May Jesus Christ be
praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.
She brought an
invitation. One hundred and fifty-six
years ago, on the 11th of February, the Mother of God brought an
invitation. In the small village of
Lourdes in France, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a humble, peasant girl
named Bernadette. Mary would appear to
Bernadette eighteen times between the 11th of February and the 16th
of July of that year. The Blessed Virgin
Mary gave an invitation to Bernadette.
She gave an invitation to the people of France. She gave an invitation to the people of the
world. And today, the Mother of God
gives an invitation to you and to me.
Mary invites us to
conversion. The Blessed Virgin Mary
invited Bernadette to pray for the conversion of sinners and to do penance for
them. The invitation to conversion is an
invitation to follow the way of the Lord Jesus more closely. It is an invitation to turn away from sin and
to turn toward the Lord. The invitation
to do penance is an opportunity for us to cooperate with the grace of God so
that what has been damaged through the horrors of sin might be restored through
the light of grace. The Mother of God
invites us to follow her Son.
Mary invites us to the
cross. The appearance of Our Lady in
Lourdes has always been associated with the sick and the suffering. Mary invites us to join her at the foot of
the cross of her Son. Mary looks upon those
who suffer with the same eyes of mercy and loves with the same pierced and
compassionate heart as she looked upon and loved her Son. In every suffering and in every kind of
suffering, Mary invites us to stand with her and to be cared for by her. She is the loving mother who comforts her
children. She is the loving and
compassionate mother who meets us along the road to our own Calvary. The Mother of God invites us to the cross of
her Son.
Mary invites us to
experience healing. During one of the times
that Mary appeared to Bernadette, Mary invited her to drink from the spring of
water. What originally appeared as only
a few drops of muddy water is now a mighty spring whose waters flow abundantly
and bring healing and peace. Lourdes is
a place of physical healing, but more importantly, it is a place of spiritual
healing. It is a place where those who
doubt are restored to faith, where those who despair are restored to hope, and
where those who are dead in their sins are restored to life in Christ’s
love. The Mother of God invites us to
experience the healing power of her Son at Lourdes.
In the Shrine of
Lourdes in France, the Blessed Virgin Mary invites the world to conversion, to
the cross, and to experience healing.
And now, dear brothers and sisters in the parish of Our Lady of Lourdes
in Monroe, the Blessed Virgin Mary invites you and me to conversion, to the
cross of her Son, and to experience healing.
We come to this place, to this sacred ground, to follow the Lord Jesus
more closely. We come here because at
this moment the invitation of Christ is more powerful to us than the passing
things of the world. Here we turn away
from the lies of the world, the flesh and the devil, so that we can embrace the
truth in Christ Jesus. We respond to the
invitation of Mary because we know that our sufferings will only find their
meaning and only find their completion in the holy cross of the Savior. And we come here to receive the healing power
of Christ, so that we will flow from this place like the waters of
Lourdes. Like the waters of Lourdes we
will flow from this sanctuary and the witness of our lives will bring faith to
those who doubt, hope to those who despair, and to the spiritually dead, life
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Preached
at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
