Saint Bernadette & Our Lady of Lourdes!

Lourdes is a village in France where Our Blessed Mother appeared eighteen times to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. Her messages to Bernadette are ageless and apply to all of us today.

Bernadette Soubirous was born on January 7, 1844. She was the first child of Francois Soubirous and Louise Soubirous (Casterot). Her father was a miller who provided a comfortable living for his family. Bernadette had six brothers and two sisters. Only three of her siblings lived beyond the age of ten. These loses bonded the family together in strength and love. Bernadette once said that she had never heard her parents quarrel. The family was always at peace. This solid family foundation left Bernadette emotionally balanced in times of trouble and when faced with poverty and illnesses which were to come.

A series of events which began in 1854 changed their lives. Bernadette's father was falsely accused of stealing two sacks of flour and was imprisoned for many days. There was a drought which lasted for two years and drastically affected the wheat harvest and work at the mill. And finally, the steam mills that resulted from the Industrial Revolution put Francois' mill out of business, and he was out of work. The family was reduced to living in a one-room dwelling called the Cachot, which was formerly used as a jail. During this same period Bernadette contracted cholera. The high fevers caused her to suffer physically the rest of her life. She suffered emotionally also. She felt the heart ache of being excluded as people pointed to her family as the ones who live in the Cachot. Her physical illnesses prevented her from going to school. At age 14 she spoke only the dialect of Lourdes. She was unable to read or write or speak French, and the Catechism was taught in French only. She went to Mass, but she was not allowed to receive Holy Communion with her friends. Sometimes Bernadette's only comfort was her mother's love. Later, Fr. Pomian prepared Bernadette for First Holy Communion. There was something about Bernadette that moved the Hosts of Heavenly Hearts. She was blessed with eighteen divine apparitions, and the world is forever changed and will never forget Bernadette.

The First Apparition - Thursday, February 11, 1858:
After dinner on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, Bernadette's mother told her children that there was no more wood in the house. Bernadette and her sister, Toinette, and a neighbor friend, Jeanne Abadie, went to the river Gave to gather wood. They had to cross a canal of cold water. Fearing that she would have an asthma attack, Bernadette stayed on the bank, and the other two girls crossed the stream and picked up wood under the grotto until they disappeared along the Gave.

Bernadette heard a great noise like the sound of a storm, but nothing was moving. She was frightened and stood straight up, loosing all power of speech and thought. She turned her head towards the Grotto of Massabieille and saw in the opening of the rock a rosebush, one only, moving as if it were very windy. Almost at the same time, there came out of the interior of the grotto a golden-colored cloud, and soon afterwards, a Lady, young and beautiful --exceedingly beautiful -- the likes of whom she had never seen, came and placed herself at the entrance of the opening above the rosebush. She looked at Bernadette and immediately smiled and signaled her to advance, in a way that a mother motions her child to come near. Bernadette took out her rosary and knelt before the Lady, who also had a rosary on her right arm. When Bernadette tried to begin saying the rosary by making the sign of the cross, her arm was paralyzed. It was only after the Lady had made the sign of the cross herself that Bernadette was able to do the same. As Bernadette prayed the rosary, the Lady passed the beads of her rosary between her fingers, but remained silent. She did recite the Gloria's with her, however. When the recitation of the rosary was finished, the Lady returned to the interior of the rock and the golden cloud disappeared with her.

Bernadette told her sister of the extraordinary things that had happened to her at the grotto, asking her to keep it a secret. Throughout the day the image of the Lady remained in her mind. In the evening at the family prayer Bernadette was troubled and began to cry. When her mother asked what was the matter, her sister told her everything. Bernadette's mother told her that these were illusions, and forbid her to return to Massabieille.

