The Message of Lourdes
The "Message of Lourdes" are the words and actions that were exchanged between the Virgin Mary and Bernadette at the Grotto of Massabielle during the eighteen Apparitions between February 11th and July 16th, 1858. To understand the events which took place and the "Message of Lourdes," it is necessary to know the context of the Apparitions that Bernadette experienced.
On February 11th, Bernadette, her sister Toinette and a friend of theirs, Jeanne, went looking for wood in the meadows which led towards "the place where the canal rejoins the River Gave." They were in front of the Grotto of Massabielle. Toinette and Jeanne crossed the icy water, crying out with the cold; Bernadette hesitated to do this because of her chronic asthma. She heard "a noise like a gust of wind," but "none of the trees were moving."
"Raising her head she saw in a hollow of the rock a small young lady who looked at her and who smiled at her." This was the first Apparition of the Virgin Mary.
What God wishes to accomplish in each of us.
At the time of Bernadette, the Grotto was a dirty, hidden, damp and cold place. The Grotto was called the "pigs' shelter" because that was where the pigs feeding in the area usually took shelter. It was there that the Virgin Mary, dressed in white, a sign of total purity, the sign of Love of God, in other words, the sign of what God wishes to accomplish in each of us, deigned to appear. There is a contrast between this damp and obscure Grotto and the presence of the Virgin Mary, "the Immaculate Conception." It reminds us of the Gospel: the meeting of the wealth of the goodness of God and the poverty of the human person. "Jesus goes to sit at the table of sinners, because he came to search out that which was lost."
A place where God gives us a sign.
At Lourdes, the fact that Mary had appeared in a dirty and obscure Grotto in the place called Massabielle, "the Old Rock", tells us that God comes to join us where we are, in the midst of our poverty and failures. The Grotto is not only a place where something happened - a geographical place - it is also a place where God gives us a sign by revealing his heart and our heart. It is a place where God leave us a message, a message that is nothing other than that of the Gospel. God comes to tell us that He loves us. This is the heart of the Message of Lourdes, and He loves us as we are, with all our successes but also with all our wounds, our weaknesses and our limitations.
A relationship which is of the order of love.
During the third Apparition on February 18th. The Virgin Mary spoke for the first time. Bernadette held out a sheet of paper and a pencil so that she might write down her name, but the Lady replied: "What I have to say to you does not have to be written down." This was an extraordinary statement. It meant that the Virgin Mary wanted to enter into a relationship which is of the order of love, at the level of the heart. The heart, in the Bible, signifies the very center of the person, that which is the depth of the person. Bernadette was right away invited to open the depth of her heart to his Message of Love.
We are all worthy in the eyes of God
At the second statement of the Virgin Mary: "Would you do me the kindness of coming here for 15 days?" Bernadette was overwhelmed. It was the first time that anyone had addressed her in a formal way. Bernadette describes these words by saying that the Virgin looked at her 'as one person looks at another person'. Human beings, created in the image and likeness of God, are persons. Bernadette felt that she was also respected and loved, she also had the experience of being a person. We are all worthy of our dignity in the eyes of God. Because each of us is loved by God.
To discover here below "another world."
The third statement of the Virgin was: "I do not promise to make you happy in this world but in the other." We know of a world of violence, lies, sensuality, profit, and war. But we know also a world of charity, solidarity, and justice. These two worlds exist on our earth. When Jesus, in the Gospel, invites us to discover the Kingdom of Heaven, he invites us to discover in our world, as it is, "another world." Wherever love exists, God is present.
To experience God is nothing other than to experience love in this world. To whoever knows how to discover this, Jesus makes the following promise: "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." That is: "you have known how to discover here below this Kingdom and you have lived out your life in this Love." This is the promise of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette. "I promise that you will discover here below another world". And, in spite of her poverty, her illness and her lack of education, Bernadette is always deeply happy. That is the Kingdom of God, the world of real love.
