"I promise to make you happy ..."

What were the Virgin Mary’s first words to Bernadette in Lourdes, after being noticeably silent during her first two apparitions?

According to author Henri Lasserre, who met Bernadette, in a book published in 1869, Mary’s words were: "I promise to make you happy, not in this world but in the next." Why were those words changed to "I don’t promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next"? We don’t really know. Indeed, "I don’t promise" sounds very different than "I promise." 

This "next world" obviously doesn’t refer only to the happiness of Heaven. Why? Because it would negate the Christian message. Saint Paul says that "the kingdom of God is a matter of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom 14:17). It is today that we must live it, especially as Jesus declared: "Whoever hears my word and believes in the One who sent me has eternal life" (Jn 5:24).

This life with God is accompanied by a mysterious joy, a particular wisdom, which we see in the saints and martyrs, and which is like God’s very signature. Lying on her bed of suffering and holding a crucifix at the end of her life, Bernadette said something that Father Petitot, Dominican, author of a remarkable book written just after Bernadette’s canonization in 1933, quotes for its deep significance: "I am happier than a queen on her throne."

Father André Doze

Excerpt from a talk given at a Conference on the Message of Lourdes, on December 9 -11, 2007, at the Shrine of Lourdes.