The Call For Penance And The Spring Of Compassion – Lourdes 1858
Reflection on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes
February 11, 2017
by Mico Pacheco
February 11, 2017
by Mico Pacheco
Poster by Mac Norhen Bornales
Image from http://www.catholictradition.org/Mary/lourdes4.jpg
Image from http://www.catholictradition.org/Mary/lourdes4.jpg
On this day, 159 years ago, a young girl from a poor family, Bernadette Soubirous, was with her sisters looking for firewood in the outskirts of the town of Lourdes in France. The area was known not only as a place where to look for firewood, but also as the local garbage dump. Suddenly, at a cave in that area called Massabielle, 14-year old Bernadette saw a beautiful lady in white, with a blue sash and golden roses on her feet. This was the beginning of a series of apparitions as the young peasant girl frequented the grotto at the Lady’s request. People were speculating on this mysterious lady Bernadette has been seeing. This Lady told Bernadette to pray for sinners, to do penance and to ask the priests to have a Church built on the site of the cave and have processions done there. She also led Bernadette in discovering a spring at the site of the apparition, a spring which has been said to have numerable cures. More people joined not anymore because of mere curiosity but in hope for a miracle of healing. It was only after a few more apparitions and a number of requests from Bernadette that this Lady revealed her identity: that she is THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.
As in every incident of an apparition, the Church does not immediately give her recognition. It takes a long, tedious, and thorough process to declare events like this as “worthy of belief”. In requires an extensive investigation of the visions. But an important thing that the Church looks at in every apparition being investigated is the visionary herself and the fruits which the apparition has done for that person. The Church would expect that if the visionary truly encounter an experience of Divine origin, she would be living a life of humility, obedience and grace. In the case of Lourdes, the visionary herself was humble, meek and saintly, one that the Church even venerates today, St. Bernadette.
St. Bernadette was but a humble peasant girl, who was not one of the brightest girls at Lourdes but the Blessed Mother saw in her purity of heart a beacon of light for France and the whole Universal Church. She was a hardworking daughter, a devout Christian, practiced humility and meekness, and through the suffering the endured during her illness, united her heart to the Heart of Jesus. It was through holy Bernadette that Our Lady gave her message to the world: PENANCE, CONVERSION – a message the would reiterate not only in Lourdes but in Fatima as well, which goes to show that through the small remote town of Lourdes and the simple young visionary, and also with the humble Cova di Iria and the three shepherd children of Fatima – the message of the Blessed Mother has brought the world’s attention from the industrial revolution and the growing capitalist ideology of the time back to Christ.
Our Lady, in her apparition in Lourdes, prior to even revealing her identity as the Blessed Virgin, spoke much on praying for the conversion of sinners. She told Bernadette that aside from praying for sinners, what we must do is “PENANCE, PENANCE, PENANCE”. One must learn to offer even the simplest of sacrifices in reparation for sin.
This message of Our Lady at Lourdes is timely to this very day. How many of us live in indifference to sin? How many of us live in love for what the world offers. The world is good, money and material is good but the neglect of neighbor and of God is not. Apathy to the poor and suffering while basking in worldly glories definitely asks for the wrath of heaven against greedy man. We are in a world moved by love of what perishes and not of the eternal. And with this neglect of God, what can man expect from what he has turned against?
In Lourdes, God answers the sins of man by showing his loving mercy. Once more, even after the offering of his Son on the cross for our salvation, God worked through the Blessed Mother. Mary went to the filthy garbage dump of Massabielle to show that this unsanitary place can be turned by God’s grace to a holy sanctuary of healing and miracles. Lourdes is known as a place of pilgrimage, where many people are cured from their illness. Despite man’s sinfulness, Our Lord once more, through the loving intercession of Our Lady, showed mercy to those who are suffering – with what in return? PENANCE. CONVERSION. The spring to this day leads people to healing but not only that, but experiencing the mercy of God as well. Those who are healed do not merely enjoy what has been given to them but rather offer their lives in thanksgiving to God. The story of Lourdes today is not anymore of the apparition alone, but of God’s compassion for us sinners, flowing forth from the springs of the grotto – a spring that refreshes, heals, and rejuvenates the shaken faith of contemporary man.
In one of the apparitions, the beautiful Lady told Bernadette: “I cannot promise you happiness in this life, only in the next.” With this, Bernadette was not startled, but she was assured. The Mother of Christ told her that this life may be filled with glories, but what matters is the glory of being with God in heaven. PENANCE. Let us learn the value of penance – enduring our sufferings and uniting these little sufferings to the Heart of Jesus, which has suffered to greatly due to the sins of man. Let us learn to value these sufferings for it is in suffering that we come to know God’s presence in our lives. And with this, let us pray for CONVERSION. Let us pray that this world which has turned its gaze away from God will find in itself a desire for Him. Let us pray that all humanity would once more yearn for God and may through Our Lady, they may find their way back to him.
Today is the World Day of the Sick. This was instituted by St. Pope John Paul II 25 years ago on the occasion of this feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, through whose intercession and through the act of making pilgrimage to the grotto, numerous cures have been caused. In conclusion to this reflection, let us pray for all those who are sick, especially those who are abandoned with no one to care for and those who at this very moment are at the danger of death. May the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes bring them consolation and unite them with the suffering of Jesus.
O powerful Virgin of Lourdes,
full of affliction and with tears in our eyes,
we fly unto you,
Comforter of the afflicted and health of the sick.
