M
MariaChristi
Guest
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
How very appropriate that we commemorate Our Lady’s apparition to St. Bernadette at Lourdes on this Thursday after Ash Wednesday, today! Mary’s message to St. Bernadette was to encourage the people to do Penance, as well as to reveal to them her own name as “Immaculate Conception”. It is such an encouragement for all of us because we see in Mary – as the Catechism teaches – all we are called to become:
Many of the sick who flock to Lourdes and bathe in the miraculous spring water there are healed not only of physical ills but many more are healed of spiritual ills. Many regain the faith that had been lost through sin and many begin to understand how they need to do penance not only for their own sins but also for the sins of others. The Church is one Body in Christ, and when one grows in holiness we all grow; but when one becomes weak or even dies in sin, we all suffer. The word “penance” is not a word our modern world likes to hear, for it is a world seeking its own comfort and ease. Nevertheless, we are “in” the world while striving to be “not of it”. It is good to look to Mary at the beginning of Lent as pray through her intercession that we may become more and more like her, who lived the Truth she heard from Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Immaculate Conception, pray for us.
Come Holy Spirit, purify our hearts, cleanse us by the Fire of Your Love.
Jesus, I trust in You!
How very appropriate that we commemorate Our Lady’s apparition to St. Bernadette at Lourdes on this Thursday after Ash Wednesday, today! Mary’s message to St. Bernadette was to encourage the people to do Penance, as well as to reveal to them her own name as “Immaculate Conception”. It is such an encouragement for all of us because we see in Mary – as the Catechism teaches – all we are called to become:
When St. Bernadette asked who she was, Mary answered “I am the Immaculate Conception”. It has taken many years of pondering and grace from the Holy Spirit for many of us in the Church to begin to fathom all the beauty of Mary’s response, yet as the Catechism explains our Mother shines forth on earth as a sign of certain hope and comfort. The waters of Lourdes can symbolize for us the waters of our Baptism which washed away sin and also symbolize for us the living water of the Holy Spirit given to bring us into the complete Truth of Jesus continually washing us with His Holy Word.
Many of the sick who flock to Lourdes and bathe in the miraculous spring water there are healed not only of physical ills but many more are healed of spiritual ills. Many regain the faith that had been lost through sin and many begin to understand how they need to do penance not only for their own sins but also for the sins of others. The Church is one Body in Christ, and when one grows in holiness we all grow; but when one becomes weak or even dies in sin, we all suffer. The word “penance” is not a word our modern world likes to hear, for it is a world seeking its own comfort and ease. Nevertheless, we are “in” the world while striving to be “not of it”. It is good to look to Mary at the beginning of Lent as pray through her intercession that we may become more and more like her, who lived the Truth she heard from Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.
Our Lady of Lourdes, Immaculate Conception, pray for us.
Come Holy Spirit, purify our hearts, cleanse us by the Fire of Your Love.
Jesus, I trust in You!