Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes: Pray for Very Special Friend of Catholic Truth Awaiting Major Surgery
Editor writes…
Paul, a supporter of Catholic Truth from its earliest days, has been ill for quite some time now – we’ve asked prayers for him before. Now, however, his health has taken a very serious turn, with a diagnosis of a malignant tumour on his neck and major surgery scheduled for Monday next, 13 February. Naturally, Paul’s family is anxiously praying for his full recovery. I promised that we’d all pray to that end, as well. Our Lady of Lourdes, Health of the Sick, pray for Paul.
And to give us all hope, especially hope for Paul’s recovery, the following true story …
Every year on this Feast Day, I recall the concern in my own family when one of my (several) nieces became very ill right after birth. She was born on 7th January, but by 25th January it was obvious that she was seriously ill, and she was taken to hospital. She was diagnosed with a serious heart condition, and the surgeon said she was unlikely to live. If, he said, she survived the next two days, they would not be able to operate for another six weeks, because she was so small; she would not live through such major surgery, so we should expect news of an operation in about six weeks if she was still with us in the next two days. This was as we entered Lent, and I remember saying “That means the operation will be around Easter.” They don’t call me “Genius” for nothing.
Imagine my surprise, then, to receive a telephone call on 10 February from my sister/baby’s mother to say that the operation was to be the next day – 11 February. No reason given. I was delighted and astonished. The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes! Incredibly consoling. The operation was a success and that “baby” is with us to this day!
Later, down the line, on a visit to the clinic, my sister asked the Consultant why he had changed his mind about waiting six weeks before operating. He’d been scribbling something on a notepad but when he heard this question, he stopped writing, removed his specs, turned to look at my sister and said “You know, I don’t know. I just knew I had to operate that day and it caused such a fuss in the Department.” Everyone else involved tried to talk him out of his decision, saying that the baby would not survive. He was determined though, and could not explain why.
So this baby, born on the same date as the Lourdes seer, St Bernadette—7th January—was given her life-saving operation on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. Talk about a sign(s) from Heaven! She is a grown-up mother of four now, with a great devotion to both St Bernadette and Our Lady.
When invited to accompany some students on a pilgrimage to Lourdes some years later, I made the trip in thanksgiving for this wonderful healing miracle. Our Lady is very powerful before the throne of God and it is on this Feast that we so often witness that power at work. Our Lady of Lourdes, Health of the Sick, thank you!
Comments (38)
Dear Editor and friends
A very happy feast day to everyone. Be assured of my daily devotions and prayers for Paul and his loved ones.
The bells of the Angelus call us to pray- Ave Ave Maria
Every blessing
Michael 🙏
Happy Feast day to everyone. I will pray for Paul at Mass today.
Prayers assured. 13th February, Paul’s operation day, is also the anniversary of the day that Sister Lucia of Fatima died (in 2005), so ask for her intercession as well.
westminsterfly,
I hadn’t remembered it was Sr Lucia’s anniversary of death. That is a consolation.
I will be remembering Paul and his family in my prayers on today and on Monday.
Happy Feast everyone. I will remember Paul in my prayers this weekend and especially on Monday.
Wishing everyone at CTS a very happy Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, and prayers promised for Paul and his family.
I am remembering Paul in my prayers, and his family, what a time of worry for them. Our Lady will console him and help him to prepare for Monday.
Happy Feast everyone.
I have very happy memories of my pilgrimage to Lourdes back in the day.
I pledge prayers for Paul on Monday, for his complete return to full health, and for his family to be strengthened at this time.
Happy Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes to all at CTS.
Bernie,
There is a live webcam of the Grotto, if you want to relive some happy memories:- scroll down for the webcam and click the pause button to get Live TV: https://www.lourdes-france.com/en/lourdes-tv-platform/
westminsterfly,
Thanks for that link – I have just paid a visit and it did bring back memories watching the line of pilgrims process round the grotto. I’ll look again later on. That was very thoughtful of you to do that.
Thank you for this story 💗
Erica,
I agree – it is a lovely story.
Happy Feast of Lourdes to everyone.
Happy Feast everyone!
The hymn at the top never fails to inspire me – it’s beautiful, especially the very last verse.
I’ll be praying for Paul on Monday and look forward to good news about his recovery.
Josephine,
I love that hymn as well It is beautiful.
Happy Feast!
Happy Feast Day everyone. Be assured that I will also pray for Paul.
I love the hymn at the top too. It has been a while since I have heard it sung.
I will pray for Paul in Mass tomorrow. I would like to make a pilgrimage to Lourdes one day. It’s a shame the travel costs are so expensive. Fortunately, we have the Carfin grotto, the ‘Lourdes of Scotland’. Does anyone know what happened about the closure of the visitor centre?
Ex traddy,
What does your username mean? Are you no longer a Catholic? I ask that because I’ve read on here loads of times that at one time there was only one kind of Catholic – traditionalist (in fact, I remember those days myself, just about, LOL!) I remember them so well that I never call myself a “trad” or a “traddy”, just a Catholic.
Hope I’m not being too personal but I wonder what an “ex-traddy” is?
The diocese could not keep up the costs of running the visitor’s centre at Carfin Grotto, not enough visitors or people purchasing from the shop etc. so it had to close. It was a sad news at the time, a few years back now. Even before Covid, it closed, if I remember rightly.
Happy Feast (again!)
That’s a shame about the Carfin Grotto.
