Today we celebrate the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Saint Paul the Apostle in his First Letter to the Corinthians witnesses to the principal belief of Christian faith, the resurrection of the Lord. His duty is to proclaim not his own ideas but the good news that he has received from the Lord Jesus Christ. St. Paul emphasizes that this faith in the good news revealed by Jesus and proclaimed by the Apostles saves the believers: “This is the good news through which also you are being saved, if you stand firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you – unless you have come to believe in vain”.

This Monday, February 11th, we observe a memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes. Saint Bernadette Soubirous claimed to have had 18 private apparitions of the Blessed Virgin in the Grotto of Massabielle in Lourdes, France. They took place from February to July, 1858. During the 16th appearance on March 25th the Blessed Virgin said about herself: “I am the Immaculate Conception”. According to St. Bernadette, the Blessed Virgin ordered her to find a spring of water near the grotto and to tell people to drink at the spring and wash in it. Thousands of pilgrims to Lourdes claimed to have been cured by drinking that water or bathing in the spring.

In 1993 Pope St. John Paul II established a World Day of the Sick that falls on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes. Every year the pope publishes his message for the World Day of the Sick and a different city is chosen to host it. This Year Pope Francis in his message for the 27th World Day of the Sick urges the faithful to promote a culture of generosity focussing on Jesus’ words: “You received without payment; give without payment” (Mt 10:8). This year, the city of Calcutta in India was chosen to host the World Day of the Sick. Pope Francis has highlighted the figure of Saint Teresa of Calcutta as a model of charity who made God’s love for the poor and the sick visible.

In our church on Monday, February 11th, there will be an additional Mass at 9 am with an opportunity for receiving the Sacrament of the Sick. In a special way we will pray for the sick and those who take care of them.

Our Lady of Lourdes pray for us!

God bless,
Father Peter