holy grotto of Lourdes

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Saturday, 11 February 2017 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, World Day of the Sick (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate together as the whole Church the celebration of Mary, whom we know to be the Mother of God, of our Lord Jesus Christ, who appeared to us mankind in various occasions throughout history, one of the latest of which is the famous apparition at the site of Lourdes in southern France.

Mary as Our Lady of Lourdes had appeared to the simple and humble woman, St. Bernadette Soubirous, a simple daughter of a miller to whom the Blessed Mother of our Lord had given the privilege of witnessing her apparition at Lourdes, then a garbage dump and a place of little importance. She appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in a series of visions, totalling eighteen times, in which she revealed to her, of the need for mankind to seek penance and forgiveness from their sins.

Our Lady of Lourdes appeared to St. Bernadette imploring mankind to atone for their sins and lead a prayerful and repentant life, and to that extent, she wanted St. Bernadette to pass on the messages she had given her to the people around her, that more and more people will heed her messages, and come to believe in the Lord through her. And through the spring which St. Bernadette dug up on the instruction from the Blessed Virgin, healing came upon many of those who came in faith.

Thus the famous healing miracles of Lourdes was brought forth, and many countless people had experienced the miracles of being healed by the holy and blessed water of the spring at the grotto of Lourdes. Through the intercession of Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes, many have received the healing from the Lord, and many of them had been healed from their bodily and spiritual afflictions, and became whole again.

What is the significance of this, brothers and sisters in Christ? Many of us have deep spiritual devotion to Mary, the Blessed Mother of our Lord, but many of us may not understand fully or even misunderstood why we have such a devotion. In the Scripture readings specially selected for this occasion, we see how God fulfilled the promises He had made to all of us mankind through one woman, that is Mary, who was to become the new Eve, as a renewal over the old Eve.

While the old Eve, the first woman had sinned and failed to overcome the temptations of the devil, and therefore by that action, with the first man Adam, sinned before the Lord and fall into the darkness, bringing all of mankind with them, the new Eve, Mary, showed her steadfastness and faith before God and before men alike. She is the epitome of faith and commitment, of purity and righteousness, showing all others how to become a true disciple of the Lord.

And as the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, she has the privilege of being a mother, to have her Son listening to her. As we see in the reading on the Wedding at Cana, which many of us should be quite familiar with, Jesus listened to His mother, who pleaded for the sake of the wedding couple who were in trouble as they ran out of wine during the celebrations.

At that time, for someone to not have provided enough wine and provisions for a celebration as important as a wedding would have been a very major mishap and a very embarrassing moment for both the bride and the groom and their respective families. That was why Mary wanted to help them, and she knew that her Son could help them, but at first He refused to do so, because it was then not yet His time to reveal Himself.

But Mary continued to persist in her attempt, and asked the servants to listen to what Jesus would tell them. And therefore, Jesus performed His first miracle there at Cana, turning the jugs of water into sweetest and highest quality wine, which saved the wedding couple from the predicament. That was how Mary saved the couple and through her intercession, they were rescued by the Lord, Who showed His love and mercy to them.

Mary is the one whom God had promised to us mankind, to our forefathers, when He stood before them and Satan, coming in between them and the deceiver, promising that while Satan would hound the sons and daughters of mankind, becoming a thorn at their side for many ages, but deliverance will come from God through the Woman, and through her, the Saviour Lord that was to come into the world, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Blessed Mary mother of God, who appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous over one and a half centuries ago, we are all called to heed her calling, that we should turn towards God, and do penance and reparation for our sins and wickedness. Today as we remember the moment of the World Day of Prayer for the Sick, we ask our Blessed Mother, Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes, to intercede for the sake of all who were sick, suffering and dying.

And not least of all, for all of us as well. Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, as although we may be perfectly healthy in the body and mind, but because of our sins, we have been made diseased and corrupted in our hearts and souls. We need help from the Lord to make us whole again, pure and clean from all the afflictions of our sins. We need to pray for each other, that God will come to us and bring us from the darkness of our sins and into the light of His grace.

Let us all follow the example of Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes, in her faith, piety and dedication to the Lord our God. Let us imitate her in all of her examples, in all that she had done to obey the will of God, that through her faith, so many good things had come into the world, the greatest of which is the salvation we find in our Lord Jesus, her Son. O, Our Lady of Lourdes, Mary, mother of our God, pray for us sinners and those who are sickened by sin, that we will be blessed with His healing grace and be made worthy of His glorious eternal life. Amen.

