The Forty Hours Devotion at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Arlington culminated with a Saturday Vigil Mass Feb. 11 celebrating the feast day of the parish’s patroness, followed by a Eucharistic procession in the church.
Afterward, Father Frederick H. Edlefsen, pastor, and Father Joseph R. Kenna, parochial vicar, led parishioners outside in a Marian procession to the parish hall for a dinner celebration, featuring a bananas foster dessert prepared by the St. Joseph the Worker Council of the Knights of Columbus.
Forty Hours commenced with an opening Mass and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament Feb. 9. The devotional schedule over the next two days included the litanies of Loreto and Our Lady of Lourdes, Masses in English and Spanish, opportunities for confession and a pro-life holy hour.
“Mary is the one who is there always to awaken our faith, because Mary is our mother in faith,” Father Edlefsen said in his homily Feb. 11. Her role is “to prepare the world for the end of time,” including the second coming of Christ, the final judgment and the resurrection of the world into a new creation.
He recalled how Our Lady’s appearances 165 years ago were not to the rich and powerful but to a poor young woman named Bernadette, and ultimately revealed Mary as the Immaculate Conception.
“The message for us all,” is to return to the innocence of our baptism and trust completely in God’s mercy — when we do this, we are light to the world and a witness to the goodness of God, Father Edlefsen said.
