Currently the relics of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes, are visiting many churches across the Country. Saint Bernadette’s relics will be present in the Carlow Cathedral October 7th and Portlaoise Parish Church, October 8th. I have no doubt that this occasion will attract huge numbers of people, who identify with the message that St. Bernadette received from Our Lady, in Lourdes 1858. Saint Bernadette’s life and legacy continues to be deeply relevant in the lives of millions of pilgrims who visit Lourdes. Bernadette a fragile, vulnerable young woman who like the shepherds near Bethlehem was chosen to witness firsthand that God’s grace is truly available. God perhaps is more present in our vulnerabilities than our strengths. This makes Saint Bernadette so attractive to us all.
Imagine the scene as some wept and others jeered as a 14-year-old unlettered girl crawled around in a small cave, a dingy pig shelter, eating grass and washing her face with mud. She seemed confused. “She’s mad!” one person called out, “What is she doing?” Another shouted, “Little upstart!” Some were worried, “Poor girl!” Maybe things had finally got to her – her parents drinking, their awful poverty, living in a former prison, the bullying, chronic illnesses. Had Bernadette Soubirous simply lost it? Eating grass and drinking muddy water in the town’s rubbish dump, claiming that an apparition of a beautiful lady had told her to do it for the conversion of sinners. An extraordinary scene, and, of course, one of the events of the story of Lourdes. In human terms it seemed tragic. But this spectacle was to reveal so much about the mercy and love of God. Three days later, from this tomblike hollow, a spring gushed forth offering healing and new life. New beginnings to sinners, who, like all Prodigal Sons, no longer crawled around in pigsties, but assumed the dignity of sons and daughters of God!
Centuries before this event, a man, whom we call God, was also humiliated and mocked. He was nailed to a Cross like a common criminal, in a rubbish dump outside the city. He died the agony of a slave. On that day, too, some felt sorry for this failed preacher. Others laughed and mocked. “He called himself the Son of God, why doesn’t God rescue him then?” “Who does he think he is?” “He saved others, he cannot save himself!” And his mother, Mary, stood there, united in His agony. And after offering himself to his Father for the conversion of sinners, he was laid in a tomb, like that grotto in Massabielle. Three days later the foolishness of God would triumph over human pride as the spring of the resurrection rose up from the earth to conquer death and sin.
Here is a great lesson from St. Bernadette and Lourdes, then – NEVER JUDGE BY FALLEN HUMAN STANDARDS. Bernadette was viewed by others as a nobody, mad. But God’s eyes are turned to poor and the lowly, and away from the man of proud heart and haughty looks! God’s ways are most definitely not our ways! The Grotto in Lourdes became a pulpit from which Mary taught Bernadette how to be a perfect disciple of Christ, and she continues to teach us how to do likewise today. One of the first lessons Our Lady gave the eager to learn Bernadette was how to make the Sign of the Cross perfectly. Therefore, in addressing God, we must do so with pure love. The way we make the Sign of the Cross hints at how much we love God. As a sister in the convent, Bernadette was admired for the way she made the Sign of the Cross. It even brought others to conversion. One sister said, “The way in which she made the sign of the cross showed she was full of the spirit of faith.” So here is one way in which we can all increase our love for God, by making the simple Sign of the Cross a witness to our faith and love. From our love of God should flow an unquenchable love for neighbour. Bernadette was well acquainted with sorrow, ill health, abuse, and pain. Even in the convent, she experienced mockery and bullying. But she rejoiced to be the lowest and offered all these trials to God with love and patience. Her greatest consolation was to offer her humiliations, illness and suffering for the prayers of all who longed for healing and love. Bernadette said that her vocation was to suffer. She also said, “I may not know much, but at least I know how to pray the Rosary and love the Lord with all my heart!” This she did as Mary had taught her, praying all the time for sinners, with secret tears, just like Christ. After all, Mary had said to Bernadette, “I cannot offer you happiness in this world, but the next…” She therefore decided to offer all her pains and sorrows as an act of love to God, securing her future in paradise, as well as gaining many souls for the Lord.
As she lay dying, Bernadette kissed a Crucifix, and prayed her last words, “My God, I love you with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength! Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me a poor sinner, a poor sinner…” At that moment, the beautiful Lady of Lourdes who is here now among us came to keep her promise to Bernadette, that happiness of the next world. No longer on her knees in a dung heap, Bernadette was taken up to the realms of Heaven, where all tears are wiped away and joy fulfilled. Bernadette, Our Lady told you that you would not be guaranteed happiness in this life, but now that you know supreme happiness in the next, pray for us, that we too may love God and neighbour in this world, and see God forever in the next! St. Bernadette Soubirous, pray for us!