February 9th, 2020

5^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Just so, your light must shine before others,

that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”

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This Tuesday is the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, so this week’s Marian image is a picture of this apparition.  Lourdes is one of the Marian apparitions officially acknowledged by the Church.

In 1858, Bernadette Soubirous was out collecting firewood with two friends.  As the friends ran ahead, Bernadette heard a rustling of wind which drew her attention to a grotto where she saw the most beautiful lady she had ever seen.  She was wearing a white robe with a blue sash.  She had a veil on her head, a rosary in her hand, and roses at her feet.

The lady smiled at Bernadette and invited her to pray the rosary.  After praying, the lady disappeared.

A few days later, Bernadette returned to the grotto, and once again the beautiful Lady appeared to her.  Then, on Bernadette’s third visit to the grotto, the Lady spoke to her.  She told her to continue coming back for 15 days, to ask the priest to build a chapel there, to drink from the stream, and to pray for the conversion of sinners.

In one of the final apparitions, the Lady told Bernadette, “I am the Immaculate Conception”.  Bernadette didn’t even know what this title meant.  In fact, this title had not been solemnly defined until 1854 when Pope Pius IX declared that Mary’s Immaculate Conception was indeed a dogma of the faith.

A healing spring of water began to flow from the spot where Mary appeared to Bernadette, and hundreds of people have been healed through its miraculous power.

Our Lady of Lourdes…  Pray for us!

You are in my daily prayers.

God bless you,

Fr. VanDenBroeke