I had been logged into my old WordPress account without realising and I had posted a comment under my old username. I have now changed my display name on WordPress but it does not seem to have changed the name on previous comments. When I changed my display to ex traddy, I had abandoned the faith, but I have now returned to the faith. The reason I changed it was to reply to a Traditional Catholic person on another blog, and my change of display name reflected that I was not a Traditional Catholic at the time. But this was several years ago.
Miles,
I’m very glad to know that. Thanks for replying. Welcome back to the faith!
Ex traddy / Miles,
Having been to both Lourdes and Fatima many times, I strongly urge you to go to Fatima, if you have a choice. Lourdes has become very commercialised – more so than Fatima – and the behaviour of some of the groups of young people who go there to help the sick is abominable. There are late-night discos at Lourdes (but not at Fatima) and it’s not an uncommon sight to see drunk youngsters in the streets, late at night. I’ve also heard some even more unsavoury stories which I won’t repeat here. Give me Fatima any day.
N O T I C E . . .
Update about Paul ….
Firstly, Paul is in theatre having his operation – he was due to go into theatre at 9.am.
Secondly, his wife expresses sincere gratitude to Westminsterfly. I forwarded the text of his email received this morning, on to her. WF writes:
I asked Patti Melvin of the Universal Living Rosary in the USA to pray for your friend Paul. She replied and said Fr Ivan Kolodiy of the Ukraine is offering Mass for him this morning, courtesy of the Living Rosary (13th Feb). (WF)
Paul’s wife tells us that he is reading the blog from his hospital bed so it will be hugely consoling for him to know that Mass has been offered for him today and that we are all remembering him in our prayers.
I’ve also posted this same message on the current top thread, as well.
https://catholictruthscotland.com/2023/02/11/is-nicola-sturgeon-disconnected-from-reality/
N O T I C E . . .
I forgot to add an important detail, previously. WF posted, for Paul’s benefit, some St Philomena oil, a St Philomena relic card and some blessed rose petals for the sick which came from Fatima.
Later, he sent the message which I quote in my post at 10.36am today.
Please, everyone, spare a pray for Paul today. This is a major operation and we hope and pray that he will come through it to enjoy a full recovery, all in the spirit, of course, of God’s will be done.
I am remembering Paul very much in my prayers today. His operation sounds extremely serious and good for WF for sending the St Philomena oils and the blessed roses from Fatima – a double whammy! Hopefully, these sacramentals, as well as the Mass being offered by the Ukraine priest will see him safely through.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for him.
Editor,
I didn’t know anything about the St Philomena oil so I checked it out and thought I’d post the link here in case anyone else doesn’t know about it. It’s fascinating to read about. https://www.saintphilomenashrine.org/oil-saint-philomena/
Laura,
If you or anybody else wants any St Philomena Oil, the Universal Living Rosary Association (ULRA) representative in the UK is Mrs Anne Curran ulrauk@gmail.com It is blessed, so cannot be bought, but a donation can be given to cover expenses. The ULRA magazine ‘Dedicated Decades’ carries details of many spiritual and physical cures effected through the devout use of the oil.
westminsterfly,
Thank you for that information and link. I can pass it around. We all need as many spiritual and physical aids as we can get.
I’m checking for updates on Paul and I’m so pleased about the sacramentals WF sent and about the Mass. How wonderful. Will keep checking for his, hopefully, good progress, and praying for a successful operation and recovery today. He is in Our Lady’s care, all will be well, I pray.
I just popped in to see if there is any more news. He is in my prayers today.
I’ve just popped in, as well, to check for updates on Paul and to say he continues to be prayed for in my home. I hope it’s not long before we get some welcome good news about his operation.
I’m checking this thread throughout today hoping all is well with Paul and to assure him of my continuing prayers. Health of the Sick, Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for him.
I’m still praying for Paul. I do hope the operation was a success. I’m assuming no news is good news.
Still praying for Paul – I agree, no news is good news. He’ll be through the operation but need time to “come to”. Our Lady’s mantle will cover him.
Thanks to everyone for promises of prayers for Paul, and enquiries about updates. I’ve not heard any further news today so I’m assuming that the operation has gone well and that the family is exhausted. I’m sure we’ve all experienced similar sessions in hospitals in similar circumstances – it is always an anxious time and very tiring for lots of reasons.
I’ve just emailed our understanding to Paul’s wife so we can rest assured that as soon as there is news, we will be informed. For now, we repeat, Our Lady of Lourdes, Health of the Sick, pray for Paul…
Paul’s wife emailed this morning to say she had messaged me with two updates yesterday – but my texts are not working. I thought Apple had fixed the problem when I managed to send and receive a couple of texts on Sunday (they were to phone or text me at 22.43 the night before – 11th – but didn’t, so I thought they may have fixed it and it looked that way for a bit, but is not so).
I emailed back to say I’ll post this fact plus assume the operation went well.
More in due course.
Update from Paul’s wife…
Yesterday was a very fraught day. He came back from theatre at 6pm and they put him in the HDU and it took ages to wire him up etc. I didn’t get home until around 8.30 and then had something to eat. The surgeon is pleased with him. He took out remaining neck nodes and in 3 to 4 weeks he’ll have 6 weeks of radiation. We really appreciate all the prayers offered by you and the bloggers.
Deo gratias!
That sounds like a successful operation, thank God!
Let us know of Paul’s further progress. I’m keeping him in my prayers for now.
That’s very good news. Thanks for update.
I’m really pleased to see that update – it’s marvellous to have been through such a marathon operation and still be here to tell the tale – from 9am to 6pm, is quite something. We should keep up the prayers, though – it will probably take a while to recover completely. To Our Lady – a huge thank you!
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