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INTENTION : |
For children with incurable diseases. Let us pray that children suffering from incurable diseases and their families receive necessary medical care and support, never losing strength and hope.
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FOCUS
On other occasions, we have prayed for the terminally ill (cf February 2024). However, there are also illnesses and very severe conditions that, while not leading to death, persist over time because they are incurable... This becomes especially traumatic for those who are just beginning their lives: children, and for their entire family environment. In a context of so much pain and sacrifice, it might seem inevitable to lose the joy of living. Yet, with the necessary support from healthcare personnel (cf April 2022) and the strength of a faith community that accompanies with determination, their paths of life open to new horizons and often become a hopeful testimony to the dignity and vulnerability of our shared human condition.
February 2024: Let us pray that the terminally ill and their families always receive necessary medical and human care and assistance.
April 2022: We pray for health care workers who serve the sick and the elderly, especially in the poorest countries; may they be adequately supported by governments and local communities.
ATTITUDE OF THE HEART
Caring for children with incurable illnesses
Live with active compassion. The illness of a child touches us deeply. But prayer, united with concrete gestures, makes us instruments of comfort and hope. Love and faith do not take away the pain, but they transform it into a path of redemption and communion.
(cf Step 2, The Way of the Heart - Welcoming and caring for fragility).
OTHER DAILY ATTITUDES TO LIVE THIS PRAYER INTENTION
1. Accompany with your heart:
Offer your day for a sick child: "Lord, may what I live today accompany those who suffer in silence."
2. Care with tenderness in small things:
Take care of those around you with simple gestures. Listen. Being close is already medicine for the soul.
3. Educate your gaze:
Do not look away from suffering. Look with compassion and
speak respectfully about those facing serious illness.
4. Collaborate with what you can:
Join aid campaigns or support a family in need with your words, gestures, or donations.
5. Keep hope alive:
At the end of the day, pray: "Lord, I rest. Stay with those who continue fighting through the night."
MONTHLY PRAYER
Lord Jesus,
Who welcomed the little ones in Your arms
and blessed them tenderly,
today we bring before You the children living
with incurable illnesses.
Their fragile bodies are a sign of Your presence,
and their smiles, even in the midst of pain,
are a testimony of Your Kingdom.
We ask You, Lord, that they may never lack
proper medical care,
human and compassionate attention,
and the support of a community that accompanies
them with love.
Sustain their families in hope,
in the midst of weariness and uncertainty,
and make of them witnesses of a faith that grows
stronger through trial.
Bless the hands of doctors, nurses, and caregivers,
so that their work may always be an expression
of active compassion.
May Your Spirit enlighten them in every
difficult decision,
and grant them patience and tenderness to serve
with dignity.
Lord, teach us to recognise Your face
in every suffering child.
May their vulnerability awaken our compassion,
and move us to care, accompany,
and love with concrete gestures of solidarity.
Make of us a Church that,
animated by the feelings of Your Heart
and moved by prayer and service, knows how to uphold fragility,
and in the midst of suffering,
becomes a source of comfort, a seed of hope,
and a proclamation of new life.
Amen.
Pope Leo XIV
Excerpts from the greeting of Pope Leo XIV to the staff and patients of the Hospital "de la Croix" run by the Franciscan Sisters of the Cross during his visit to Lebanon on
2 December 2025.
I wanted to come because Jesus dwells in this place: in you who are ill, and in you who care for the ailing - the Sisters, the doctors, all the healthcare workers and staff. Above all, I would like to greet you warmly and assure you that you are in my heart and in my prayers.
Your skilled and compassionate presence and your care for the sick, are a tangible sign of the merciful love of Christ. You are like the Good Samaritan, who stops beside the wounded man and cares for him, lifting him up and tending to his wounds. At times, you may experience fatigue or discouragement, especially given the challenging conditions in which you often work. I encourage you not to lose the joy of this mission. Despite the difficulties, keep before your eyes the good you are able to accomplish. In God's eyes, it is a great work!
What is lived in this place stands as a clear reminder to all
- to your country, but also to the whole human family. We cannot forget those who are most fragile. We cannot conceive of a society that races ahead at full speed clinging to the false myths of wellbeing, while at the same time ignoring so many situations of poverty and vulnerability. Particularly as Christians, as the Church of the Lord Jesus, we are called to care for the poor. The Gospel itself asks this of us, and we must not forget that the cry of the poor, echoed throughout Scripture, challenges us. "On the wounded faces of the poor, we see the suffering of the innocent and, therefore, the suffering of Christ himself" (Leo XIV Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te, 9).
Dear brothers and sisters who are burdened by illness, I would like to remind you that you are close to the heart of God our Father. He holds you in the palm of his hand; he accompanies you with love; and he offers you his tenderness through the hands and smiles of those who care for you. To each of you, the Lord says again today: I love you, I care for you, you are my child. Never forget this.
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