Bernadette could not sleep that night. The face of the Lady, so good and so gracious, returned incessantly to her memory. It was useless to recall what her mother had said because she did not believe that she had been deceived. Her conviction of this was unshakable. She went on to describe the Beautiful Lady in detail:

"She has the appearance of a young girl of sixteen or seventeen. She is dressed in a white robe, girdled at the waist with a blue ribbon which flows down all around it. A yoke closes it in graceful pleats at the base of the neck. The sleeves are long and tight-fitting. She wears upon her head a veil which is also white. This veil gives just a glimpse of her hair and then falls down at the back below her waist. Her feet are bare but covered by the last folds of her robe except at the point where a yellow rose shines upon each of them. She holds on her right arm a rosary of white beads with a chain of gold shinning like the two roses on her feet." On Sunday, Bernadette's mother allowed her to return to the grotto.

The Second Apparition - Sunday, February 14, 1858:
The three little girls started out, armed with a vial of holy water. If what their elders said was true, they might need this to ward off malign influences. Instead of throwing the water at the Lady, Bernadette poured the water quietly on the ground. Then she turned and told her companion that, judging by the Beautiful Lady's smile, She was pleased by this action. Before Jeanne Abadie, who was just arriving, could explain that she had thrown a stone for fun, the others had scattered in every direction, screaming for help as they ran. When Toinette reached the cachot (home) and poured out her story, her mother seized a switch and headed for the site. By now the whole town was talking. Fortunately for the unhappy little Bernadette, one local woman of considerable prominence interpreted the apparitions in a different light from most of the townspeople. She got Louise's permission to let her daughter Bernadette accompany her and a friend to the grotto.

The Third Apparition - Thursday, February 18, 1858:
All three went first to early Mass. Then they set out for the grotto. Madame Millet carried a blessed candle; Antoinette Peyret a pen, paper and ink to record anything that might be said. The Beautiful Lady said to Bernadette: "There is no need for me to write down what I have to say to you. Will you be so kind as to come here every day for fifteen days?" No explicit reason was given for this request, but a definite pledge accompanied it: though she did not promise that Bernadette would be happy in the world, the Beautiful Lady gave her word that happiness would be waiting in heaven.

The Fourth Apparition - Friday, February 19, 1858:
Bernadette's parents and her aunt accompanied her to the Grotto along with some neighbors. Shortly after Bernadette began to pray the Rosary, everyone present noticed that her face was transfigured and illuminated.

The Fifth Apparition - Saturday, February 20, 1858:
On Her fifth visit, the Beautiful Lady taught Bernadette a prayer, which she recited daily for the rest of her life. She never revealed the prayer to anyone, but she did say that she was told to always bring a blessed candle with her. Candles now burn perpetually at the Shrine.

The Sixth Apparition - Sunday, February 21, 1858:
The Beautiful Lady told Bernadette on this occasion to "pray for sinners", which she never failed to do. Several hundred people were present on that day, including Dr. Dozous, a prominent physician in Lourdes. He told the crowd that he could find nothing abnormal about Bernadette's physical condition, even when her mental state was trancelike: "Her pulse was regular, her respiration easy, and nothing indicated nervous excitement."

A meeting was called by the citizens of the town, and sharp differences of opinion were expressed regarding the apparitions. They expressed concern for the dangers that could accompany gatherings of such large crowds. They persuaded the Procurer Imperial, M. Dutour, to officially forbid Bernadette to return to the Grotto. Bernadette responded that she could not give her word to refrain from going to the Grotto because she had promised the Beautiful Lady she would do so. Dutour dismissed her, and discussed this matter with two local officials: M. Jacomet, the Chief of Police; and M. Estrade, who was to become Bernadette's and Dutour's friend and who was also to perform an invaluable service by listening in at future conversations and scrupulously recording them word for word.

Estrade recorded a conversation between the Chief of Police and Bernadette. During that meeting, M.Jacomet deliberately tried to confuse Bernadette to change her account of the apparitions. When that attempt failed, the Chief of Police released Bernadette to the custody of her father with an admonition that he take her home and guarantee that there would be no further disturbances. But the interior call which was urging her on was stronger than any earthly admonition.

