February
11
Feast of Our
Lady of Lourdes
From this grotto I issue a special call to women. Appearing here,
Mary entrusted her message to a young girl, as if to emphasize the special
mission of women in our own time, tempted as it is by materialism and
secularism: to be in today's society a witness of those essential values which
are seen only with the eyes of the heart. To you, women, falls the task of
being sentinels of the Invisible! Pope John
Paul II
H
|
ow
fortunate we are to have so many ways and so many days to honor Mother Mary. Through
her fiat—the yes, let it be done—that
she answered to God, the omnipotent Lord of the universe took on human flesh to
redeem us. Countless great saints and learned theologians, from St. Bernard of Clairvaux
to St. Albert the Great to Pope John Paul II in our own time have felt and
expressed their powerful and heartfelt devotions to Mary.
When
Jesus said to his beloved disciple John, “Behold, your mother!” he was speaking
to every one of us. On February 11, 1858, Mary appeared for the first time to a
poor, humble, and not particularly devout young girl, Bernadette Soubirous
(Feb. 18). On March 25, the beautiful lady announced herself with the words, “I
am the Immaculate Conception.” Little Bernadette had no idea Pope Pius IX (Feb.
7) had officially proclaimed—four years prior—the dogma of the Mary’s
Immaculate Conception. The Feast of our Lady of Lourdes was declared by the
Church in 1907. Countless pilgrims have journeyed to the healing waters of
Lourdes, France in the century since.
Exercise:
Our
Lady of Lourdes appeared with a rosary draped over her right arm. What better
day for a rosary workout? If you have not explored the ways in which The RosaryWorkout combines the spiritual with the physical, we invite you today to do
just that! Visit www.RosaryWorkout.com to see how caring for yourself
spiritually and physically will energize you and will allow you to fulfill your
vocation more joyfully!
(this excerpt is reprinted with permission from the Catholic daily devotional Tending the Temple)
I always get a few strange looks for not having the television on or my earphones in while I am on the treadmill....but as I count laps, I count Hail Marys, I will check the Rosary Work out page! Thank you for the link and thank you for this reminder of this special feast!
ReplyDeleteI promise you will love what Peggy Bowes brings to Catholics in The Rosary Workout!
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