Message from the Pastor Msgr. Kenneth Schwanger
My Dear Family of Our Lady of Lourdes,
Congratulations and thank you to everyone who helped to make our Healing Mass and Procession so beautiful! I am sure that you can sense just how important and powerful that Mass is in bringing healing and lifting up all who are suffering. The Solemnity of the Assumption is the beginning of an octave of thankfulness and love for our Blessed Mother that culminates on the 22nd of August with the celebration of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This weekend, then is full of blessings as well.
The Geste de l’Eau, where we are able to drink and wash with the water from the Grotto at Lourdes, will be celebrated from 8 am to 8 pm in Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Hall. At 10 am in front of the Outdoor Altar, we will welcome the motorcade Procession with the Pilgrim Image of Our Lady of Charity. I invite everyone to join us and to bring their white handkerchief, flag, or flower to wave as a joyful expression of welcome and devotion. We will then pray the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary together and the motorcade will depart for its next stop at 10:30.
Saturday is also the 10th anniversary of the renewal of the Famille Notre Dame de Lourdes. The Famille is an Archconfraternity that traces its foundation to December 8, 1872, at Lourdes, France. During the Jubilee Year of Mercy, 2015-2016, the Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes asked that the Famille be renewed to signify a greater commitment of all to the service of the mission entrusted by Mary to Bernadette at Lourdes, so that the Church may show herself evermore as an oasis of mercy, offering wounded bodies and hearts the wellspring of healing and forgiveness. For more information about the Famille and how to join go to our website at www.HdMiami.org.
As sons and daughters of Mary, these are blessed days indeed.
Pastor
Msgr. Schwanger