Placing in you all our confidence,
cognizant of the innumerable and wonderful cures made by you
not only in Lourdes but all over the world,
we humbly prostrate before you
in this dreadful hour of distress and sickness
and beseech you with all the fervor, faith and devotion of our souls
to hear the supplication which we direct to you
in favor of this our beloved patient.
Once you have worked so many cures among your devotees,
do make one more and save this beloved member of our family.
Take him (her) from all danger
if it will not be an obstacle to his (her) salvation
and we solemnly promise you
to spend the rest of our lives as good
and practical Catholics
in thanksgiving for your powerful patronage.
Amen.
Virgin of Lourdes, pray for us (Hail Mary)
Comforter of the afflicted, pray for us (Hail Mary)
Health of the sick, pray for us (Hail Mary)
Hail, Holy Queen…
As in every incident of an apparition, the Church does not immediately give her recognition. It takes a long, tedious, and thorough process to declare events like this as “worthy of belief”. In requires an extensive investigation of the visions. But an important thing that the Church looks at in every apparition being investigated is the visionary herself and the fruits which the apparition has done for that person. The Church would expect that if the visionary truly encounter an experience of Divine origin, she would be living a life of humility, obedience and grace. In the case of Lourdes, the visionary herself was humble, meek and saintly, one that the Church even venerates today, St. Bernadette.
St. Bernadette was but a humble peasant girl, who was not one of the brightest girls at Lourdes but the Blessed Mother saw in her purity of heart a beacon of light for France and the whole Universal Church. She was a hardworking daughter, a devout Christian, practiced humility and meekness, and through the suffering the endured during her illness, united her heart to the Heart of Jesus. It was through holy Bernadette that Our Lady gave her message to the world: PENANCE, CONVERSION – a message the would reiterate not only in Lourdes but in Fatima as well, which goes to show that through the small remote town of Lourdes and the simple young visionary, and also with the humble Cova di Iria and the three shepherd children of Fatima – the message of the Blessed Mother has brought the world’s attention from the industrial revolution and the growing capitalist ideology of the time back to Christ.
Our Lady, in her apparition in Lourdes, prior to even revealing her identity as the Blessed Virgin, spoke much on praying for the conversion of sinners. She told Bernadette that aside from praying for sinners, what we must do is “PENANCE, PENANCE, PENANCE”. One must learn to offer even the simplest of sacrifices in reparation for sin.
This message of Our Lady at Lourdes is timely to this very day. How many of us live in indifference to sin? How many of us live in love for what the world offers. The world is good, money and material is good but the neglect of neighbor and of God is not. Apathy to the poor and suffering while basking in worldly glories definitely asks for the wrath of heaven against greedy man. We are in a world moved by love of what perishes and not of the eternal. And with this neglect of God, what can man expect from what he has turned against?
In Lourdes, God answers the sins of man by showing his loving mercy. Once more, even after the offering of his Son on the cross for our salvation, God worked through the Blessed Mother. Mary went to the filthy garbage dump of Massabielle to show that this unsanitary place can be turned by God’s grace to a holy sanctuary of healing and miracles. Lourdes is known as a place of pilgrimage, where many people are cured from their illness. Despite man’s sinfulness, Our Lord once more, through the loving intercession of Our Lady, showed mercy to those who are suffering – with what in return? PENANCE. CONVERSION. The spring to this day leads people to healing but not only that, but experiencing the mercy of God as well. Those who are healed do not merely enjoy what has been given to them but rather offer their lives in thanksgiving to God. The story of Lourdes today is not anymore of the apparition alone, but of God’s compassion for us sinners, flowing forth from the springs of the grotto – a spring that refreshes, heals, and rejuvenates the shaken faith of contemporary man.
In one of the apparitions, the beautiful Lady told Bernadette: “I cannot promise you happiness in this life, only in the next.” With this, Bernadette was not startled, but she was assured. The Mother of Christ told her that this life may be filled with glories, but what matters is the glory of being with God in heaven. PENANCE. Let us learn the value of penance – enduring our sufferings and uniting these little sufferings to the Heart of Jesus, which has suffered to greatly due to the sins of man. Let us learn to value these sufferings for it is in suffering that we come to know God’s presence in our lives. And with this, let us pray for CONVERSION. Let us pray that this world which has turned its gaze away from God will find in itself a desire for Him. Let us pray that all humanity would once more yearn for God and may through Our Lady, they may find their way back to him.
Today is the World Day of the Sick. This was instituted by St. Pope John Paul II 25 years ago on the occasion of this feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, through whose intercession and through the act of making pilgrimage to the grotto, numerous cures have been caused. In conclusion to this reflection, let us pray for all those who are sick, especially those who are abandoned with no one to care for and those who at this very moment are at the danger of death. May the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes bring them consolation and unite them with the suffering of Jesus.
O powerful Virgin of Lourdes,
full of affliction and with tears in our eyes,
we fly unto you,
Comforter of the afflicted and health of the sick.
Placing in you all our confidence,
cognizant of the innumerable and wonderful cures made by you
not only in Lourdes but all over the world,
we humbly prostrate before you
in this dreadful hour of distress and sickness
and beseech you with all the fervor, faith and devotion of our souls
to hear the supplication which we direct to you
in favor of this our beloved patient.
Once you have worked so many cures among your devotees,
do make one more and save this beloved member of our family.
Take him (her) from all danger
if it will not be an obstacle to his (her) salvation
and we solemnly promise you
to spend the rest of our lives as good
and practical Catholics
in thanksgiving for your powerful patronage.
Amen.
Virgin of Lourdes, pray for us (Hail Mary)
Comforter of the afflicted, pray for us (Hail Mary)
Health of the sick, pray for us (Hail Mary)
Hail, Holy Queen…