Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time | Bulletin of October 18, 2026 Message from Msgr. Schwanger

My Dear Family of Our Lady of Lourdes,

We are safely back from Lourdes. We had a beautiful pilgrimage and service at the Sanctuary. Of course, having the Holy Father there with us was a tremendous blessing. I hope you had the chance to see the photo album of the visit on our website and that of the Hospitalite de Miami. You can see the joy in our faces. Actually, much that surrounded the visit of the Holy Father reminded me of Miami in 1987 when Pope John Paul II came to visit.

The crowds were tremendous and the planning changed every day. From the time of the Holy Father’s landing in Lourdes to his takeoff to Metz, the whole of the town that surrounds the Sanctuary was locked down. That meant no cars or buses, and we had to walk out of the hotel zone carrying our luggage at 3:30 am in order to catch the bus for the airport. Really, all went smoothly and I am only telling that story to compliment Deacon Matamala, our pilgrimage coordinator, and his team, especially his logistic team, for their generous service – they made it happen! Many are saying that it was our best pilgrimage ever. We can thank them for that!

Next year will be our 10th anniversary! I am sure that pilgrimage, too, will be filled with blessings and joy. We are already receiving deposits for both the June and September pilgrimages. I encourage you to send in your deposit the minute the idea to come hits you! It is a great blessing to have so many wanting to come, and we are learning a lot about how to make it happen, but the earlier the deposits come, the easier it is for all of us.

Finally, as I mentioned at Mass, this pilgrimage for the Holy Father was to pray for peace and lift up the dignity of every human person. He asked us to join him in that prayer and in particular to offer a personal sacrifice to make reconciliation happen with someone in our own lives. Let us make that happen and show others what it means to give of oneself to lift up the dignity of every human person.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us. St. Bernadette, pray for us.

Pastor
Msgr. Schwanger

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