On Monday, February 22, 1858, Bernadette returned to the Grotto after school. Two policemen saw her and followed her, and so did the usual crowd. The policemen stood at respectful attention as she knelt down in her accustomed place. But as she arose, they sprang forward and asked her if she still insisted that she had seen a Beautiful Lady. "No, this time I saw nothing at all," she answered. She was allowed to go home, but she was taunted and threatened. People said mockingly that the Beautiful Lady was afraid of the police and had found some safer place to go.

The Seventh Apparition - Tuesday, February 23, 1858:
Approximately two hundred people were present at this apparition. When Bernadette's appearance was once more transformed, the men present removed their hats and fell to their knees. Bernadette appeared to be gravely serious and listening, and then joyful, and she would occasionally bow low. At the conclusion of the vision, which lasted an hour, Bernadette moved on her knees toward the rose bush and kissed the ground. When asked what the Lady had said, Bernadette replied that the Lady had entrusted her with three secrets, which she never revealed.

The Eighth Apparition - Wednesday, February 24, 1858:
During the eighth apparition, Bernadette turned and faced the crowd of more than four hundred people, and three times she repeated, "penitence, penitence, penitence!"

The Ninth Apparition - Thursday, February 25, 1858:
During this apparition, the Beautiful Lady told Bernadette to, "drink from the fountain and bathe in it." Bernadette was puzzled; there had never been a fountain at Massabieille, or any kind of a natural spring. She began to scratch the loose gravel off the ground which encircled her. As she did so, she noticed that the ground beneath her was moist, and that a little pool was forming and bubbles were rising from it. She cupped her hands together and drank, and then washed her face. The next day, the pool was overflowing and water was dripping down over the rock. The following day, the trickle had become a real stream. Of course, it was immediately said -- and has been said by skeptics ever since -- that the spring was there all the time. The fact remains that Bernadette did find the spring as the result of a direct command.

The Tenth Apparition - Saturday, February 27, 1858:
On this occasion, the Beautiful Lady told Bernadette to "kiss the ground on behalf of sinners." She immediately did so, and the crowd followed her example.

The Eleventh Apparition - Sunday, February 28, 1858:
There were approximately two thousand spectators at the Grotto that morning. The Lady asked Bernadette to tell the clergy to build a chapel on the site of the Grotto.

The Twelfth Apparition - Monday, March 1, 1858:
During this apparition, the Lady commented to Bernadette that she was not using her own Rosary, which was an accurate statement. Bernadette had been asked by Pauline Sans to use Pauline's Rosary at the Grotto that day.

The Thirteenth Apparition - Tuesday, March 2, 1858:
Bernadette arrived at the Grotto early in the morning, prayed the Rosary in the presence of the Lady, who remained silent except for the Gloria's.

The Fourteenth Apparition - Wednesday, March 3, 1858:
During this apparition, the Lady repeated that She wanted a chapel built by the clergy and, additionally, that She wanted people to come to this chapel in processional form. Bernadette was terribly afraid of the parish priest, Abbe Peyramale. It had been difficult for her to go to him the first time about building a chapel, but it took a great deal of courage for her to present herself to him a second time about processions. He dismissed her curtly, ordering her to tell the Beautiful Lady that the Cure of Lourdes was not in the habit of dealing with mysterious strangers; that if She wanted a chapel -- if She had a right to one -- She must reveal Her identity.

The Fifteenth Apparition - Thursday, March 4, 1858:
By now, most everyone in France knew that March 4th was the last of the fifteen days that Bernadette had promised the Lady that she would be present at the Grotto. Twenty thousand people were present that day, including an entire military garrison in full-dress uniform. As Bernadette approached the apparition site, a path was cleared for her, and the soldiers who accompanied her did so with respect. After the apparition, Bernadette told the crowd that she would continue coming to the Grotto because the Beautiful Lady had said nothing in the form of a farewell. The crowd was disappointed and disillusioned. They had seen Bernadette transfigured with a strange radiance, but they had hoped to also share her vision, to hear the same voice that she did, and they expected that, at the very least, the rosebush would burst into a sudden miraculous bloom.

