Today is the optional memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes. Many pilgrims from all over the world travel to this French town to ask for Mary’s intercession for their own healing or that of others. And Jesus himself in the Gospel reveals himself as the source of all healing for man, even to the deepest healing, victory over death.
The message of Our Lady at Lourdes or in other places has a centrality: Jesus. No healing can be authentic outside the truth of the Gospel. Mary, in fact, always leads back to Jesus, and every authentic apparition is recapitulated in Christ by the Church.
Private Revelations
Why are there apparitions and to whom are they addressed? Apparitions are private revelations addressed primarily to the visionaries, chosen by God with the same criteria he used when he was among us: in fact, they are often the last, the little ones and the simple ones. An evident sign of the truthfulness of an apparition is their life; a life that remains simple, hidden, dedicated to the Lord and to others. Often these apparitions have a profound echo in the conscience of many, but we must never forget that they are private revelations that must be interpreted in the light of the message that God wanted to send through Mary to that visionary and, in that context and by reflection, also to us. They add nothing to the “public revelation” of God, which culminated in Christ, and should not be interpreted in an absolute way and without the light that comes from the Church. Mary’s will is never different from that of Jesus, and therefore the voice of the mother is the warm voice of God who places Jesus in the heart of man in the cradle of the Church.
To Be Holy
In particular, the message of Lourdes, where the Virgin Mary presented herself as the Immaculate Conception, invites us to rediscover our vocation: “The Father chose us… to be holy and immaculate in his sight in love” (Eph 1:34). Here is our call: to be holy, that is, “full of God”, conformed to Him; and to be immaculate, clear, pure, free from sin. The Holy Virgin reminds us of our greatness, invites us to reach it, and helps us on the journey. As he has exemplarily done, we too are called to welcome the Lord Jesus, to safeguard the relationship with Him, to follow Him, conforming ourselves to his love.
Today’s Gospel calls us to live this dynamism of faith, not to reduce our relationship with God to the superficial observance of some rules, to feel right and – perhaps – better than others. We are called to heaven, to holiness, to become “champions of love.” Here is our call. If we have lost sight of it, if we are getting bogged down in things of little importance, if discouragement is taking over or the slavery of sin is suffocating us, let us turn our gaze again to Mary, our tender mother, let us pray to her, entrusting to her the knots of our lives. And let us keep in our hearts her “testament,” a wonderful synthesis of all her actions and of our lives: “Whatever [Jesus] tells you, do it!” (cf. Jn 2:1-11).
