Exactly 150 years ago this month, the Virgin Mary began appearing to a poor peasant girl in a small village called Lourdes in France. The Virgin identified herself as the Immaculate Conception — an article of faith that had been proclaimed by the pope only four years earlier.
There was no way this 14-year-old peasant girl living in that isolated village could have known about that teaching. That was the first proof for the authenticity of the apparitions. Then came the miraculous cures from a mysterious fountain that had never been seen before.
Lourdes today is one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in the world. Thousands upon thousands come year-round to pray and wash in the healing waters. Hundreds more come for weeks at a time as volunteers, to help the sick who come in search of healing.
The Pope's visit was marked by several significant speeches reflecting the Roman Catholic dogma related to Marian devotion:
Mary allows ‘love stronger than death’ to bring hope to the world...Mary comes to meet us, so as to show us the way towards a renewal of life for our communities and for each one of us."
..."Mary's message is a message of hope for all men and women of our day, whatever their country of origin..."
The intervention of the Virgin Mary in offering succor throughout history testifies to this, and does not cease to call forth, in the people of God, an unshakable confidence in her.
...I would like to say, humbly, to those who suffer and to those who struggle and are tempted to turn their backs on life: turn towards Mary! Within the smile of the Virgin lies mysteriously hidden the strength to fight against sickness, in support of life. With her, equally, is found the grace to accept without fear or bitterness to leave this world at the hour chosen by God.
....By immersing themselves in the baths at Lourdes, how many people have discovered and experienced the gentle maternal love of the Virgin Mary, becoming attached to her in order to bind themselves more closely to the Lord!
...Mary entrusts her smile to you, so that you yourselves may become, in faithfulness to her son, springs of living water. Whatever you do, you do in the name of the Church, of which Mary is the purest image. May you carry her smile to everyone!
"...Because you are the smile of God, the reflection of the light of Christ, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit,
Because you chose Bernadette in her lowliness, because you are the morning star, the gate of heaven and the first creature to experience the resurrection,
Our Lady of Lourdes", with our brothers and sisters whose hearts and bodies are in pain, we pray to you!
See related articles: The World, The Eucharist and the Co-Redeemer , The Bodily Ascension of Sinless Mary Into Heaven? , Lourdes: Making Money Off Mary , Rome Marks Apparition Of "Sinless" Mary & The Miraculous Medal , Exorcists Disagree on Source of Marion Apparition , The Feast of the Sacred Heart
Christianity Today Promotes Return To Rome , Purpose Driven Lent Part II , Reconcile This, Rick? , Purpose Driven PEACE Train: Destination ROME , Unity Under Mary , Mary: The Refuge, The Peace, The Path To God , Mary & Messages From Heaven , The Universal Community of Hope? , Pray Rosary for Peace, Benedict XVI Urges , Avoid Them Like The Plague
See related videos: Apparitions of Mary - "Messages from Heaven" , Mary & Messages From Heaven ,
Read more on Rome's worship of Mary here.
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