Mass at Eglise' Ste Bernadette & The Anointing of the Sick

After we left the Grotto we proceeded across the River to the most modern of the churches here in the Sanctuary of Lourdes. Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento was the principal celebrant. Each year as I watch the faces of those being anointed..Malades, members of the Order of Malta, Priests, Bishops, .....anyone with a serious illness....I am struck by the incredible healing power of the grace of this sacrament, the prayers of the community and the faith of the recipients. In a place of Lourdes, really no place on earth like it, so easy to reflect on all the healing all of us need. Many of the bumps, bruises, illnesses, worries, fears, are visible, so many are not, yet the table of the Eucharist around which we gather is much like the great family dinner table where you park the days troubles to the side, nourish yourself in food and company. The grace we leave here today with, let it help us to be individual sacraments of healing to a troubled world, making it a more just place.