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Saturday, 11 February 2017 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, World Day of the Sick (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes)
Mark 8 : 1-10

At that time, soon afterwards Jesus was in the midst of another large crowd, that obviously had nothing to eat. So He called His disciples and said to them, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with Me for three days and now have nothing to eat. If I send them to their homes hungry, they will faint on the way; some of them have come a long way.”

His disciples replied, “Where, in a deserted place like this, could we get enough bread to feed these people?” He asked them, “How many loaves have you?” And they answered, “Seven.” Then He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves and giving thanks, He broke them, and handed them to His disciples to distribute. And they distributed them among the people. They also had some small fish, so Jesus said a blessing, and asked that these be shared as well.

The people ate and were satisfied. The broken pieces were collected, seven wicker baskets full of leftovers. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand in number. Jesus sent them away, and immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

Alternative reading (Mass of Our Lady of Lourdes)
John 2 : 1-11

At that time, three days after Jesus called Nathanael, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus was also invited to the wedding with His disciples. When all the wine provided for the celebration had been served, and they had run out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”

Jesus replied, “Woman, what concern is that to you and Me? My hour has not yet come.” However His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” Nearby were six stone water jars, set there for ritual washing as practiced by the Jews; each jar could hold twenty or thirty gallons.

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them to the brim. Then Jesus said, “Now draw some out and take it to the steward.” So they did. The steward tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing from where it had come; for only the servants who had drawn the water knew. So, he called the bridegroom to tell him, “Everyone serves the best wine first, and when people have drunk enough, he serves that which is ordinary. Instead you have kept the best wine until the end.”

This miraculous sign was the first, and Jesus performed it at Cana in Galilee. In this way He let His glory appear, and His disciples believed in Him.

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Saturday, 11 February 2017 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, World Day of the Sick (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes)
Psalm 89 : 2, 3-4, 5-6, 12-13

Before the mountains were formed, before You made the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity – You are God.

You turn humans back to dust, saying, “Return, o mortals!” A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has passed, or like a watch in the night.

You sow them in their time, at dawn they peep out. In the morning they blossom, but the flower fades and withers in the evening.

So make us know the shortness of our life, that we may gain wisdom of heart. How long will you be angry, o Lord? Have mercy on Your servant.

Alternative reading (Mass of Our Lady of Lourdes)
Judith 13 : 18bcde, 19

My daughter, may the Most High God bless you more than all women on earth. And blessed be the Lord God, the Creator of heaven and earth, Who has led you to behead the leader of our enemies.

Never will people forget the confidence you have shown; they will always remember the power of God.

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Saturday, 11 February 2017 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, World Day of the Sick (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes)
Genesis 3 : 9-24

YHVH God called the man saying to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard Your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree I ordered you not to eat?”

The man answered, “The woman You put with me gave me fruit from the tree and I ate it.” God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me and I ate.”

YHVH God said to the serpent, “Since you have done that, be cursed among all the cattle and wild beasts! You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will make you enemies, you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”

To the woman, God said, “I will increase your suffering in childbearing, and you will give birth to your children in pain. You will be dependent on your husband and he will lord it over you.” To the man, He said, “Because you have listened to your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I forbade you to eat, cursed be the soil because of you! In suffering you will provide food for yourself from it, all the days of your life.”

“It will produce thorn and thistle for you and you will eat the plants of the field. With sweat on your face you will eat your bread, until you return to clay, since it was from clay that you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

The man called his wife by the name of Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. YHVH God made garments of skin for the man and his wife, and with these He clothed them. Then YHVH God said, “Man has now become like one of Us making himself judge of good and evil. Let him not stretch out his hand to take and eat from the tree of life as well, and live forever.”

So God cast him from the garden of Eden to till the soil from which he had been made. And after having driven the man out, God posted Cherubim and a flaming sword that kept turning at the east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of Life.

Alternative reading (Mass of Our Lady of Lourdes)
Isaiah 66 : 10-14c

Rejoice for Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her. Be glad with her, rejoice with her, all you who were in grief over her, that you may suck of the milk from her comforting breasts, that you may drink deeply from the abundance of her glory.

For this is what YHVH says : I will send her peace, overflowing like a river; and the nations’ wealth, rushing like a torrent towards her. And you will be nursed and carried in her arms and fondled upon her lap. As a son comforted by his mother, so will I comfort you. At the sight of this, your heart will rejoice; like grass, your bones will flourish.