The Sixteenth Apparition - Thursday, March 25, 1858:
During the sixteenth apparition, which occurred on the Feast of the Annunciation, the Beautiful Lady revealed her identity to Bernadette: "Que soy era Immaculado Conception", I am the Immaculate Conception. Bernadette was not sure what this name meant, but people who needed no explanation flocked to Lourdes in greater numbers than ever before. Baron Massy, a local official, ordered Bernadette to be examined by three more physicians. They found her to be physically and mentally sound.

The Seventeenth Apparition - Wednesday, April 7, 1858:
Bernadette had never failed to bring a lighted candle to the Grotto since the first time she had been instructed to do so by the Beautiful Lady. During this apparition, she unconsciously placed one of her hands over the flame of the candle. People witnessed the flame burning through her fingers. Bernadette did not even hear the cries of horror which arose from the crowd. She continued to pray for at least fifteen minutes while the flame burned through her hand. She emerged quietly from prayer unscathed. Then Dr. Dozous took another candle and, without warning, touched the flame to her hand. Bernadette immediately cried out in pain. Shortly after this apparition, the Prefect took matters into his own hands and ordered the Grotto closed, and the rustic altar was dismantled.

The Eighteenth Apparition - Friday, July 16, 1858:
Bernadette seemed relieved that she was becoming less of a public figure. Several months had passed, and after receiving communion on the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Bernadette felt an irresistible urge to return to the Grotto. Since the barricade was still in place, she and her aunt could not get as close to the sacred spot as they wanted, so they knelt in the grass, and the Beautiful Lady appeared to her one last time.

Bernadette joined the order of the Sisters of Charity. Throughout her life she remained sickly, but attended patiently to her duties as infirmarian and sacristan. She died a holy death on April 16, 1879. She was 34 years old. Bernadette was buried on the convent grounds in Nevers, France. Her body was exhumed thirty years later on September 22, 1909, in the presence of two doctors, several appointed officials, and nuns from the local convent. When Bernadette's coffin was opened, there was no odor, and her body was completely untouched by the laws of nature.

A second exhumation took place on April 3, 1919. The body of the then declared Venerable was found in the same state of preservation as ten years earlier, except that the face was slightly discolored, due to the washing it had undergone during the first exhumation. A worker in wax was entrusted with the task of coating the face of the Saint who had been dead forty years. The sacred relic (Bernadette's body) was placed in a coffin of gold and glass and can be viewed to this very day in the Chapel of Saint Bernadette at the motherhouse in Nevers, France.

Note: In a book by Ruth Cranston, originally published by Doubleday in 1955, (I have an updated 1988 version), I am amazed by the testimonies and accounts of thousands who have claimed healing due to the miraculous waters of the Grotto of Massabieille, in Lourdes France. Hundreds of cases have been reviewed by the Medical Bureau of Lourdes and deemed to be of a supernatural nature. The water from the Grotto still flows today, and people continue to attest to the healing powers of this God-given grace.

Written by Victor Cembellin

With Bernadette, we pray the Our Father - Pastoral Theme for 2011

Prayer is an expression of our relationship with God. To pray to the Lord is to be with Him. For many people, however, prayer means asking God for things. But God is well aware of our needs. That's why in the Our Father, Jesus teaches us to ask for what God wants to give us, what we need, and what is good for us.
Thus, it can be said that our requests in the Our Father are answered before our eyes.
Where God's children are assembled, there God the Father fills them with his blessings.
And this is visible for all to see. We have only to open our eyes to witness how the requests contained in the Our Father are fulfilled concretely in the lives of men and women today. Through those blessings, it is God the Father who becomes visible.

Bernadette's life was profoundly marked by two relationships which, while united, remained very distinct. Bernadette was "a child of Mary," and Mary was above all "the daughter of God the Father". Thus, Mary's joy in seeing Bernadette's growing filial devotion to God the Father, corresponded to the Father's joy in seeing Bernadette living as "a child of Mary".

There are seven requests in the Our Father which can be divided into four categories. These requests throw light on the words and the gestures of Mary and Bernadette during the apparitions. Those words and gestures, like those of our own as we experience Lourdes, help us to enter fully into the prayer of the Our Father.

