Bishop Antonio Rañola (right) leads the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament after a special Mass for the sick at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
A CYST located near her spinal cord had hobbled 64-year-old Visitacion Iñigo for a month now.
“Nangayo ko sa Ginoo nga makabalik na unta kog lakaw (I pray to God that I’ll be able to walk again),” she said in a soft voice.
Seated on a wheelchair, Iñigo joined a number of sick people who gathered at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral as the Catholic Church marked yesterday the 22nd World Day of the Sick.
The church also marked the 156th anniversary of the apparition of the the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France.
Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Antonio Rañola presided over the 9:30 a.m. healing Mass participated by sick people, the elderly, the handicapped, nurses, and doctors.
The Mass ended with the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament that was likewise brought in a procession inside the cathedral.
Msgr. Cayetano Gelbolingo, one of the vicar generals of the Cebu Archdiocese, delivered the homily and encouraged the sick to offer their sufferings to the Lord.
“Our sufferings can save us. If we unite our sufferings with Jesus, then it becomes salvific,” he told the congregation.
Gelbolingo echoed Pope Francis’ message for the World Day of the Sick to care for one another.
‘Life is short’
“All of us are sick. In this world, let us help one another instead of destroying each other’s lives. Life is too short. Let us try to be happy and be aware that our neighbors is God’s present to us,” the monsignor said.
Gelbolingo also lauded the people who take care of the sick. “It is by serving others that we manifest our love for God. As the apostle John said ‘no one can say that he loves God without
loving his neighbors first,’ “ he said.
The healing Mass was organized by the sub-commission on Pastoral Care led by Msgr. Carlito Pono. The World Day of the Sick was instituted in 1992 by Pope John Paul II who is set to be canonized on April 27, 2014.