Angelus News | February 23, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 4

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TESTING THE WATERS At the annual World Day of the Sick Mass, attendees pondered the healing power of God. BY MIKE CISNEROS Archbishop José H. Gomez blesses attendees with holy water brought by the Order of Malta members from their pilgrimage to Lourdes. | VICTOR ALEMÁN Lourdes has the Gave de Pau River flowing near it. The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels has the 101 Freeway. But what connects the two is the living water of Jesus Christ, said Auxiliary Bishop Slawomir Szkredka during his homily at the annual World Day of the Sick Mass on Feb. 10. Water was a central theme during the Mass, with attendees getting dusted with holy water from Lourdes and the Gospel featuring Jesus during the wedding at Cana. In his homily, Szkredka spoke of three lessons that those — healthy or sick — could learn from the Virgin Mary’s interaction with Jesus and his turning water into wine at the wedding. First lesson: Attentiveness to the needs of others. “She knows that this couple is about to be embarrassed by the lack of wine during their wedding feast. And she attends to their needs. … We know how much it means to us in our sickness when someone pays attention to us. Mary is the attentive mother who knows our needs, who pays attention to our needs, who says “do not worry, I am here.” Second lesson: Confident prayer. “When Mary discovers something is missing, what is her first reaction? She goes to Jesus without any hesitation. … This kind of confidence is something Mary wants to instill in us. Don’t stay with your needs. Bring them to Jesus.” 18 • ANGELUS • February 23, 2024
Third lesson: Accept God’s will. “We will do the same today, praying for our brothers and sisters who are sick, asking for all the miracles for physical healing, emotional healing, spiritual healing. … But at the end, we will always say, ‘Your will be done.’ ” The bilingual Mass — put on every year by the Order of Malta — featured an anointing of the sick and blessings for caregivers. Each guest also received a small bottle of water from Lourdes, along with prayer petition cards that will be taken in May to the Our Lady of Lourdes grotto in France. Lourdes is such a powerful place that Order of Malta organizers said they chose it as the theme for this year’s Mass: “A Spiritual Journey to Lourdes.” As part of the event, they also featured photographs of Lourdes at the cathedral, along with people who have gone on the pilgrimage to France to speak about their experiences. For this year’s Mass, the Order of Malta also had a 4-foot statue made of Our Lady of Lourdes — carried on a platform bedecked with yellow roses — that they used in the opening procession, similar to how they do it on the pilgrimage. “It’s such a beautiful experience in Lourdes and we realize that for many people this is the closest they’re going to get,” said Ann Sanders, an Order of Malta Dame who co-chaired the World Day of the Sick event with Katy Calderon. Tom Condon was one of those in attendance at the Mass, helping to bring up the gifts for holy Communion. Although he was seated at the Mass in a wheelchair — having severe arthritis in his hips that makes it difficult to stand or walk for long periods of time — Condon, 85, was not simply a bystander to the World Day of the Sick Mass or the Order of Malta organization that helps put it on. For years, Condon served as the first Los Angeles president of the Order of Malta, the service organization whose history goes back nearly 1,000 years. As a successful businessman in the securities industry, he transferred his talents to use for giving back and helping others. “I found it very uplifting,” said Condon, who, along with his wife, Julie, was in the Order of Malta’s second class, which is rarer. “Things that I had never done personally over the years. “I really got to a point that I looked forward to it immensely.” Condon has had a unique experience with the Order of Malta. After years of leading and serving during the Order of Malta’s sponsored pilgrimages to Lourdes, France — where malades (“sick” or “disabled people”) are taken to the grotto and spiritual baths of Our Lady of Lourdes — Condon spent his 10th time on the pilgrimage, not as a worker, but as a malade himself. “As a malade, I could sense the care and loving that people put in it themselves,” Condon said. “It’s not a chore, it’s a privilege.” Sanders had the opposite experience of Condon: She first went to Lourdes as a malade and later served on pilgrimages as a nurse. “It was very humbling,” said Sanders, who went to Lourdes in between kidney transplant surgeries due to a genetic disease. “But it’s such a boost Massgoers revere the brand-new statue of Our Lady of Lourdes procured especially for this year’s World Day of the Sick Mass. | VICTOR ALEMÁN to your spiritual life. To experience that and to feel God’s love in so many ways. “They just showered you with love and you knew that that love was God working through them. Now being in the Order as a Dame of Malta, I get to now be the one that allows God to work through me and now share that love with those that we take on the trip.” As someone who spent his life serving the sick and the suffering — and who is now the recipient of such care after his wife died in 2021 — Condon, dressed during the Mass in his Order of Malta uniform, appreciates even more the organization’s mission to aid those who are ill or debilitated. “You can tell when you go to a hospital, you can tell that the person taking care of you is because it’s a job,” Condon said. “When you go someplace like Lourdes where the person is there because they want to be involved and want to take care of you, you can feel the love.” Mike Cisneros is the associate editor of Angelus. February 23, 2024 • ANGELUS • 19
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Angelus News | February 23, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 4

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