1. Hallowed be thy name Thy Kingdom come

Right from the beginning, the Our Father re-centres us. Hallowed be Thy Name actually means that this Name is not to be treated like any other. It is to have a special place, a place apart. We must "let God be God." The consequence follows immediately: the coming of the kingdom of God. Thus, to turn toward the Father opens us, not only to a new perspective, to a change in behaviour, but leads us at the same time to the threshold of a new reality.

Moses experienced this. Even before receiving the Name of God, he heard a voice saying, "Don't come any closer. Remove your sandals, for the earth under your feet is holy ground." It is therefore with complete awareness and an elemental understanding of God's holiness that Moses is able to welcome the One who reveals Himself in the burning bush: "I am He who is." (Exodus 3:14)

At the time of the third apparition, Bernadette gathered her courage and spoke to the mysterious visitor whom she saw at the Grotto: "Madame, would you be kind enough to tell me your name?". But the only response received by the young girl was a wide smile and the words, "It isn't necessary." It was not what was most important for Bernadette at that moment. She needed first to purify her desires, to prepare her heart. "Would you do me the favour of coming here each day for a fortnight?" Bernadette is asked to make a pilgrimage in order to be ready to receive, to welcome, and to communicate the name of the creature closest to God: "I am the Immaculate Conception." (March 25, 1858)

The attitude of those who come on pilgrimage is therefore not only to choose carefully the context, but also to be mindful of the necessary preparation. Moses prepared to receive and welcome the Name of God, Bernadette prepared to receive the name of Mary and Jesus prepares his disciples before inviting them to name God as Father, in the Name of the Father. That Name is thus hallowed and is given its true place. The hallowed Name announces the coming and the presence of the Kingdom of God.

At Lourdes the eyes of many people are opened to the truth that "here heaven and earth touch one another." There is an atmosphere of prayer, there are processions, and celebrations. There is the tireless activity of volunteers helping the sick and the disabled. But it quickly becomes apparent that in the midst of the volunteers' attentive service to others, each one is conscious of God. And these two attitudes go well together, Evident in this way of living is the Name of the Father that is hallowed by words and actions. The Kingdom of God is thus announced and made present.

Questions to ask ourselves
• Who taught me to say the Our Father:
• How old was I? Where was I? When do I say the Our Father? At Mass? When saying the rosary? Each day? Alone? With others?
• What thoughts do I have when saying the Our Father? Do I think of myself as a son or daughter of God who is my Father? Is that important or even essential to me? Is it a life-giving or a painful thought for me?
• What importance do I give in my life to the Name of the Father? In my decisions? In my choices? In my commitments? In my contacts with others? In managing my goods?
• How do I hallow the name of the Father? By what thoughts? By what actions?

2. Thy will be done
The theme of the will of the Father reminds us that God comes first. We are created by him and for him. To do the will of the Father is, therefore, another way of praying to become the person God means us to be.
To accomplish the will of God, Moses discovered, little by little, that he had to be docile, to let himself be guided by God in the midst of difficulties, temptations, and misunderstandings. The fruit of his obedience made possible the Covenant between God and his people.

Bernadette learned from Mary how to live out that Covenant in everyday life. The young girl learned to do what the Lady asked her. Mary expresses her loving will. Little by little Bernadette carries out that will, sometimes in joy, sometimes in uncertainty or even in pain. "I couldn't make the sign of the cross until the Lady had made it." "I promised." "I am very happy that I have done what I have been asked to do." "In what have I failed her?"

Through each of the tasks set for her, Bernadette experienced the fulfilment of an encounter with Jesus, and opened for others the possibility of undertaking a similar pilgrimage to live, in their turn, that same encounter with Jesus.
Thus, along with Moses, Bernadette became a visible sign of the will of the Father, manifesting that she was above all the daughter of the Father.

