The Miracles of Lourdes

I want to share with you about Lourdes, France—the site where Bernadette Soubirous saw the Holy Mother eighteen times in 1858. What fascinates me about these holy apparitions is that Mary always leaves behind something that says “I was here.” At Lourdes, she instructed Bernadette to dig a hole in the dirt and put grass in her mouth. Everyone thought she was mad—until a stream of water appeared. A woman in the village whose son was crippled took her little boy and put him in that water, and he was healed. That was the first miracle.

There have been 72 documented healings at Lourdes—it’s quite a rigorous thing to go through the process of having a healing declared a miracle. At my own college, a man who was 95% blind went to pray at our replica of the Lourdes grotto. He said to Mother Theodore Guerin, “You don’t know me, but if you have any influence up there, I’d appreciate it.” When he woke up the next morning, he had 20/20 vision—but his cataracts were still there. His doctor said, “This is impossible. It is a miracle.”

Sister Kevin said it best: a miracle is when heaven bends the laws of the universe just for you. I deeply believe in the intervention of the holy world into our world—and Heaven’s not Catholic, Heaven’s not Jewish, Heaven’s not Muslim. Heaven is heaven.

I am thrilled, thrilled to go to Lourdes, and I really hope that you would come too, and bring with you all parts of yourself that need the grace of God and the Holy Mother and the divine universe. You can learn more here »