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This is what we see in a tender-hearted gaze: sadness, love and grief for another in need, which call from us practical help and gentle consolation.

God is at work even when we are physically frail - He can slowly 'detach' us from life, as a backing fabric is slowly removed from a piece of tape, to prepare us for Heaven.

When I am close to God, in sickness, putting my trust in Him, I am like a child who rests on her Father's shoulder.

When I am close to God, in sickness, putting my trust in Him, I am like a child who rests on her Father's shoulder.

It is the Will of God that we fulfil our duties towards our immediate family. If we neglect to feed and clothe them, we neglect to feed and clothe Christ, as He explained in His parable: "I was hungry, thirsty, sick and you did not help me".

It is the Will of God that we fulfil our duties towards our immediate family. If we neglect to feed and clothe them, we neglect to feed and clothe Christ, as He explained in His parable: "I was hungry, thirsty, sick and you did not help me".

The Lord sees behind the image we present to the world. The Lord sees 'behind' our masks, our exteriors. He sees the state of our souls. He sees sinful souls as being grievously 'sick' and wounded, in desperate need of help - if they will accept it.

A very sinful person is in a pitiful state, in God's sight, and in the 'sight' of those who are permitted by God to 'read' souls - as the sickest of sick human beings. Someone in serious sin, who denies that he is sinful, or persists in it, is like a person with festering sores who refuses to have his wounds treated.

When we pray for one sick person, then for 'all the sick'; or when we pray for a priest, and then 'for all the priests in the world', it's as if we have sent out, all at once, thousands of prayers - just as when an invitation composed on a computer can be sent in a moment to a large number of friends. The Holy Spirit prompts us to make a charitable thought, then to multiply our prayer by a single phrase.

Some people begrudge having to look after sick relations. They even bang the dinner plates on the table. That's what it's like when we pray to God with resentment, or are angry about having to confess our sins.

The Church is like a bright home, full of life, in an almost deserted, snowy landscape. Where people really love life, and love and welcome children, they also care for the old and the sick - unlike many around them who work to extinguish life.

Where people listen to the Church, and thank God for their children, and put the needs of family before their own ambitions, a home is like an oasis of light; old people and the sick are valued and cared for, as if in an oasis of light amidst the gloom of an uncaring society.

When we are ill, and Christ comes to us in Holy Communion, it's as if He insists in helping us to lie down on a couch; and when He is sure that we are resting comfortably, He sits on the floor beside us, so that we can talk at leisure - or simply be quiet.

God's gift to the sick is Jesus Christ Himself, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, One God - at work in this sacrament. The sick person has a renewed sharing in the life of the Holy Trinity, and so receives forgiveness, peace, spiritual joy, and other blessings, on being annointed.

God's gift to the sick is Jesus Christ Himself, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, One God - at work in this sacrament. The sick person has a renewed sharing in the life of the Holy Trinity, and so receives forgiveness, peace, spiritual joy, and other blessings, on being annointed.

The blessings given in the sacrament of the sick are gifts from the Holy Trinity, bringing a renewed sharing in the life of the Holy Trinity, with forgiveness, peace, and many other gifts

The blessings given in the sacrament of the sick are gifts from the Holy Trinity, bringing a renewed sharing in the life of the Holy Trinity, with forgiveness, peace, and many other gifts

If we are sick and call to Christ, He comes to sit by our side, bringing us comfort by His Presence. No words are necessary. His love is enough.

When the Blessed Sacrament is brought to the home of a sick person, it is truly Christ Who is Sacramentally Present there, guarded as always by the Angels who love and adore Him.

The Lord comes to be with us when we make a 'spiritual communion'.