Our Lady of Lourdes

Dearest Ones,

On February 11, 1858, a beautiful lady appeared to Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes, France. Bernadette was a sickly girl, who suffered from asthma. Her family was so poor they lived in a cellar that had once been a jail. Even though she was fourteen, Bernadette still could not read or write. She had trouble remembering her catechism lessons, but she was a good girl, who loved God very much.

The beautiful lady Bernadette saw wore a white dress and a light blue sash. A white veil covered her head and fell over her shoulders to the ground. Her hands were joined in prayer and a rosary hung from her right arm. She told her to tell the people to pray, do penance and to recite the Rosary for sinners. Bernadette suffered a great deal of misunderstanding, even from her own family, and the people in the town thought she might be mentally disturbed. Hardly anyone believed her - even the parish priest thought she was lying.

One day when Bernadette was talking to the Virgin Mary, she was asked to stoop down and dig into the ground and and drink some of the water. Bernadette told Mary there was no water there, only dry ground. But she was told to dig and then put some of the mud into her mouth. The people who were watching thought she had lost her mind, when she put mud into her mouth. Then, all of a sudden, water began bubbling up where she was digging and a spring was seen by all the villagers. Bernadette was humiliated at first, but when the spring began to overflow all over the ground, she knew that because she was obedient, even when it didn't make sense, she was rewarded. "Those whom the world thinks foolish are the ones God has chosen - those who are nothing at all to show up those who are everything." (1 Cor. 1:26-29)

The water appeared fresh and sparkling. One of the villagers, who had been blinded by a piece of wood in his eye, put some of the water on his eye and immediately he could see! Many were healed of their afflications. People began to come from all over the world to the huge spring, which has been flowing since 1858. It is said that anyone who has ever been to Lourdes has received either a physical or spiritual healing - if their bodies were not healed, they were healed spiritually. Today, several million visit the Shrine of Lourdes each year. People don't have to believe in Lourdes, but the spring is still flowing after 152 years and the miracles keep happening - that's enough to make me believe.

Recently, I heard about a young woman from New York, who had contracted polio at age three. She received many kinds of treatment, but nothing helped her condition. As a consequence, she became completely wheelchair-bound. She became very bitter toward God and constantly complained about her condition. Her two aunts promised they would take her to Lourdes, as a graduation gift, when she completed high school. She consented to go, but had no hope of being healed and was still bitter towards God. When she was being wheeled toward the healing waters, she noticed a girl, younger than herself, also hoping for a cure. Her little body was grossly deformed and twisted. As she was carried on a stretcher toward the waters, the polio victim looked at her with great pity and said to God, "This young girl needs healing far more so than I do. Please heal her instead of me." And so it happened, as the little girl was lowered into the healing waters, she was completely healed! She laughed and jumped around.

The polio victim, however, was not healed. She remained a cripple, but she had a spiritual healing. Instead of being bitter and unhappy, she became a happy, grateful person. She spent her life telling others of her gift from God and He used her to be a great friend to others, who were crippled. Once she began to live for others she had a completely different outlook. She lived for many years and became an advocate for the handicapped, cheering them on, which she would probably would never have done if she had been healed.

Water from the spring at Lourdes is available all over the world. (Check the internet.) I remember my mother often used it on herself and on us, as children. Once, my mother was told by doctors she would need her leg amputated. She went home and put Lourdes water on her leg. She never needed the amputation. I call it a miracle, I don't know what the doctors called it. The most important thing to remember about Lourdes is the great goodness of God in allowing His Mother to visit us. They care about us so very much.

I have never been to Lourdes. We can't all go there, but we can all pray. Mary is our heavenly Mother, even more so than our physical mother. She wants to help us - she even helps those who do not pray to her. She is always ready and waiting for us to need her, just like our earthly mother. We do not pray to Mary instead of God - it is not she who heals, only God can heal. At the wedding feast of Cana, when the newly married couple ran out of wine at their wedding feast, it was Mary they went to first, although they knew Jesus was there. She pointed them to Jesus, as she always does, saying, "Do whatever He tells you." It was Jesus who told the waiters to fill the jars with water - then He turned the water into wine. I imagine the waiters thought it was silly to fill the jars with water, just as Bernadette must have thought it was foolish to put mud into her mouth. Obedience doesn't always make sense, but it is the right thing to do and will always be rewarded.

I don't think Jesus will refuse his Mother anything - that is why I often go to her first when I want something from Jesus. As a child, I learned: to Jesus through Mary.

My love and prayers,
Sister Francelle