Above: Thayer Park, on the shore of Skaneateles Lake, was the gathering place for recitation of the Rosary celebrating the Solemnity of the Assumption and Lourdes reunion.
Order of Malta event conjures memories of Lourdes
By Dc. Tom Cuskey
The village of Skaneateles is a popular destination year-round for people seeking a moment of respite amid beautiful surroundings. Those strolling the downtown sidewalks on the afternoon of Saturday, August 17 were offered a very special moment of peace as a large statue of the Blessed Mother made its way, standing in the bed of a small pickup truck and accompanied by singing pilgrims.
The statue of Our Blessed Mother was the focal point of the day’s events, shown here in route to Our Lady of the Lake Church in Skaneateles.
The event was celebrated as part of the Solemnity of the Assumption and coordinated by the Syracuse Region of the Knights and Dames of Malta. Malta Hospitallers is a Catholic service organization whose roots date back to 1113, making it one of the oldest institutions in Christian civilization.
“Our Order and our Church are people committed to being disciples of Jesus Christ and following His commandments to love God and love all others,” according to Thomas Valenti, an attorney by profession but an active volunteer with the Malta team that coordinated the Skaneateles event.
“We pray for and serve the Lord’s poor and sick,” he added. “Our prayer and procession in public is an evangelization of the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
About 30 people actively participated first in a recitation of the Rosary at Thayer Park on the edge of Skaneateles Lake. Father Paschal Anionye blessed the waters of the lake following the Rosary and before the group processed through the village to St. Mary of the Lake Church several blocks away. The group celebrated Mass there with Fr. Brian Lang, pastor, and Fr. John Manno, pastor of Holy Family Church in Fairmount and chaplain to the Malta chapter. Also concelebrating were Father Paschal and Fr. Vincent Oguejiofor.
Members of the Knights and Dames, clergy, malades and guests pose before entering St. Mary of the Lake for Mass.
The event was based on the protocol pilgrims from the area have experienced on Malta-sponsored journeys to the shrine at Lourdes, France, where our Blessed Mother appeared to 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. The waters that came forth from a spring at Our Lady’s feet are noted as a source of healing. The Knights and Dames bring malades, as the sick and suffering are called, and family members to the shrine free of charge, hoping to assist in their physical and spiritual healing.
The good works of the group take place much closer to home as well.
“Malta’s mission is to defend the faith and to serve the poor and the sick with Christian devotion, striving ever to promote God’s glory and the world’s peace,” Valenti told us. “Specifically, we conduct monthly free pancake breakfasts for the poor in Syracuse, we offer a monthly luncheon, prayer and entertainment to residents of Malta House, an assisted living facility in North Syracuse, and we distribute winter coats to the poor on the north side of Syracuse” he added.
