Today February 11

Today is the (old) feast of St. Bernadette (1844 - 1879), and also the 150th anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady to her in 1858. This poor (and asthmatic) little 14-year-old was by her very nature very gentle and patient -- and endowed with a sense of humor. When, after the storm of glory had subsided around her and she was just a little Sister in the Notre Dame convent and she found herself suffering from asthma and other ailments, she told a visitor, "I am getting on with my job." The visitor asked her, "What job?" to which Bernadette responded, "Being ill." She remembered that God sees and knows all; He was holding her in the palm of His hand. She responded spontaneously with prayer and patient endurance, even with a smile.

Poor Bernadette must have felt like Cassandra: not a soul, not even her parish priest, any of the nuns, even her own mom and dad -- believed her. She wasn't even saying it was Mary -- just a pretty girl dressed in white who invited her to pray with her. Bernadette went into a kind of trance each time the lady with the beautiful face appeared -- each day for two more days, then on the 18th, then each day for two weeks (except for the 22nd when there was a police force out on patrol and Bernadette had been warned not to go to the grotto [though she did anyway]), including the 25th when she dug in the dirt and a mysterious spring came forth; and then a month later on March 25th when in the local patois the Lady finally revealed her name "I am the Immaculate Conception," and on April 7th, (the last official apparition) and finally on July 16th. She never saw the Lady again -- and, interestingly, had been told NOT to write anything down. Our Lady, if Our Lady it was, was not given to long and banal discourse. She had a few simple things to say: she invited Bernadette to pray, she encouraged the crowd to penitence, she asked that a chapel be built there, she directed Bernadette to dig for the curative stream, and she revealed her name in a simple and illustrative way. That's it. Not to put too fine a point on it, there were no long and interminable "messages" that went on and on (like some other "apparitions" I could name). Not to disparage any other "sightings" of Our Lady, but they do seem to stand in contrast to the clear and succinct messages in this (approved) apparition. My mom thinks it very significant that the Lady told Bernadette "I do not promise to make you happy in this life, but in the next." So true.

It's interesting, too, that immediately after Bernadette's last apparitions (which were always marked by peace -- even silence --- among the crowd, numbering at the last about 1700), many false visionaries appeared. They were young and old, of characters good, bad and indifferent. The parents of Lourdes entertained any suggestions on the part of even their youngest children that they were conduits of divine inspirations. A girl named Marie "saw" the Virgin Mary from April to December and many believed in her. Many of these false visionaries went into convulsions and other unusual behaviors. And the experiences were always at odds with what the simple and straightforward Bernadette saw. She never profited from her visions (not even transportation costs to other cities and countries! -- where perhaps she might conjure the vision at the exact time, corrected for time zones and daylight savings, of course!) and even compared herself to a broom, which, after it does its job, is put back behind the door. Yes, it is an instrument, but that still has dignity -- considering the Hand that wielded it -- and we can be grateful that it was among us. Thank you, dear little (incorrupt) Bernadette. Pray for us.