From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   -- John 14:1 --    
      
       "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God;   
    trust also in me."   
   ===================   
      To look around is to be distressed.   
       To look within is to be depressed.   
       To look up is to be blessed.   
      
       - Corrie ten Boom   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   February 11th - The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes   
      
   Beginning on February 11, 1858, The Blessed Virgin appeared to   
   Bernadette Soubirous a total of 18 times in Lourdes, France. The final   
   visitation occurred on July 16, 1858. Since that time, hundreds of   
   millions of pilgrims have visited Lourdes, with crowds reaching 40,000   
   on average during busier times of year. Over 60 miraculous cures have   
   been recorded in the grotto where the Blessed Virgin appeared, or due   
   to the curative properties of the spring which appeared during the   
   apparitions.   
      
   To understand the message of Lourdes, however, we need to return to   
   the beginning of the story of Bernadette Soubirous, and the sleepy   
   town of Lourdes, sitting at the base of the Pyrénées mountains.   
   Bernadette’s parents, François and Louise Soubirous, had settled in   
   Lourdes, working in the mill owned by Louise’s family. On January 7,   
   1844, Marie-Bernarde (always referred to as Bernadette) was born,   
   their first child. Over the course of her life, Bernadette’s parents   
   would bring 8 additional children into the world, five of which died   
   before reaching the age of ten years old.   
      
   Bernadette’s early life was marked by poverty and frequent moves.   
   After her mother suffered an accident, burning herself severely,   
   Bernadette was sent to be wet-nursed by a “foster mother” for   
   approximately 18 months. During that time, her father suffered an   
   accident leaving him blind in one eye, had to sell the mill, could no   
   longer afford to pay the family’s bills, and was eventually evicted   
   from their home. A series of moves to smaller and less comfortable   
   rooms followed, with the family ending up living in a one-room former   
   prison cell, the Cachot, which was rotting and abandoned. During these   
   moves, Bernadette was stuck down with cholera, during on outbreak   
   affecting the area. While she recovered, she was left with permanent   
   ailments of the lungs, including asthma and tuberculosis, as well as   
   general weakness and frailty which remained with her throughout her   
   short life. Following the cholera epidemic, famine struck France, and   
   the government distributed free flour to all, in effect removing any   
   possibility of Bernadette’s father working in the milling business.   
   Instead, he took on chores as a day laborer, as did her mother, but   
   earned too little to adequately support the family.   
      
   Due to the family’s financial problems, Bernadette returned to her   
   wet-nurse, now old enough to work. She spent the days in the fields   
   with the sheep, acting as a shepherdess. She neither attended school,   
   nor could she read or write. Living outside of town, she also was   
   unable to participate in formal religious education, and despite being   
   of age, had not made her First Communion. Concerned, her parents   
   brought her back to Lourdes in January 1858, and she began attending   
   Catechism classes to prepare for First Communion with the Sisters of   
   Nevers. Given her lack of education, she was the oldest in her class,   
   with many of her younger classmates better able to read and write. Her   
   instructor deemed her “unteachable,” and the local priest, who would   
   later become her confessor, considered her a “blank slate.”   
      
   Despite poverty and hard luck, the Soubirous family was united in love   
   for God and each other. At age 14, Bernadette’s life was about to   
   dramatically change. On Thursday, February 11, 1858, her parents sent   
   her, her 11year-old sister Toinette-Marie, and her 13 year old friend   
   Jeanne Abadien to collect firewood as it was very cold. The Soubirous   
   family could not afford firewood, and the Cachot, where they were   
   living was poorly insulated. The girls left town, and while   
   Toinette-Marie and Jeanne crossed a small stream, Bernadette remained   
   behind. Given the cold temperature, and her penchant for sickness, she   
   was reluctant to wade into the cold water. Instead, she remained   
   behind, searching in what is now referred to as the grotto of   
   Massabielle, but then was little more than a muddy cave strewn with   
   debris that served as a shelter for wild pigs. Having no luck finding   
   usable wood, and seeing her sister and friend moving further away from   
   her, Bernadette sat to remove her stockings, planning on crossing the   
   Savy Canal. As she sat, she heard a sudden gust of wind, but the trees   
   around her remained still. Looking back into the grotto, she saw a   
   beautiful young lady dressed in a white dress with a white veil, and a   
   blue sash. She had yellow roses on each foot, the color perfectly   
   matching the Rosary chain she held on her arm. The beads on the Rosary   
   itself were white. She was surrounded by white light, but it was “not   
   blinding light,” and had beautiful blue eyes. The young woman smiled   
   at Bernadette. “I rubbed my eyes. I thought I was mistaken,”   
   Bernadette would later write in her journal.   
      
   Bernadette dropped to her knees, fearful, and pulled the Rosary from   
   her pocket. While she desired to pray, she found herself paralyzed,   
   unable to move her arms. Trembling, she try without success, only able   
   to bless herself with the Sign of the Cross after the smiling woman in   
   white did. She later reported that “immediately after I made the Sign   
   of the Cross, the great fear that had seized me disappeared.”   
   Bernadette prayed the Rosary, with the woman fingering the beads along   
   with her, but remaining silent. As soon as Bernadette had finished the   
   Rosary, the lady beckoned her closer. Bernadette, again afraid,   
   remained kneeling where she was, and the lady disappeared, leaving her   
   alone. Her companions returned, neither having seen anything.   
      
   After telling her sister and friend what had happened, she begged them   
   not to mention the apparition to anyone. However, Bernadette’s sister   
   promptly told their mother upon return home, and they were both   
   punished and forbidden to return to the grotto. Bernadette would   
   return, however, drawn to the beautiful young woman, in three day’s   
   time.   
      
   Saint Bernadette later wrote in her Journal Dedicated to the Queen of Heaven:   
   “Dearest Mother, how happy was my soul those heavenly moments when I   
   gazed upon you. How I love to remember those sweet moments spent in   
   your presence, your eyes filled with kindness and mercy for us! Yes,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)