FEAST DAY OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES - FEB 11, 2012
The Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in southern France is one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in the world - principally because of the apparent healing properties of the waters of the spring that appeared during the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to a poor and sickly 14-year-old girl, Bernadette Soubiroux.
The first apparition occurred Feb 11, 1858.There were eighteen in all; the last took place Jul 16, of the same year. The mysterious vision Bernadette saw in the hollow of the rock Massabielle, where she and friends had gone to gather firewood, was that of a young and beautiful lady.
“Lovelier than I have ever seen” said the child, as she described the Lady as clothed in white, with a blue ribbon sash and a Rosary in her hand. Now and then the apparition spoke to Bernadette.
One day, the Lady told the girl to drink of a mysterious fountain within the grotto itself. Bernadette was asked to scratch at the ground, and a spring immediately bubbled up and soon gushed forth.
On another occasion the apparition bade Bernadette go and tell the priest she wished a chapel to be built on the spot and processions to be made to the grotto. At first the clergy were incredulous. The priest said he would not believe it unless the apparition gave Bernadette her name.
After another apparition, Bernadette reported that the Lady told her, “I am the Immaculate Conception”.
Though the girl was unfamiliar with the term, Pope Pius IX had proclaimed the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary in the apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus (“Ineffable God”) on Dec 8, 1854.
The Bishop of the Diocese appointed a commission to study the matter and in 1862 accepted the apparitions of our Lady at Lourdes as true. Papal approval followed and a basilica was built upon the rock of Massabielle by M. Peyramale, the parish priest.
In 1883 the foundation stone of another church was laid, as the first was no longer large enough. It was built at the foot of the basilica and was consecrated in 1901 and called the Church of the Rosary. A large church called a basilica was built where Bernadette saw Our Lady.
Although the apparitions took place over a hundred years ago, miracles still happen there. Many people are cured of sicknesses: Crippled people walk again; blind people see again; lonely, broken people find hope again. There, where she once appeared to St Bernadette, Our Lady still shows her love for us.
The grotto is still being visited yearly by countless pilgrims seeking both physical and spiritual healings.
Lourdes has become a place of pilgrimage and healing, but even more of faith. Church authorities have recognised over 60 miraculous cures, although there have probably been many more.
To people of faith this is not surprising. It is a continuation of Jesus’ healing miracles – now performed at the intercession of his mother. Many who visit Lourdes return home with renewed faith and a readiness to serve God in their needy brothers and sisters. 
However, there are also people who doubt the apparitions of Lourdes. Perhaps the best that can be said to them are the words that introduce the film Song of Bernadette: “For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.”
World Day of the Sick
The World Day of the Sick is a feast day of the Roman Catholic Church which was instituted on May 13, 1992 by Blessed John Paul II. Beginning Feb 11, 1993, it is celebrated each year on the commemoration of the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, for all believers to be a “special time of prayer and sharing, of offering one’s suffering.”
World Day of the Sick has three consistent themes. First, it reminds the faithful to pray intensely and sincerely for those who are sick. Second, the celebration invites Christians to reflect on and respond to human suffering. And third, this day recognises and honours all persons who work in health care and serve as caregivers.