Thank you to all who planned, organized, or attended the 65th anniversary celebration of Notre Dame de Lourdes School at the Ridley House on Saturday 26 April. Thank you to all our sponsors whose generosity made the evening so memorable for all who attended, most especially for our alumni. Our parish school is a rich blessing to our community and our students are deeply enriched by our dedicated faculty who share the gift of their Catholic Faith, and who accompany our students in their journey of spiritual awareness, and academic excellence.
Today is the final day of the novena of prayer for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis and in thanksgiving for the many gifts of his pontificate. The novena, officially called the “Novemdiales,” serves as a reminder of the significant ministry moments of the pope as well as the spiritual significance of the office. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him.
The Papal Conclave, to elect our next pope, is scheduled to begin on Wednesday 7 May. “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created. And you will renew the face of the earth. Lord, you are our eternal shepherd and guide. In your mercy grant your Church a shepherd who will walk in your ways and whose watchful care will bring us your blessing. Amen.
We are indeed saddened by the recent closure of Crozer Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital. We entrust in our prayers to Our Lady of Lourdes the healthcare needs of our community and pray through her intercession that solutions can be reached to provide adequate coverage to all who are impacted by these closures. Additionally, we pray to St. Joseph the Worker for those who are suffering through the loss of their employment.
The following words were written by Pope Francis at the Jubilee of the Sick, and for Health Care Workers on 6 April 2025 as part of the Jubilee Year of Hope.
“Illness is certainly one of the harshest and most difficult of life’s trials, when we experience in our own flesh our common human frailty. It can make us feel like people in exile, deprived of hope for the future. Yet that is not the case. Even in these times, God does not leave us alone, and if we surrender our lives to him, precisely when our strength fails, we will be able to experience the consolation of his presence. By becoming man, he wanted to share our weakness in everything (cf. Phil 2:6-8). He knows what it is to suffer (cf. Is 53:3). Therefore, we can turn to him and entrust our pain to him, certain that we will encounter compassion, closeness and tenderness.
But not only that. In his faithful love, the Lord invites us in turn to become “angels” for one another, messengers of his presence, to the point where the sickbed can become a “holy place” of salvation and redemption, both for the sick and for those who care for them.
Dear doctors, nurses and health care workers, in caring for your patients, especially the most vulnerable among them, the Lord constantly affords you an opportunity to renew your lives through gratitude, mercy, and hope. He calls you to realize with humility that nothing in life is to be taken for granted and that everything is a gift from God; to enrich your lives with the sense of humanity we experience when, beyond appearances, only the things that matter remain: the small and great signs of love. Allow the presence of the sick to enter your lives as a gift, to heal your hearts, to purify them of all that is not charity, and to warm them with the ardent and gentle fire of compassion.
I have much in common with you at this time of my life, dear brothers and sisters who are sick: the experience of illness, of weakness, of having to depend on others in so many things, and of needing their support. This is not always easy, but it is a school in which we learn each day to love and to let ourselves be loved, without being demanding or pushing back, without regrets and without despair, but rather with gratitude to God and to our brothers and sisters for the kindness we receive, looking towards the future with acceptance and trust. The hospital room and the sickbed can also be places where we hear the voice of the Lord speak to us: “Behold, I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Is 43:19). In this way, we renew and strengthen our faith.
Benedict XVI – who gave us a beautiful testimony of serenity in the time of his illness — wrote that, “the true measure of humanity is essentially determined in relationship to suffering” and that “a society unable to accept its suffering members… is a cruel and inhuman society” (Spe Salvi, 38). It is true: facing suffering together makes us more human, and the ability to share the pain of others is an important step forward in any journey of holiness.
Dear friends, let us not exclude from our lives those who are frail, as at times, sadly, a certain mentality does today. Let us not banish suffering from our surroundings. On the contrary, let us turn it into an opportunity to grow together and to cultivate hope, thanks to the love that God first poured into our hearts (cf. Rom 5:5), the love that, above all things, remains forever (cf. 1 Cor 13:8-10, 13).