The prayer for the sick is held in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Sirach 17,24-29

But to those who repent he permits return, and he encourages those who have lost hope. Return to the Lord and renounce your sins, plead before his face, stop offending him. Come back to the Most High, turn away from iniquity and hold all that is foul in abhorrence. Who is going to praise the Most High in Sheol if we do not glorify him while we are alive? The dead can praise no more than those who do not exist, only those with life and health can praise the Lord. How great is the mercy of the Lord, his pardon for those who turn to him!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Questions about humanity: who we are, the nature of our mission on earth, run through all of Scripture. In our common mentality, human beings are understood as autonomous persons, with the capacity to decide and to act, to choose and to plan. And it is true: God created human beings and gave them freedom. But this freedom is not absolute, that is, loosed from all bonds and relations to the point of thinking it as something that is the limitless affirmation of self. This idea has made a new worship be born, which we could define as "ego-latry", an idolatry of the self and one's ego, on whose altars everything is sacrificed, even our dearest loves. But God's project for each one of us does not pass through the affirmation of our strength, but through the awareness of the "us" that needs to be built in order to be truly his family. Being aware of our sin does not mean failing as a human, rather it means discovering where we really are and the great possibilities that open up before us. In the book of Sirach, the human being is presented as someone who is ready to accept the offering of mercy and consolation God offers and so to embark on a journey back to Him. Those who walk firmly towards the Lord and with the Lord do not deal with evil and do not indulge iniquity. Choosing the company of God means turning our back on every form of injustice. Those who choose to stand beside God and to listen to his Word do not follow evil and do not fall into sin. But those who want to be above everyone else will bitterly recognize in the end that they are only "dust and ashes." The true vocation of humanity is to praise God, who is the Lord of the heavenly hosts as well as the Father who is close to all men and women, his children. Sirach observes, "those who are alive and well sing the Lord's praises."