In two days time we celebrate the 11th of February which is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. It also marks the first apparition of Our Lady to Bernadette. John Paul II made this day the World day of the sick. Our Lady appeared in a silent apparition on this day as Bernadette gathered firewood at the 'pigs grotto'. She felt a wind blow over her and turned to see a lady in white with a blue sash, a yellow rose between each foot in a niche in the rock. She knelt and tried to make the sign of the cross but she could not until the vision she would later call Aquiro made the sign. No one, how ever hard they tried would be able to imitate the sign of the cross the way Bernadette made it for the rest of her life because of what she saw and was taught that day at the grotto. Our Lady would appear another seventeen times to the little girl who knelt before her that day.
Bernadette would pray the rosary with her many more times but the lady (or Aquiro) would only join in when Bernadette prayed the Our Father and Glory Be. The rest of the time she would follow silently on her beads.
For the last two years I have been fortunate enough to be at the grotto on the 11th of February. This year I can't be there because the school holiday is a week later. I will go there in my heart. When Bernadette was in the convent at Nevers she said that she clung to the rock of her grotto and, thanks to her simple beauty and her wish to be true to the message of the Lady, that is what I, like millions of others, do too. I look forward to her feast day with joy in my heart for there are so many graces to be received. The miracle of serenity.
Prayer by St Bernadette
How happy my soul was, good mother, when I had the good fortune to gaze upon you!
How I love to recall the pleasant moments spent under your gaze, so full of kindness and mercy for us.
Yes, tender Mother, you stooped down to earth to appear to a mere child.
You, the Queen of Heaven and Earth chose to use what is weakest in the eyes of men.
O Mary, give the precious virtue of humility to she who dares to call herself your child.
O loving Mother, help your child to resemble you in everything and every way.
In a word, grant that I may be a child according to your heart and
the heart of your dear son.
Amen
Related posts: FROM BARTRES, Prayer of a poor beggar, From Lourdes to Nevers, VIRTUAL LOURDES
4 comments:
Hi, just found your blog, lots to read on here so will be coming back. Your puppy looks so cute! Joanna
You are very welcome here- I hope you enjoy your stop. Fleur (the puppy) it has to be said is rather cute but I think she has worked this out and has consequently become rather naughty :-) Thank you for dropping in
O to have such humility! It's a beautiful yet simple poem. I can tell you're counting the hours...hope you have a blessed, joy-filled and beautiful feast day tomorrow.
One of our diocese's beloved elderly priests died on Sunday at hospital. He was up until a few years ago parish priest of St Bernadette's parish, Belfast and his funeral mass will be celebrated on the feastday of Our Lady of Lourdes.
O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Thank you so much and the same to you! What beautiful affirmation of a beloved priest - that is so wonderful! I will pray for him tomorrow. I am quite excited about my favourite feastday. But you are quite right- just to have a tiny fraction of Bernadette's humility - so much beauty in the whole story of Lourdes and the two young women who met there. Thank you for your comment.
I echo your prayer to our blessed Mother
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