“Faith helps us to understand our interdependence and our connectedness,” said Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap., Archbishop of Boston, in his homily during the Order of Malta Boston Area Fall Mass. The Mass, which was followed by a reception, took place October 24 at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts, and was hosted by the Very Rev. Brian R. Kiely, Rector of the Seminary and an Order of Malta Chaplain. Members and friends were able to participate in person or online

With references to that Sunday’s Gospel about Bartimaeus, a blind man cured by Jesus on the road to Jericho, as well as the parable of the Good Samaritan, Cardinal Seán’s homily focused on the importance of our relationship to one another. In addition to the parables, the cardinal recounted the story of how Winston Churchill’s father, finding his car mired in the mud, was helped out of his predicament by a Scottish farm boy and his yoke of oxen. Insisting on thanking his new friend, who wanted to be a doctor, Churchill senior arranged for that boy to get a scholarship. “Many years later,” Cardinal Seán continued, “when Winston Churchill was dying of influenza at a very crucial moment of the Second World War, they saved his life with a new miracle drug, penicillin, which by the way, was invented by Dr. Alexander Fleming, the Scottish farm boy who received a scholarship from Lord Churchill, Winston Churchill’s father.”

The theme of love and connectedness carried through Cardinal Seán’s presentation of two Order of Malta awards after the Mass. Co-Chair of the Boston Area Nancy Gibson provided background on Karen Deane, recipient of the Forgetful of Myself Award. “This new Forgetful of Myself Award provides a moment to shine the light on one of our members, who lives her life truly forgetful of herself,” Nancy said. Karen, a nurse who serves on the Lourdes Pilgrimage Medical team, has worked at Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang camp; a leprosy hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador; and a feeding center for malnourished children in Haiti; to name just a few of her assignments. Last winter, she went to Florida in the midst of the pandemic to help her sister, a nurse, distribute Covid vaccination shots to residents in low-income communities.

Co-Chair Craig Gibson provided background on Damien DeVasto, recipient of the Bishop Fitzpatrick Award. “The Bishop Fitzpatrick Award is an award given to an Order of Malta member who exemplifies and embodies the care and calling of our charism in his or her life and work of the Church,” Craig said. He cited Damien’s service for two terms as Boston Area Chair, from 2013 to 2018, during which time the Boston Area continued to flourish in size and scope. He noted how Damien had overseen the merger of the Rhode Island Area with Boston, played a central role in launching a comprehensive formation program for new members, fostered a deeper sense of community, developed new channels of communications and outreach, overseen a significant increase in hands-on ministries and overseen the Grants Committee.

The reception speaker was Ellen Shafer, DMOb, Chair, Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem Foundation. She spoke of the hospital’s commitment to the poor and sick and how the pandemic has increased the need. “As a Dame and the Chairman of the Board for Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem Foundation it is difficult to witness the suffering that families in Bethlehem are facing as the pandemic wears on,” she said. She added that the cardinal’s homily about love and brotherhood gave her great hope for the hospital’s support.

“Love generates concentric rings like a pebble cast in a pond,” Cardinal Seán said. “The Samaritan saves the life of a Jew, and later that same Jew saves the life of the child of the Samaritan. The world is not here by accident, and we are not here by accident. Creation is an act of love, and the world will be fixed only by love when all are truly brothers and sisters.”