(The grotto at Lourdes, where this happened)

"A beautiful lady" had appeared repeatedly to 14-year-old St. Bernadette, when finally, on March 25th, 1858, when the girl saw the Lady in the Grotto again at Lourdes, she begged her to tell her who she was. After she had asked three times, "The Apparition seemed to become still brighter with beatific splendor, and to be wrapped up, as it were, in its own felicity," writes Fr. Hilary Maurice Vigo in his 1878 book, The Immaculate Conception: The History, Trials and Triumphs of the Work of God at Lourdes. And after the teenager had asked a fourth time, "The Lady had her hands fervently joined, while her face shone with the splendor of infinite beatitude. There was humility in that brightness....Next she extended her arms and inclined them towards the ground, as if to show to the world her virginal hands full of benedictions; and then elevating them towards the eternal mansions whence, on that day, the Divine messenger of the Annunciation had descended, she joined them again with fervor, and looking on Heaven with sentiments of unspeakable gratitude pronounced these words: 'I am the Immaculate Conception.' Having spoken thus, she disappeared."

What strikes me most about this passage is not Our Lady's beauty and gracefulness, although that is evident. It's not Bernadette's persistence, though that is interesting too. 

It is the bliss that the blessed in Heaven, especially Our Lady, enjoy. She becomes bright with the glory and joy of Heaven, wrapped up in her own happiness. Sometimes we get a little flash of spiritual joy, a tiny taste of Heaven, but it soon is swept away by all that is going on around us, especially the struggles and sorrows of this life. Imagine experiencing "infinite beatitude" - unlimited joy that beams from every part of your being in visible brilliant rays. 

If we follow Our Lord in this life, and keep His Commandments, we will experience "infinite beatitude" too. So I hope, so may it be. Amen.