Do not pass by: Compassion that stops on the road

A Pastoral Reflection from Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M. on World Day of the Sick, February 11, 2026.

In his 2026 message for the annual World Day of the Sick, our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV invites us to contemplate the Good Samaritan and to rediscover what true compassion really is. He reminds us that the Samaritan “does not remain at a distance, does not look away, does not pass by, but draws near, bends down, and takes upon himself the pain of the wounded man.”

Illness, the Pope teaches, is part of our human condition, but it must never be faced in indifference or abandonment. It is precisely there, in the place of suffering, that love is called to “bear another’s pain” and make visible the tenderness of God.

Established in 1992 by Pope St. John Paul II, who himself carried the cross of Parkinson’s disease, World Day of the Sick is a moment for the Church to recognize that “the sickness of a family member, a friend, or a neighbor is a call to Christians to demonstrate true compassion, that gentle and persevering sharing in another’s pain.”

Pope Leo XIV echoes this same conviction when he urges us not to walk past those who suffer, but to stop, to see, and to draw near, as the Good Samaritan did.

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Photo credit: The Good Samaritan (1826) - Guillaume Bodinier. Public domain image.