Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes - tomorrow

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Tomorrow is Sunday, so the Sunday Liturgy takes precedence over the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, but it is such a beautiful apparition we do not want to overlook it completely. As I looked at the Liturgy of the Hours, Morning Prayer for Feb. 11, the introduction gave this brief explanation:

In 1858 The Virgin Mary Immaculate appeared to Bernadette Soubirious near Lourdes in France within the cave of Massabielle. Through this humble girl, Mary called sinners to conversion and enkindled within the Church a great zeal for prayer and charity, especially service to the sick and poor.

The antiphon for the Canticle of Zacharia is this lovely tribute to our Mother Mary:

Virgin Mary, radiant dawn of our salvation, the Sun of Justice, the light from on high, rose from you.

The concluding prayer for the feast :

God of Mercy, we celebrate the feast of Mary, the sinless mother of God. May her prayers help us to rise above our human weakness. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

By God’s Grace, I hope all of us will offer our Mother some special gift tomorrow on this Feast on which she came to earth to warn us, to encourage us as she did at Cana to “Do whatever Jesus tells us”. We cannot follow Jesus truly if we do not listen to Him, as Mary did, and ponder all He said and did. We cannot do the Truth, if we do not hear with the ears of our hearts, God revealing Himself, calling us home.