The Good News of the Gospel shows us Jesus carrying out to perfection the will of the Father. For in his earthly pilgrimage Jesus also experienced temptation, rejection, incomprehension, and suffering. But in every circumstance he chose his Father: "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine." (Luke 22:42)

A pilgrimage to Lourdes is a special time for discernment in prayer and dialogue. Each one is thus invited to rediscover in our own experience that the will of the Father is an expression of Love. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is Love. God created men and women is his image that they might live with one another and with him in love. Such is the will of the Father of Jesus and our Father in whom love originates and whose love is expressed in his will.

Questions we can ask ourselves
• How much importance do I place on what I want for myself? Do I take into account what others want? Do I take into account the will of the Father? Do I pay attention to what the people around' me want?
• How do I manifest the will of the Father? In my own life? In the lives of others? In the lives of all earth's people?
• How do I go about discerning the will of the Father? Through listening to my conscience? Through prayer? Through reading the Bible? Through opportunities for recollection? Through spiritual direction? Through involvement in the Church? Through involvement in social action?
• In order to live the will of the Father, am I faithful to my state in life? My Baptismal Promises? My marriage? My priesthood? My religious life? My consecrated life?
• In the important decisions of my life, how much does my desire to do the will of the Father count? Discerning my vocation? Marriage? Education of my children? Ethics in my professional life?

3. Give us this day our daily bread
This central request in the Our Father reminds us of our filial bond, our vital dependence in relation to God.
Our human nature corrupted by original sin, however, impels us unceasingly, like our first parents, to want to take the place of God, "to be like unto gods." We believe ourselves to be the centre of the world. We forget our dependence on God and others. Hardening our hearts, we become capable of all sorts of compromises in order to obtain what we covet because it seems to us to be necessary.

In the desert after having encountered God at the summit of the Mountain, Moses discovers that the People have rejected the Lord and are worshipping a golden calf. Soon after, when they have nothing to eat, the People cry out against God proclaiming their preference for slavery in Egypt rather than the way to freedom that the Lord has opened for them to cross the desert.

God's response to this betrayal of his People is found in the gift of manna. "Look, I shall rain down bread for you from the heavens. Each day the people must go out and collect their ration for the day." (Exodus 16:4)

In the Gospel, Jesus makes a distinction between two types of bread, the bread from the earth and the bread from heaven. "You are looking for me not because you have seen the signs, but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat." (John 6:26) And Jesus then added, "Do not work for food that goes bad, but work for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of man will give you, for on him the Father, God Himself has set his seal." (John 6:27)

On February 11, 1858, Bernadette was searching for bread. It was above all her desire for the bread of heaven which made her return to Lourdes a few weeks previously to continue her preparation for her First Communion. It was also the need for daily bread which sent her to the grotto to search there for wood which could be exchanged for money to buy a little nourishment for her family.
In the one case as in the other, Bernadette's unshakable confidence in God's providence in all things is manifested. She expresses it simply in this beautiful prayer:

"Give me, I pray, the bread of humility, the bread of obedience, the bread of charity, the bread that will give me the strength to replace my own will with yours, the bread of interior discipline, the bread of detachment from all that is not you, the bread of patience that I may bear my heart’s pain. O Jesus, you wish me to be crucified in your image, may your will be done! Give me the bread which strengthens me to bear well my suffering, the bread that will help me to see you and only you always and in everything."

On June 3, 1858, just a few weeks before the last apparition which took place on July 16, Bernadette made her First Communion. Her deepest wish was fulfilled. She became completely the daughter of God who loved her to the point of giving her his own Son. (John 3:16)

Today, millions of pilgrims come each year to Lourdes following the example of Bernadette. They come for many different reasons. Some, finding themselves faced with material problems, come to express their anxiety. Others cry out in physical suffering. Still others search for spiritual healing, through conversion and reconciliation.

In reality, it is through others that each individual opens him/herself to God's gifts. It is thus that many people discover the daily bread that the Father gives us, that of the presence in our lives of others.

