Yesterday was the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

One hundred and sixty years ago (yesterday), Our Lady appeared in the grotto at Lourdes. A priest recently said that today's healings at Lourdes are mostly of the heart and soul, instead of the body. Although there are still physical healings taking place occasionally at Lourdes, many more souls experience a renewed sense of peace and resignation to the will of God. Many experience a feeling of greater strength and encouragement in the spiritual atmosphere of comfort and peace there.

The best adjective I can give for how I felt when I was there, was "mothered." Our Blessed Mother's presence can be felt strongly in this mountain village, even to this day.

"There are men who, when they are at home, would not dare to salute a church or to say an Our Father in public, because they are so much under the spell of human respect; at Lourdes they are to be seen on their knees in prayer, with their arms held out in the form of a cross, kissing the ground and singing the Creed, for they have again become free men. Many of them, unfortunately, once they have gone home, become slaves yet again, but even so they have gained by this hour of profit, for they will be left with a healthy sense of remorse. You see, if this world goes all wrong, it is because the good people have less courage than the bad. Because, as Pope Pius XII said, you have lost the spirit of the martyrs."

~ St. Bernadette Speaks, by Fr. Albert Bessieres, SJ, 1956.