Let us start tonight’s reflection with a reading from the gospel of St. Matthew: "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit upon His glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before Him. And He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in return, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’’" (Matthew 25:31-45) The good news of our Lord.

My dear brothers and sisters, the month of February is known all over the world as the month of our Lady of Lourdes. Last February 11, thousands upon thousands of people flocked to France to pay homage to Our Lady who appeared to a young girl named Bernadette in the caves of Lourdes.

Since 1992, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes was declared by the Holy Father as "the world day of prayer for the sick. This the Holy Father did because the altar of Lourdes is known as the altar of healing from all sicknesses. At Lourdes can be found a spring that the Virgin ordered the young Bernadette to dig, and since that time up to the present water continues to flow, water that gives healing to the sick. That is why Our Lady of Lourdes is known as "the health of the sick", the health of all who are sick. That is why the Holy Father has declared our Lady of Lourdes as the "Patroness of the Sick."

And so we deemed it proper to reflect tonight on the care of the sick and its relationship with the souls in purgatory. As a matter of fact, our reflection will include not only the care of the sick, but also the care of all those who are in need as a means of giving great help as love offering for the souls in purgatory. There are many with the wrong impression that the only way to help the souls in purgatory is through prayers; through masses said in their behalf, or prayers said during their death anniversary, or praying the holy rosary or novenas for the souls in purgatory. It is true that all of these acts of prayer help lessen the suffering of the souls in purgatory and speed up their release into heaven. However, we are also able to help the souls in purgatory through our corporal works of mercy. What are those acts of mercy? These are the acts of mercy that you hear in the gospel: feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, give shelter to the homeless, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and visit to those who are imprisoned. All of these corporal works of mercy are considered powerful means of helping the souls in purgatory. It is because works of mercy, or "meritorious acts", are works that benefit from the fruit of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus.

If you still remember, two years ago we celebrated the great Jubilee Year, and one of the features of the Jubilee Year was visits to Jubilee churches through which we gained plenary indulgences not only for ourselves, but which could be offered as alms for the souls in purgatory. If you remember, one of the conditions for earning plenary indulgence was visits to the sick or the performance of works of mercy. This I remember, because, for sometime, I thought that to gain plenary indulgence, it was sufficient to visit a Jubilee church and pray for the intentions of the Holy Father, go to confession, receive communion. Alas, this was not so. I found out that after one has complied with the required prayers, it has to be complemented with acts of charity, especially to the sick and the needy. This is a very important aspect of the spiritual life of Christians – helping the sick … charitable works.

Always remember that prayers are not enough. It is not enough to fast. We need to perform acts of mercy. Remember the gospel we just read? Acts of mercy are very important in order for a soul to get to heaven. As the Lord said: "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me…whatever you did for these least brothers of mine, you did for me."

Look at this. Charity is a very heavy responsibility of a Christian. It is an obligation. It is not a suggestion, but an obligation on our part to perform acts of charity for those who are in great need. Therefore, when we fail to do acts of charity, we are in great debt to the Lord, for we are not doing what He expects us to do for Him. One of the reasons many souls go to purgatory is to pay for the many opportunities when they could have done acts of mercy and they chose not to. What did the Lord say? I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was sick and you did not visit me, I was naked and you did not clothe me…these are some of the indebtedness that the souls in purgatory are paying for – their lack of charity while still living on earth and which they are now paying for in the after life. But now, we have the opportunity to help them pay for the debt of their sins through doing corporal acts of mercy and offering the merits of these acts to the Lord for the souls in purgatory.