Questions to ask ourselves
• Am I conscious of my dependence on God the Father? How is the conviction of my dependence manifested concretely? By my faithfulness to prayer? By my frequent reading of God's word? By my participation in Sunday Mass?
• Am I dependent on others? How? Do I see my dependence in a positive light? In my relationships with others, do I know how to listen? Do I enter into dialogue? Do I ever ask others for advice?
• Do I value the bread that nourishes me? Am I careful not to waste it, to share it? What is my reaction to the fact that hundreds of millions of people today are without bread to nourish them?
• What in my life is essential to give meaning to my existence? To give me a sense of fulfilment? To give me a sense of success?
• What is it that really nourishes me? That makes me grow? That strengthens me? That fills me with joy?

4. Forgive us our trespasses
Lead us not into temptation
Deliver us From Evil
The last requests of the Our Father bring us face to face with our human frailty, wounded by sin and only too ready to turn away from God. But these requests are even more an act of faith in the love that God has shown us, a love greater, stronger, and more powerful than our sinfulness, our suffering, and even our eventual death.

When, after having turned away from him, God's People recognized that they had sinned, Moses interceded for them. When God responds and tells Moses what action he should take, God also pardons, heals and brings liberation to his People. (See Numbers 21:8)

Jesus is strong in the words that the Father has pronounced about him at the moment of his baptism, "You are my beloved Son on whom rests all my favour." (Luke 3:22)
When Jesus himself was tempted in the desert, he refers to his Father saying, "It is written: you must do homage to the Lord your God, him alone you must serve," (Luke 4:8)

At the moment of his betrayal, humiliation, and greatest suffering, Jesus once again turns to the Father and asks forgiveness for his persecutors, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)

When Bernadette was very young, she experienced her own limitations. So she was able to accept correction from her parents without rebelling.
It was in this context that the light of the first apparition brought Bernadette to the confessional of Father Pomian to receive for the first time the Sacrament of Penance. It was after this first confession, the words of Mary resonated profoundly in Bernadette's heart, "Pray for the conversion of sinners." "Penance, Penance, Penance." "Go to the spring, drink and wash there."

In a manner that sheds light for the pilgrim of Lourdes, it is important to point out that Bernadette included herself in this message of penance. She identified with it to the point that there was an echo of this message in the last words that she spoke on earth, "Pray for me, a poor sinner." Thus, Bernadette expressed her life-long quest of forgiveness.

Like all humans, Bernadette knew the trials of temptation. In her simplicity, but also in her desire to live as a daughter of the Father, she shares with us the secret of her life, "The first impulse doesn't come from us. The second one does." If the first impulse is characterized by the weakness of our natures in which the tempter has insinuated himself, the second impulse is according to her lived in union with Jesus, the Son of the Father. Through this moment by moment conversion Bernadette responded to the invitation to penance that had been addressed to her.

In Bernadette, these two states of prayer and penance were ample means to bring about a deliverance from evil. For in delivering us from evil, the Father doesn't return us to what we were before. Instead he opens new life to us. This is the meaning of Mary's words, "Go to the spring, drink, and wash there." The action of water announces and prefigures the sacrament whose glorious fruit is to make us members of the family of the Father.

Today we come to Lourdes wounded in our human nature, and we find as we contemplate the Immaculate One that grace is stronger than sinfulness, that love is greater than our selfishness, and that reconciliation is available for those who open their hearts to it.

Questions to ask ourselves
• Am I aware that human nature is tainted by sin? Am I aware of my own sins? Can I name them?
• Am I convinced that with the grace that the Father gives me through the Son and in the Holy Spirit I can conquer temptations? Go beyond my sin? Experience life without giving in to evil?
• What experiences have I had of being freed? From a vice? From a bad habit? From relationships that have become too complicated?
• What importance do I give to forgiveness? With my spouse? In my family? At work? With my neighbours? Within the Christian community?
• What place does the sacrament of penance and reconciliation have in my life? How do I prepare myself for it?

