Thought for the Day – 11 February
Today we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. We may never travel to Lourdes and join in the processions but we can know always that we have a Mother to help us and lead us to her Son, Jesus. And so we pray to her:
Grant us, O merciful God, protection in
our weakness,
that we, who keep the Memorial of the
Immaculate Mother of God,
may, with the help of her intercession,
rise up from our iniquities.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity
of the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever.
(Collect Prayer from the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes)
Lourdes has become a place of pilgrimage and healing, but even more of faith. Church authorities have recognized over 60 miraculous cures, although there have probably been many more. To people of faith this is not surprising. It is a continuation of Jesus’ healing miracles—now performed at the intercession of his mother. Some would say that the greater miracles are hidden. Many who visit Lourdes return home with renewed faith and a readiness to serve God in their needy brothers and sisters.
There still may be people who doubt the apparitions of Lourdes. Perhaps the best that can be said to them are the words that introduce the film The Song of Bernadette: “For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.”
Our Lady of Lourdes Pray for us!
AnaStpaul 