Thursday, February 11, 1999
Thursday February 11: Fifth Thursday in Ordinary Time and Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes
World Day of Prayer for the SickGreen or White vestments
First Reading: Genesis 2: 18-25
Psalms: Psalm 128: 1-5
Gospel Reading: Mark 7: 24-30
Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes
The Commemoration of Our Lady's first of 18 apparitions at Lourdes, France on February 11, 1844 is pivotal in advancing the Blessed Mother's plans toward the Triumph of her Immaculate Heart which will usher in the glorious Reign of her Divine Son's Sacred Heart. This feast is one of the favorite feasts of Our Blessed Mother for it was in her appearances to visionary Saint Bernadette Soubirous at the grotto of Massabielle that signaled the resurgence of Marian devotion to her Immaculate Heart for she confirmed to Bernadette that she was truly the Immaculate Conception. Since that time there have been countless miracles at the healing waters of Lourdes. Probably the most miraculous is the fact that those who bathe there are, in a sense, returning to the font of their baptism to wash away their old sins and put on the pure robe of grace and a new life in God. Lourdes was approved by Pope Leo XIII in 1890 and Pope Saint Pius X made it an official feast in 1908.
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