San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila Parish at Pleasant Hill Subdivision, City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Bulacan 3023 PH - Part 1: Lourdes: 150 Years of God's Healing Care

At the heart of Lourdes stands an encounter of love between a child and a mother, between Bernadette Soubirous and Mary, Mother of God and our mother. That meeting forever changed the face of a small French village and reawakened the spiritual yearnings of people, making Lourdes a worldwide center of pilgrimage.

In 1858, with a population of little more than 3,000, Lourdes was an obscure village amid the Pyrenees in southwestern France. Among its poorest citizens were members of the Soubirous family. With his wife, Louise, and their four children, Francois Soubirous, a miller by trade, had fallen upon hard times. In 1857 they were forced to live in the Cachot, an abandoned jail.

On Thursday, February 11, 1858, life changed dramatically and decisively for Bernadette. On a cold, damp day, her simple search for firewood initiated an amazing encounter with heaven. Bernadette, her sister Toinette and a friend, Jeanne Abadie, were searching for firewood. At a rocky recess in a place known as Massabielle, where the river currents washed up driftwood and other debris, Bernadette had a vision that left an indelible imprint on her heart and began the story that is Lourdes.

In this grotto she saw a “Lady dressed in white with a blue sash and a yellow rose on each foot, the color of her rosary.” Who the “Lady” was became the subject of much debate. There were 18 apparitions in all, the last one occurring on July 16, 1858.

As news reached the townspeople and neighboring districts, people flocked to the grotto. With the discovery of a spring of water, and the news of healings taking place, the crowds grew.

For Bernadette it was a time of private ecstasy and public hell. She was mocked and ridiculed by some. A 14-year-old illiterate child, she was hounded by police and local authorities, interrogated and even threatened with prison. In the face of this adversity, she remained steadfast. Even the local priest, the Abbé Peyramale, who was skeptical at first, eventually believed her.

He became convinced when, at the ninth apparition on March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, the “Lady” said, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Peyramale knew that a poor, uneducated child with no formal religious training or doctrinal knowledge could never have invented such a title—a dogma only proclaimed by the Church in 1854.

After four years of stringent Church investigation, the clear evidence of Bernadette’s credibility and many cases of inexplicable healing, the local bishop, in a pastoral letter dated January 18, 1862, declared, “Truly, the Blessed Virgin Mary did appear to Bernadette.”

Bernadette remained in Lourdes until 1866 when she joined the Sisters of Charity and Christian Learning at Nevers in northern France. She remained there until her death on April 16, 1879.

God Loves and Cares for Us

The message of Lourdes is a gospel message. In all of the exchanges between Our Lady and Bernadette at Massabielle, Mary calls humanity to rediscover the Good News that God loves and cares for us. No matter who we are, Christ is there for us.

Lourdes represents the Gospel message of a Father who lovingly waits for the prodigal’s return. It is a story of the Son who shows us the way home, a message of conversion and mission, helping us witness to the way of Jesus in the Church and in the world. Lourdes is about the pilgrimage we make through life with God, in God and to God.

Through the years Lourdes has often become synonymous with the physically sick. There is certainly a message of great hope and consolation for them and for the handicapped. There have indeed been well-documented miraculous cures. We should not be afraid to pray for physical healing. That is an act of faith in a Jesus who came “to save the lost and the sick.”

The message of Lourdes, however, goes far beyond physical healing. Our Lady brings about in us a healing of the heart, where Jesus most wants to touch us all. “Our hearts know no rest until they rest in you,” wrote St. Augustine. If we come to the same conclusion, then we will discover the true meaning of pilgrimage.

In 1985 I was appointed chaplain in Lourdes for the English-speaking pilgrims and served for 10 years, a great blessing in my life. It was a gracious gift of a merciful and loving God who, in bringing me to Lourdes, gave me new life, new hope and a new mission.

The story of my coming to Lourdes began when I was a young missionary priest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At the entrance to our mission there was a huge statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. I noticed that a poor African man stumbled up to that statue each day. He could barely walk or speak, his arms were completely paralyzed and his eyes were fixed in a strange trance. Some members of his tribe had poisoned him in an act of revenge. My heart was filled with pity as I saw him limping along the road toward Mary. Little did I realize that soon I too would be limping along the road toward Mary.

I became very ill in the Congo. Over a two-year period this sudden and serious illness worsened. Physical suffering accompanied a nightmare of pain and frustration. I vacillated between hope and almost utter despair, feeling abandoned by the Lord.

In this moment of impasse, God’s mercy touched my life. I was healed and eventually became chaplain for the English-speaking pilgrims.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the appearance of Our Lady to Bernadette. This remarkable and moving story remains perennially valid because it touches the hearts and shapes the lives of countless people. Lourdes is a message for our time, for every time.

Father John Lochran, chaplain to the English-speaking pilgrims to Lourdes between 1985 and 1995, is now a parish priest in Wales. Many physical cures have found the approval of the Church. He asserts, however, that the message of Lourdes speaks above all of the healing of the heart, of a deeper spiritual healing that allows God’s love to touch the whole person, bringing the abundance of life that Jesus wants for us. He has written The Grotto Was My Heaven (Columba, 1993) and Springs of Living Water: Reflections on the Message of Lourdes (Columba, 1996).


First of two parts. The full article can be found at http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Feb2008/Feature1.asp