Today, moved by so much suffering, Christ not only allows himself to be touched by the sick, but He makes their miseries His own. God —as God– cannot suffer but He can suffer with. Man is worth so much to God that He Himself became man in order to suffer with man in an utterly real way. Thus, by redeeming man through pain, Jesus has redeemed the very pain (He has given it a new meaning): now man can join his suffering to the savior pain of Christ the Redeemer.

With the sacrament of “Anointing of the sick" our Church prays for the sick and helps them join the suffering Lord. It is not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering that we are healed, but rather by our capacity for accepting it, maturing through it and finding meaning through union with Christ, who suffered with infinite love. Really, to every human suffering, there has entered “One” who shares suffering and endurance; in all suffering "con-solatio" is diffused, the consolation of “touching” God's participating love.

—O Jesus, help us to grow in humanity by being more capable of suffering for love (without complaining!).