Mass for the sick
Amid pandemic, LA’s annual Mass for the sick finds a deeper meaning
As COVID-19 kept all but a handful of people from gathering in the vast Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral on February 13, a Catholic order with a thousand-year history of care for the sick co-hosted the annual Day of the Sick Mass.
In a typical year, the Mass draws 1,800 people. Blessed water from the healing Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes would be distributed by members of the Sovereign Order of Malta. They would have brought it back from their annual pilgrimage of the sick to the shrine in France.
While this year’s event had none of that, the annual liturgy took on a special significance this year, in the midst of a crippling pandemic.