Reverend Regis-Marie de la Teyssonniere Reverend Horacio Brito

POWER OF MARY`S INTERCESSION

Mary is a great woman of faith and she communicates something of her faith to those who have devotion to her. People who go on pilgrimages to the great shrines of Mary testify that they experience there a great strengthening of their faith. Something of Mary’s faith seems to radiate from these holy places. And this deepening of faith in the hearts of the pilgrims tends to manifest itself in a more generous practice of Christian life. Mary continues to say to each of her devotees what she said to the servants of Cana: “Do whatever Jesus tells you”. And these words of hers are words of power that transform lives.
She also listens to the other petitions that pilgrims make – petitions for spiritual and temporal favours of all sorts. With a mother’s heart she is attentive to every request no matter how “worldly” it may appear. “They have no wine” – these words of Mary at Cana have always inspired Christians with the conviction that no human need, even the most humble, is beneath Mary’s attention. Infact one of the special reasons why God has willed that we should acknowledge Mary as our Mother and have confidence in the power of her intercession is precisely to keep alive in our hearts that confidence,
that God whose providence embraces even the sparrows and the lilies of the field, does not despise any of our human needs. God has given us Mary as a permanent sign and reminder of his own motherly heart, and devotion to Mary is meant to be an easy and very gentle school, where we learn that most fundamental of all New Testament lessons, childlike trust in God: “Unless you become like little children you will not enter the kingdom of God.”
And if it should happen that the request that we make through Mary’s intercession should not be granted – for God in his wisdom, foresees that not all that we ask for may be for our true good – pilgrims to Mary’s shrines experience her presence and her power in another precious way. Through her hands comes the grace of simple and humble submission to the will of God. She shares with them her own attitude of loving acceptance of the mysterious but always merciful ways of God’s providence: “Be it done to me according to your Word”. How often for example, one meets seriously ill people who have gone to Lourdes with the hope of being cured and who have returned still seriously ill, but now marked by a joyful and serene acceptance of the will of God.
Mary is still a transfiguring presence in our world and it is above all at her Shrines that she delights to show herself as a channel, a sort of Sacrament, of precious graces of God.

By: Rev. Fr. Noel Molloy, OP

HISTORY

In 1858 Mother Mary appeared to a poor girl named Bernadette at Lourdes 18 times during the month of February and March. She asked Bernadette to pray and do penance for the conversion of sinners. Great crowds began to flock to Lourdes, and numerous miracles took place there making it one of the most frequented Christian pilgrimage centres.

All over the world shrines of Our Lady of Lourdes begun establishing. The Lourd Mata Mandir is one such shrine that was erected in Nagpur in 1892 in thanksgiving for favours received by devotees of Mother Mary.

In 1890 the Vicar General of Nagpur diocese, Fr. Charles Felix Pevat, MSFS, obtained a plot of 18 acres from the Bhonsle estate on the Takli Hill as a first step towards the projected building of St. Charles’ Seminary.

The following year Mr. G.B. Heysmond of Harda, an employee of the railways, made a vow to go on pilgrimage to the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. But, the railway authorities were not sanctioning the necessary leave to journey to Lourdes and back. Mr. Heysmand made representations to the Church authorities.

The authorities asked him to perform a religious work followed by a sacrifice that will be more or less equal to the burden of fulfilling his original promise (of visiting the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, France).

He was told of the possibility of building a Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in the recently acquired valley of Takli Hill, Nagpur. Accordingly, he donated the entire money needed for building a Grotto.

At that time the Seminary Hills was a lonely place, surrounded by thick forest. There was neither Mass nor Novena nor the celebration of a feast at the Grotto. A few people used to come there on Saturdays to pray and say the Rosary. But during the rest of the week it remained forgotten.

In 1975 the Grotto was entrusted to the newly erected Rosary Parish run by the Dominican Fathers and Brothers. Soon afterwards there were more developments of the site in and around the Grotto under the leadership of Fr. C.J. Sebastian, OP, who was then the Pastor of the Rosary Parish. Presently, Fr. Justus Paul is the Parish Priest and Fr. Jose T., OP is the parochial minister.

On February 13th 2000, Archbishop Abraham declared the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes as a pilgrim center and Lourd Mata as a Patroness of Nagpur Archdiocese. Today this place attracts thousands of people and so many people receive favours from Lourd Mata.