ORDER OF MALTA MOMENT
Malta – The Islands of Knights and Saints
Federal Association Tour
September 3 – 10, 2014
Currently there are two places available on this very special tour to Malta. Join us at the heart of the Mediterranean! Contact Bill Williams: E-mail or 540-660-2171.
Every year while in Lourdes, volunteers place a box filled with hundreds of petitions at the altar in the Grotto before our Mass on Saturday morning. Everyone who submits a petition in advance of the pilgrimage will receive a postcard acknowledgment from Lourdes. In order for the postcards to be sent from Lourdes, the petitions must be received by the end of this week (04.25.14). To submit your petition on-line, click here. Petitions received after this Friday, April 25th will NOT receive the postcard acknowledgment from Lourdes.
Kansas City Anointing of the Sick Mass
The 18th Annual Joint Diocesan Mass for the Anointing of the Sick was held March 29, 2014 at Cure' Of Ars Church. Archbishop Joseph Naumann, D.D. was the Principal Celebrant with Bishop Robert Finn, D.D. as Homilist in a communal Mass to administer the Sacrament of the Sick as it is done in Lourdes, France.
Over 300 Malades, companions, clergy, Knights and Dames of the Order of Malta, and volunteers attended. Lourdes water and Lourdes petition forms to be placed on the altar at the Grotto in Lourdes in May, were distributed.
Student volunteers from Benedictine College assisted and members transported residents from the Little Sisters of the Poor Jeanne Jugan Center. A reception was held for all following the beautiful Service. Sheila Weiford DM and Tom Weiford KM were Co-Chairs of this deeply spiritual event.
April 24, 2014
The Most Reverend Paul S. Loverde
Bishop of Arlington, VA
Do you know anyone who falls in love with abstractions, like rules, concepts or commandments? I cannot think of anyone. We fall in love with a person. Friends have a personal relationship; husbands and wives have a relationship even more intimate. Experience in our friendships and marriages teaches us the necessity of nurturing these personal relationships. We do what it takes to preserve and to deepen such relationships, avoiding whatever would weaken or destroy them.
My relationship with Jesus Christ is founded upon knowing Him as a Person and it is lived within our Church. It is not a relationship between Jesus and me in isolation, nor is it between a community and me without Jesus . . . . As St. Paul wrote, “You are the Body of Christ, and individually members of it.” Pope Francis recently observed, “No one is saved alone, as an isolated individual, but God attracts us looking at the complex web of relationships that take place in the human community. God enters into this dynamic, this participation in the web of human relationships.”
I share with you a very personal experience of Christ which occurred just several years ago, decades into my life as a priest and bishop. Without a doubt, I have understood, accepted, and experienced in many ways the love of Jesus for me precisely as a disciple, priest, and bishop. However, there was always a kind of glass wall in terms of experiencing His love. It was as if I could see Him through the wall, and He could presumably see me, but I did not experience His love to the depth that I so desired. That was not His fault, but mine: somehow, I was not receptive enough.
Then, during a silent eight-day retreat with a group of fellow bishops, the retreat director suggested that I bring these passages from Isaiah before the Lord in lectio divina and prayer: “Because you are precious in my eyes and honored, and I love you. Fear not, I am with you . . . Do not fear, I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine.” It was during prayer with these texts that the Lord allowed this glass wall to suddenly and unexpectedly shatter . . . . This experience can also be yours! Christianity is about being friends with Christ, within the community of His disciples, where we learn how to be a better and closer friend to Christ.
Excerpted from Go Forth with Hearts of Fire: A Pastoral Letter on the New Evangelization by Most Rev. Paul S. Loverde, Bishop of Arlington (VA), Conventual Chaplain ad honorem.
Click here to read the entire letter.
As members of the Federal Association prepare for this year’s record-setting pilgrimage to Lourdes, there will be another Association group working overseas that deserves attention.
Greg August, KM will be leading a group of 15 Auxiliary members and their chaperones to the island nation of Malta for a week. To engage these young people and support the Order, they will trace the Order’s origins in Malta, visit historical sites and participate in the Order’s service projects.
