sacred place where love can be poured out and multiplied. Let me leave you with a prayer I wrote to Our Lady Mary for Our Sick and Those Who Care for Them - "O Mary, Health of the Sick, Mother who never turns away, look with tenderness upon all who suffer today. For those sick in body, bring healing. For those sick in mind, bring peace. For those sick in spirit, bring hope. Strengthen all who care for the sick, especially the exhausted, the unseen, the faithful. Wrap them in your mantle of love. Teach us to see your Son Jesus in every broken body, every fragile life, every weary soul. Help us to pray with sincerity, to love with courage, and to act with compassion. Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. Saint Bernadette, pray for us. Jesus, Divine Physician, stay with us. Amen."