My Life is a Miracle

19 The Healin great inner peace. Pope Francis speaks of it fre- quently and recommends it. After confession, we received the sacrament of the sick. The priest did for us what Jesus did for the sick who flocked to him. Jesus laid his hands on their heads, so the priest lays his hands on each of the sick on pilgrimage. With Christ, and in his name, he prays over them. Then he makes the Sign of the Cross on their foreheads and their hands with holy oil, blessed by the Church according to a custom dating back to the time of the Apostles. There’s nothing mag- ical about it, no instant healings, but we ask Christ, as a Church—I again insist—that is, together, to give us the strength to endure what we must. During the pilgrimage, among the sick, we really stick together in little practical things, but also to pray. And Christ is very attentive to the little ones and to everyone who suffers. He’s there when we pray to him. When received in faith, the sacrament of the sick gives a real boost. It’s not a drug. It’s the quiet power of faith. In Lourdes, there’s also the sign of the water. Here again, simplicity reigns. Saint Bernadette—who happens to be my patron saint—recommended drinking water from the spring. During the Virgin’s apparitions to her in 1858, she asked Bernadette to dig the earth