Unconditional Commitment with Mary

Bernadette Soubirous is the saint of Lourdes … the saint of penance… the saint of poverty. Our Lady’s child visionary is also to many the saint of family. A string of seemingly endless back luck fell on the Soubirous family, but put to the test time and again, Bernadette and her family discovered the meaning of unconditional commitment. “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next”…The happiness that Mary promised to Bernadette was not only for life after death. It is the happiness experienced by all those who progress in the way of prayer; who go beyond prayerful words to the discovery of true prayer. There at the grotto, Bernadette’s deeply prayerful experience silently touched the hearts of all who watched, and crowds began to form in ever greater numbers as the famous Fortnight of Apparitions progressed. Since the apparitions, millions of pilgrims have come to pray to Our Lady of Lourdes in the Grotto of Massabielle. Many sick people have been cured: 67 cures have been recognized as miracles. One day, you also will be happy to come to Lourdes, to pray in front of the grotto where Bernadette saw the Blessed Virgin eighteen times…