Here at our Home, we have been blessed with many talented staff members, volunteers and family members who have been given the gift of music and who love to share it. Among this group are local Members of the Order of Malta, one of the oldest Catholic Lay Associations in the World, numbering well over 13,000 members across the globe. These are men and women who live their lives by the motto, “To defend the faith and serve the poor.” They are known as the Knights and Dames of Malta.
For more than twenty years these generous and hard-working men and women have been coming to our home once a month, to take us all on a walk down memory lane, leading us in old familiar songs from long ago. It’s been three years since they’ve been here because of the restrictions of Covid, and we were overjoyed to welcome back again!
They gave each of us a glass of soda, or wine in a long-stemmed glass, along with song sheets, so that we could sip and sing along. We all joined in a special rendition of Happy Birthday to Marlese, from our Saint Joseph’s Unit.
But the biggest surprise of all was their brand-new member, Lorelai, a pet miniature Collie! Lorelai not only listened attentively but visited each Resident with a friendly wag of her tail.
The Knights and Dames of Malta have become a familiar sight at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, in France, to which they make an annual pilgrimage. There, they assist the “Malades,” (the sick) as they make their way to the healing waters which flow from the ground around the site where Our Lady appeared to Saint Bernadette.
Ministry to those in need, like music itself, requires a person to maintain a smooth, steady beat – a pace of life – which produces an atmosphere by which others can experience comfort, beauty, joy, and most of all, hope.
Another long-time friend of the Little Sisters of the Poor is Frank Donato, who has been playing piano for over 40 years. He and his band, Hippocampus, (named for the long-term memory section of the brain) just had an album released in 2022!
What a treat it was to have Frank come to play for us – back again after a three year wait during the pandemic.
Frank comes to be with us for a very special reason. He used to come here to visit his grandmother, Viola, when she was a resident in our Saint Joseph Unit! Frank kept our hands clapping and our feet stomping with a variety of music from some of the greats, like Billy Joel and Frank Sinatra.
Our Activities Director, Danielle, recently took us on our first ever Karaoke Cruise! It was so much more fun than those boring sea cruises! We sang along with recorded songs like Moon River, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, & You are My Sunshine while we were treated to a relaxing tour of Newark, Bear and Glasgow! We drove through Glasgow Park, and enjoyed the scenery and seeing a few historic houses, like the Deer Park Tavern where it is rumored that Abraham once stayed. We’re ready for more!
Not to be left out, our musically gifted Sisters often join in the fun. Sister Jeanne Emmanuel and Sister Mary Veronica paid a surprise visit to the Residents of our Sacred Heart Unit and Saint Mary’s Unit as these Residents gathered in the Bethany Room and adjoining porch for a barbeque cook out and dinner! The music made the night complete! The Sisters led us in songs like “This Little Light of Mine,” and “Michael Rowed His Boat!” It has been said that music can bypass the brain and get right to the soul. And we have found it to be true. It lifts us up and fills our lives with light! Thank you to all those who give so willingly of the talents the Lord has given them!
