Our Lady of Lourdes heals so many people! Which is more difficult: healing the body or the soul? For the Queen of Heaven and Earth, neither the one nor the other … Whatever she asks, she obtains!
Newsdesk (11/02/2023 13:35, Gaudium Press) The mere mention of the apparitions of Our Lady makes it clear to the reader how much Jesus Christ wishes to bring His most loving Mother into prominence, so that she may be loved and served as never before.
In 1830, the Virgin appeared in the Rue du Bac, in Paris, to St. Catherine Laboure, ordering a medal to be struck which would be known as Miraculous for the countless miracles worked in favour of those who would wear it with devotion.
In 1846, the Queen of Heaven manifested herself to Melanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud, in the hills of La Salette. Her message denounced the decadence of the world and the proximity of punishments, many of which have already taken place.
And still on French soil, Our Lady was seen eighteen times by St. Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes, starting on February 11th, 1858.
An admirable physician for a broken generation
In the case of Lourdes there is demonstrated the astounding power of the ‘medicinal works’, so to speak, of the Most Clement Virgin.
The blessed grotto of Massabielle is like a Holy House of Mercy open to any sick person in the world, and specialized in restoring health or instilling the courage to bear sorrows with Christian resignation.
Our Lady, however, wishes to manifest there, above all, an important aspect of her mission in future times.
Dragged down by the infectious torrent of the Revolution, humanity has declined to the extent that countless types of psychological illnesses, and also physical illnesses, have become widespread to a degree unknown until now.
The present generations suffer from serious illnesses that affect their psyche and their mental equilibrium in a frightening manner. Well then, there is no one like Mary to heal the souls affected by so many difficulties . Through her powerful intercession She can restore stability, coherence and grace to the most afflicted and miserable.
Saint Bernadette
Although Saint Bernadette showed no sign of psychological disturbance, her life shows the path that Our Lady will choose to bring the poor out of the dustbin and make them sit with princes (cf. Ps 112:7-8), that is, among the Angels in Heaven.
Through the action of Our Lady, Bernadette learned the love of suffering and of the Cross of Christ.
After having communicated with the beautiful Lady, supreme model of the adoration of Jesus in His Passion, she began to cross herself with such unction that many atheists were converted only by seeing her perform this gesture with profound and natural compenetration.
It is also remarkable that the seer, in spite of being a peasant, acquired during the apparitions a majesty that impressed those around her.
A lady of the French nobility said that she had never met a lady of the aristocracy with such stature, charm and grandeur as Bernadette when she was with the Queen of Heaven.
Many of those who witnessed the scene believed in the veracity of the visions only because they saw in the young girl a mirror image of the Mother of God.
In the Grotto of Lourdes, therefore, we see how much the most sublime virtues of Our Lady can be communicated to her devotees, making them like her by the action of a truly admirable grace.
It is explained, thus, in one of the fiery prophecies of St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort:
“I am more than ever encouraged to believe and hope in all that I have deeply engraved on my heart, and have been asking God for many years: that sooner or later the Blessed Virgin will have more children, servants and slaves of love than ever before, and that by this means Jesus Christ, my beloved Master, will reign in hearts.”
Uncertain, like everyone else, about the future, let us raise our eyes in an attitude of prayer to the exalted throne of Mary, Queen of the Universe, and implore her to cure us of our spiritual and physical infirmities.
Text extracted, with adaptations, from the book Mary Most Holy! God’s Paradise Revealed to Men by Msgr. João Scognamiglio Clá Dias, EP.
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan
