Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes
Lourdes. Heaven is responding to the anti-Christian revolution
The apparitions of Lourdes after 164 years are associated mainly with the miraculous healings that take place in France to this day. But the story of that apparition of Our Lady deserves a deeper reflection.
There is a certain theology of history that is completely unnoticed by most secular scholars. While for obvious reasons they must see the birth of Christ and the influence of his life on the fate of the world, insomuch even pious historians rarely see the influence of Our Lady on the present day. And it is quite a lot.
To find out about it, it is enough to look at the history of the contemporary apparitions of Mary. After the French Revolution, which was shocking for the Church, She appeared several times in France. First, through St. Catherine Laboure offered the world the Miraculous Medal, assuring that She would not abandon her children, for whom, along with the bloody change of civilization in their country, it could have seemed that the end of the world would come any day. Then, after sixteen years, Our Lady appeared in La Salette to ask for conversion, penance and prayers for the sinners who were increasing day by day.
After twelve years, she decided to come to Lourdes, again asking for conversion, but also, quite emphatically trying to convince the faithful to do so - leaving them a place where many miracles were performed. Only later does Mary appear in Portuguese Fatima, and then (in 1932 and 1933!) In Belgian Beauraing and Banneux, perhaps disappointed with what the French did with her messages. She chose Japan, which is distant from Europe, as the place of subsequent apparitions ...
But the apparitions at Lourdes, though reduced to their "healing" dimension, were an event far more significant than is often portrayed. All the aforementioned "French" revelations were a great sign of Heaven's disagreement with all the sinister inventions of modernity, starting from Jacobins (Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality) - rationalism, egalitarianism, humanism, evolutionism and, of course, atheism. It was from them that communism was born.
After all, to Catherine Laboure, the Mother of God appears in the year of the final confirmation of the triumph of the revolution - 1830. In La Salette in 1846, Mary reminds us of the majesty of God, and at that time Ludwig Feuerbach (later the great idol of Karl Marx) publishes a collection of essays "The essence of religion" - unusually extremely aggressive atheistic work. In 1858, when the Virgin Mary appears in Lourdes, France is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Maximilian Robespierre's birth all year round. A few months after the last apparition of Mary to Bernadette Soubirous, Charles Darwin published his best-known work “On the Origin of Species” ... Someone may take all of this as a coincidence. But a Catholic should not.
Why there and why to her?
It is also worth considering why Our Lady appeared in Lourdes. Well, this place is in the former Bigorre County, part of which during the time of Charlemagne or Charles the Great - that is, in the 11th century! - was given as an estate of land to the Blessed Virgin Mary! She was proclaimed "Ruler and Lady" there. This historical fact was discovered in the 20th century by the French researcher Emile Brejon, describing the story from 1062, when Count Bernard, in accordance with feudal law, consecrated himself to Mary as her servant. For many years, Mary was honored there in the mystery of the Annunciation. So, Our Lady felt at home in Lourdes. Her choice, then, was a sign of her attachment to tradition and place/property. So, the attachment to values that the French revolutionists have undermined and their successors - the communists - have totally displaced.
And why does this "Ruler and Lady" not appear to the crowds, but to the poor child? Well, because she is obedient to God's plan. And the Lord God from the very beginning wants to reveal himself to individuals or small groups - this is how Abraham or Moses was called, Christ chose twelve, and when he was born, poor shepherds welcomed him. And to us, those who did not experience the special grace that Bernadette experienced, belongs the free choice offered by the Creator - we believe or reject.
Confirmation of Innocence. And the calendar?
Four years before the Lourdes apparitions, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary - fiercely protested by Protestants and ridiculed by the Enlighteners. When Our Lady appears to Bernadette, she reveals her name to her: I am the Immaculate Conception, she says. It is like a sign confirming the rightness of the Church's actions! After all, Bernadette does not even know what these words mean, she has never heard them before. Mary will repeat this model of action later in Fatima, where the children never hear about "Russia's mistakes,” and they think that it is a woman who is wandering. This is how, once again, in the history of salvation, truths are revealed to the little ones that, even if they cannot understand them, they must simply convey. Save the world!
Mary revealed her extraordinary name - the Immaculate Conception - to Bernadette in one of the next eighteen apparitions, not on the first one, February 11, when she simply ... was silent. This was also the case during the second meeting on February 14. The last two meetings of Bernadette with the Mother of God were also held in prayerful silence. Isn't that another sign for us on how to shape our relationship with God?
The remaining fourteen apparitions can also confirm the teaching and practice of the Church - especially of the liturgical calendar. As Rene Laurentin notes, the apparitions with the content of "penitential" took place during Lent. In the apparitions that took place in the first week after Easter, all the messages are joyful. All the most important messages are revealed by Mary on Thursdays - the day dedicated to the Eucharist in the Church. The revelation of the name of the Immaculate Conception takes place on March 25, on the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the farewell meeting - on July 16 - is on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel! Coincidence again?
As if that were not enough, the year 1858 in the diocese of Tarbes, where Lourdes is located, was planned as special year. On January 20 (twenty days before the first apparition), the local bishop introduced year-round public prayers and a total indulgence until December 31 of this extraordinary year. Vittorio Messori noticed that when all of France was celebrating the 100th anniversary of Robespierre's birth, in one of the dioceses it was felt that the homage to someone else should be intensified ...
Remaining signs
But Lourdes is not only a message of the need for repentance, extraordinary miracles and a confirmation of the Church's practices. They are also "non-verbal" signs that Mary gave us, and which we too often do not pay attention to.
1. Here Bernadette recalls: “I got very scared and started shaking. I was able to make thesign of the cross only when she crossed herself so beautifully that I wanted to imitate her. " The sign of the cross made with diligence and piety! How Much Must Mean! And how much it helps to overcome worries!
2. Our Lady addressed the girl as You - in the third plural person. So, in a way in which she wants to give the highest respect to another person (to this day some people say that to the Holy Father, and until recently, this is what they used to say to parents here and there). Doesn't this contradict the egalitarian thesis that everyone is equal and that no one should address anyone other than as you (singular)?
3. Mary in Lourdes appears as a very young person, even a girl. She presents herself as the Immaculate Conception. This need to be understood as an endorsement of chastity and innocence not only proper to the youngest. An innocence soon to be inevitably lost by the thousands of people (not only young) who were identified in Fatima as committing sins of the flesh.
4. Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception, a chaste and innocent person, smiles while talking to Bernadette. Because it is chastity that brings true happiness. When Mary was talking to the girl, she smiled, or - as Bernadette used to say - she even laughed! And let us remind that in Fatima, the Mother of God did not smile, and in Akita - she cried!
Certainly, many other conclusions can be drawn from the history of Bernadette's meetings with Our Lady. Therefore, it is worth getting acquainted with the circumstances of these revelations - as well as all the revelations of the present day. God - also through his saints, and above all their Queen - continues to influence the course of history and give us tips and chances! Let us use them. Until it is not too late.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george