by Father Michael Panicali
Change is difficult.
Upon my June 2022 transfer to St. Helen Church in Howard Beach from St. Mark-St. Margaret Mary Parish in Sheepshead Bay, I was apprehensive.
My new pastor, Father Frank Colamaria, wisely explained that my emotions were to be expected — that a priest’s first parish can in many ways be likened to his “first love.” Emotional ties to it run deep.
What brought me peace was what I saw the first day I set foot in St. Helen.
Parking my car on the block abutting the rear of the church, my attention was immediately drawn to a beautiful Lourdes grotto with a kneeling St. Bernadette at the foot of the Blessed Mother, with the sound of a dotting stream of water filling the air.
It was then that my apprehension lifted, and I said to myself, “I’m home.”
My deep devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes culminated in my first-ever trip to Lourdes, France, in September.
These past few years at St. Helen have witnessed the transformation of our simple grotto into a magnificent outdoor worship space, made possible by extensive parish fundraising and a massive construction effort.
In May, water from the springs of Lourdes was used to bless the new grotto’s altar, repainted statues, St. Benedict medals embedded in the entrance, benches, expanded plaza, replanted grounds, and the fountain just to the right of the altar (as in Ezekiel 47:1-2; water flowing eastward from the right side of the Temple).
Despite the beautiful changes to our grotto, the overarching message of every Lourdes grotto remains the same: that from suffering, perseverance, child-like trust in the Lord, humility, and obedience, one can find purpose in Christ, healing in mind, body, and spirit, as well as intimacy with Christ, through the intercession of his Mother.
Seeing the debase living quarters of St. Bernadette Soubirous and her family in the tiny confines of an abandoned prison, the rosary beads she prayed, and the faith of the assembled masses, who today give the sacred ground of Lourdes a beating pulse, brought home only what I had imagined to that point.
The five words Mary said to St. Bernadette — “I am the Immaculate Conception” — are words that she could not have known on her own, words that shook her doubting prelates to their core, and show us that God so loves us as to fashion a spotless vessel through which his son enters into our broken humanity, to redeem us.
Exercising her free and unforced will in saying yes to God, Mary glorifies and magnifies the Lord in birthing our savior, and continues to shower upon us her motherly love, seen at the Cross of Christ, seen at Lourdes, and witnessed across the ages — a beacon of constancy and strength, the vessel through which our Redemption enters the world.
Father Michael Panicali is the parochial vicar for St. Helen Church in Howard Beach.