February 11. Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes - My Testimony

Today is the Memorial of Lady of Lourdes.

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From Franciscan Media, The Story of Our Lady of Lourdes

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/our-lady-of-lourdes/

On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus. A little more than three years later, on February 11, 1858, a young lady appeared to Bernadette Soubirous. This began a series of visions. During the apparition on March 25, the lady identified herself with the words: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

Bernadette was a sickly child of poor parents. Their practice of the Catholic faith was scarcely more than lukewarm. Bernadette could pray the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Creed. She also knew the prayer of the Miraculous Medal: “O Mary conceived without sin.”

During interrogations Bernadette gave an account of what she saw. It was “something white in the shape of a girl.” She used the word aquero, a dialect term meaning “this thing.” It was “a pretty young girl with a rosary over her arm.” Her white robe was encircled by a blue girdle. She wore a white veil. There was a yellow rose on each foot. A rosary was in her hand. Bernadette was also impressed by the fact that the lady did not use the informal form of address (tu), but the polite form (vous). The humble virgin appeared to a humble girl and treated her with dignity.

Through that humble girl, Mary revitalized and continues to revitalize the faith of millions of people. People began to flock to Lourdes from other parts of France and from all over the world. In 1862 Church authorities confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions and authorized the cult of Our Lady of Lourdes for the diocese. The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes became worldwide in 1907.

Reflection

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 if the Patron Saint of: Bodily Ills​


From my book TRIBULATION by G.R. MILLER
Chapter 4 - The Second Tribulation Angels and Demons: July 2007–March 2011 

​http://www.tribulation7.com/gods-fury---the-book/tribulation-by-gr-miller

Second Event

On June 9, 2009, the kids’ mom had summer custody, yet she was driving them to her parents’ house in Port Arthur, Texas because she was flying to Spain the next day. She told me that her “beau” (who was really her husband) had to go to Spain to deal with probate of his parents’ estate.

In my home in Cypress, there is a nook at the end of the foyer leading into the family room. The picture below is a direct view from the family room. You can’t see her, Our Lady of Lourdes, from the front door because she is hidden (see Rev. 12:5–6). I’d been planning to find a Virgin Mary statue to put there, and I found this one online from marianland.com. I bought a thirty-six-inch Our Lady of Lourdes statue at 4:14 p.m. CST on June 9, 2009.

The phone rang at about six o’clock. It was my ex-wife’s older sister, and she started telling me a sanitized version of my ex-wife and my kids being in an accident. This woman is a physician’s assistant and she was in the ER helping a physician and other assistants, when the kids were brought in. She told me that everything was okay, but then added, “Jesus was in the car with them.” I wondered what she meant.

I didn’t realize how bad it had been until I got to Port Arthur the next day, where they were staying. Seeing your three small kids beaten up is gut wrenching. I asked whether the children would get additional care. Their mom should have cancelled her trip to Spain, but she said that their grandmother (her mom) would take them to the doctor for follow-up. I was shocked that my ex-wife left them.

My ex-wife had turned in front of an oncoming pickup truck and sustained a broadside impact. She was driving a large SUV, which was very fortunate. The vehicle rolled three times and was upside down when it came to a stop. The kids could not all unbuckle themselves; therefore, people at the scene helped them out of the vehicle.

The bottom line is this: On June 9, 2009, I bought the Our Lady of the Lourdes statute at 4:14 p.m., and 53 minutes later, at 5:07 p.m., the SUV was rolling and Jesus Christ was in the car with them. Never doubt the grace and the goodness of Almighty God. Miracles do happen and this was a miracle.​

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She follows me wherever I go.  She gives me WISDOM. She gives me SERENITY.
​She saved my children.

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Serenity Prayer
- Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

God grant me the SERENITY
to accept the things I cannot change; 
COURAGE to change the things I can; 
and WISDOM to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; 
enjoying one moment at a time; 
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; 
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it; 
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will; 
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next. 
Amen.

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Readings for the Memorial of 
Our Lady of Lourdes

February 11
1858
MASS

From the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary


COLLECT
Concede, misericors Deus, fragilitati nostrae praesidium, ut, qui immaculatae Dei Genetricis memoriam agimus, intercessionis eius auxilio, a nostris iniquitatibus resurgamus.
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.


FIRST READING          Isaiah 66:10-14c
Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her,
all you who love her;
Exult, exult with her,
all you who were mourning over her!
Oh, that you may suck fully
of the milk of her comfort,
That you may nurse with delight
at her abundant breasts!
For thus says the LORD:
Lo, I will spread prosperity over her like a river,
and the wealth of the nations like
an overflowing torrent.
As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms,
and fondled in her lap;
As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.
When you see this, your heart shall rejoice,
and your bodies flourish like the grass;
The LORD's power shall be known to his servants.


RESPONSORIAL PSALM Judith 13:18bcde,19

R. You are the highest honor of our race.
Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God, 
above all the women on earth; and blessed be the LORD God, 
the creator of heaven and earth.
R. You are the highest honor of our race.
Your deed of hope will never be forgotten 
by those who tell of the might of God.
R. You are the highest honor of our race. 


ALLELUIA          See Luke 1:45
Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary, 
who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled


GOSPEL          John 2:1-11
There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee,and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.
When the wine ran short,
the mother of Jesus said to him,
"They have no wine."
And Jesus said to her,
"Woman, how does your concern affect me?
My hour has not yet come."
His mother said to the servants,
"Do whatever he tells you."
Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings,
each holding twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus told them,
"Fill the jars with water."
So they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them,
"Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter."
So they took it.
And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine,
without knowing where it came from
(although they who had drawn the water knew),
the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him,
"Everyone serves good wine first,
and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one;
but you have kept the good wine until now."
Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee
and so revealed his glory,
and his disciples began to believe in him. ​

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