ORDER OF MALTA MOMENT

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.

Atlanta - April 5
Friday Rosary

Charlotte - April 10
MOP Warehouse

Chicago - May 8
Luncheon & Speaker

If you have an upcoming event in your region and would like to showcase it in the Malta Moment please e-mail Natalie Sheehan

Each Lent puts before us the Rite of Election, the initiation of the process which brings catechumens into the Catholic community. After the Rite of Election, they are no longer catechumens; they become “the elect.” The Old Testament reading for the Fourth Sunday of Lent [A] presents a similar incident: David is “divinely elected” when God chooses him to succeed Saul as Israel’s king. Scriptures are full of stories of how God calls men and women to share in tasks of divine significance. God’s choice of David did not merely put in place a king for the people; it established the family line from which the Messiah was to come. Divine election presents a transformative moment of challenge for the person called by God.

In the story of David’s election, several developments stand out. First, it becomes clear that human preference does not always reflect divine preference. The prophet Samuel assumed that Jesse’s oldest son of was the most likely choice, given his lofty stature and preeminence in the family. God reminds Samuel that divine standards differ from human estimation. God looks at the heart: for readiness to serve, for an ear open to God’s bidding, for obedience. In this case, God has chosen the youngest and least likely of Jesse’s sons; David’s heart was pleasing to God.
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Ed. note – On September 3, 2001, Bishop Raymond J. Boland typed out a document called “My Personal Funeral Arrangements,” explaining his desire to be buried in Ireland. The document is a classic example of Bishop Boland’s spirit and style, and so we share it in full.

In God’s providence the life I now enjoy will some day come to an end. Whether it will be as the result of a lingering illness or whether it will come suddenly I know not.

Now that my life is certainly far beyond the half way stage I have been thinking of a last resting place and something keeps drawing me back to the land of my parents, the land I knew so intimately before I became a missionary priest.

Maybe I am influenced by the lines of his own Requiem which Robert Louis Stevenson penned for himself: 
Under the wide and starry sky, 
Dig the grave and let me lie. 
Glad did I live and gladly die, 
And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me: 
Here he lies where he longed to be; 
Home is the sailor, home from the sea, 
And the hunter home from the hill. 
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The Charlotte Region initiated a program of continuing service to Lourdes malades on a regular basis after the 2011 pilgrimage. As recounted in Malta Moment last year, Marty D’Amore, a young radiologist on that pilgrimage who had bee diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) was the cornerstone for the activity. (Marty has chronicled his journey with ALS in a spiritual autobiography titled Joy and Suffering).

Three to four times each month members of the Order take Marty to Mass and lunch. They are frequently joined by other malades, one of who, Dan Ramirez, was a 2013 pilgrim. The recent March 11th gathering proved to be a very special occasion. In addition to the seven Knights and Dames on hand, Marty’s father from Florida joined the group. Lunch after Mass was at Southminster, a retirement community where Dan Ramirez had just been moved into Hospice care. Our beloved Bishop Emeritus Curlin visited Dan that morning and then brought his wife Cecy to the luncheon. At the conclusion of the meal, Marty announced that “I want to visit my ALS brother”. Through the efforts of Gail Grim DM, also a Southminster resident, the necessary arrangements were made, and when Marty entered the room, a big smile broke across Dan’s face.

Sadly, Dan Ramirez passed away less than a week later. While he now rests in the hands of our loving God, the Knights and Dames of Malta present for that moment on earth when one malade (Marty) reached out with love and compassion to another (Dan) witnessed a poignant affirmation of our Order’s mission to serve the sick and the poor.

Ed Ruff & John Gannon 

The Prince and Grand Master Fra’ Matthew Festing reminds us that we need to read and reread the Rules of the Order frequently. Here is our monthly selection from Membership in the Order of Malta: REGULATIONS AND COMMENTARY.

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The Lourdes 2014 Pilgrimage is just over a month away. We will be updating the website with travel information and other details as it approaches. Be sure to visit the Lourdes Pilgrimage website for updates.

Day of Formation is next week on April 3rd and 4th at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. If you are a candidate or sponsor and haven't registered yet, please click here.