February 11 2022 - Our Lady of Lourdes - Why Lourdes?

 164 years ago today, the Virgin Mary began appearing to a poor peasant girl in a small village called Lourdes in France. The Virgin identified herself as the Immaculate Conception — an article of faith that had been proclaimed by the pope only four years earlier.

There was no way this 14-year-old peasant girl living in that isolated village could have known about that teaching. That was the first proof for the authenticity of the apparitions. Then came the miraculous cures from a mysterious fountain that had never been seen before.

Lourdes today is one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in the world. Thousands upon thousands come year-round to pray and wash in the healing waters. Hundreds more come for weeks at a time as volunteers, to help the sick who come in search of healing.

Crutches line the walls of the grotto, left behind by those who have been cured of physical ailments. Hundreds more have been cured psychologically and spiritually.

Why did God will that Lourdes become this internationally recognized place of miraculous healing? Perhaps to put a divine stamp of approval on the Church’s declaration of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Perhaps, also to show all of us the benefit of turning to Our Lady for healing. 

164 years ago, the world was already beginning to change due to technological advancements, advancements which come at mind-blowing rapidity today. Lourdes certainly reminds the changing world that God is greater than all the technological wonders, that He is the Lord of Creation. And that he does intervene in human history. He is still with us. He does not abandon the sick or forget the downtrodden. And to obtain the grace he desires for us, we must, in the words of Our Lady in the Gospel today, “do whatever he tells you.” For the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That Our Lady may help cleanse the Church of all evil and to bring sinners and unbelievers to God. 

That all government leaders may be awakened to the supreme dignity of each human life, and that all people of our nation may work together for an end to the culture of death. 

That through Immaculate Mary, Queen of Peace, hatred, violence, and cruelty will cease in the world.  

On this world day of prayer for the sick, we pray that those suffering from illness or chronic disease may draw strength, consolation, and healing by turning to Our Lady, who intercedes for us from her place in heaven. 

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

We pray, O Lord our God, that the Virgin Mary, who merited to bear God and man in her chaste womb, may commend the prayers of your faithful in your sight. Through Christ our Lord.