Explaining its purpose and inspiration, Greg said, “This trip is the culmination of two years of work in direct response to the new evangelization as an effort to re-purpose the faith through the lenses of the Order to the youth.
“The Order is a gift of the Holy Spirit and is a treasure to the Church. The storehouse of graces won over the nearly 1,000 - year history of the Order is a tremendous wealth to be loosened on this — as the Blessed and soon to be Canonized John Paul II, referred to them — the ‘anointed generation.’
“When mother Church has cried out the Order has always responded in a complete and selfless manner. The Church has indicated that now is the time to bring forth the next generation through the New Evangelization.
“As St. Paul began his evangelization of Europe by passing through this seemingly insignificant rock in the middle of the Mediterranean so, too, will this next generation of evangelists. Perhaps they will draw strength from the very rocks that seem to stand up and shout that all things are possible through Christ.
“This gift of young men and women all desirous of deepening their love of Christ as seen through the lenses of the Order is perhaps the beginning of something new and beautiful.”
You can follow the group’s activity in Malta next week on facebook and on the Federal Association’s website. For more information, contact Greg at gaugust@cff.org
Admiral Callaghan Lourdes Endowment Fund
Should Malades be required to pay to respond to Mary’s call? As of the 2014 Lourdes Pilgrimage the answer is no. However this was not always the case. Many are surprised to hear that Malades and companions were asked to pay their own way to join the pilgrimage. The cost to send a Malade or companion each year is approximately $2,900 per person. Through donations sent in with dues and the current Lourdes Endowment interest, the amount that each Malade and companion was charged to attend the Lourdes Pilgrimage was offset to $1,800 per person. Each region dealt with this expense separately, and while some fully sponsored Malades and companions, not all were able to, leaving Malades responsible for the remaining costs during very challenging times.
The Lourdes Pilgrimage Long Range Planning Task Force examined this issue in June 2012 and recommended the establishment of the Endowment in order to support our Malades and ensure sustainable long term funding. The report made clear that the financial responsibility for malades and their companions participating in the pilgrimage should be borne by the Knights and Dames of the Federal Association, as most other associations do for their malades. This is just another way we express our fidelity to the Order’s charism of service to the poor and the sick. In 2013 the Board of Directors approved this recommendation and authorized immediate funding through the Annual Appeal to cover costs for Malades and companions to go into effect for the 2014 pilgrimage.
How can you help our Beloved Malades? The campaign goal for our endowment fund is an additional $5 million over the next five years to bring the total endowment to $6 million. When we reach our goal the interest generated from the endowment will sufficiently fund our Malades and companions on the annual pilgrimages without offsets from our current endowment or the Annual Appeal, which many of our regional charities rely upon. ($6,000,000 invested will provide an approximate interest of $270,000 at 4.5% which is the cost for 45 Malade and companion teams to participate in the pilgrimage each year at about $3,000 per person.)
This bold step can only be achieved if we take it together. You will be receiving materials in the next week about the campaign and we ask that you prayerfully consider making a gift so that we may serve the Malades and answer Mary's call for generations to come.
Who was Admiral Callaghan?
What does it cost to support a Malade Scholarship?
Make a one-time or monthly gift today
Pledge your support for a multi-year gift
A lay Catholic evangelist for more than 35 years, Tom Edwards literally travels the globe preaching and teaching the Holy Scriptures. His presentations have been heard by thousands throughout the United States, North and South America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. Tom has ministered to Chinese Catholics for many year and has a great insight on the persecuted church in mainland China. Please join us for a passionate and informative presentation by Tom Edwards, as he calls us to the new evangelization in the Catholic Church.
6:30 PM –Mass
7:30 PM – Presentation
St. John Neumann Church
601 E. Delp Rd.
Lancaster, PA
Eric Hollas, OSB - Retreat Director
Follow the Lourdes Pilgrimage
Next week, over 350 Federal Association Pilgrims will travel to Lourdes, France for the 40th Pilgrimage. Be sure to check the Lourdes Facebook Page to follow along with our Pilgrims Spiritual Journey.
Federal Association Calendar
Please click the calendar for a complete listing of all national and regional activities.
Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta
Federal Association, U.S.A.
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