🗓️ 11 FebOur Lady of Lourdes

Today's commemoration recalls the series of eighteen apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the young peasant girl Saint Bernadette Soubirous, which occurred between February 11 and July 16, 1858, in the grotto of Massabielle, on the outskirts of Lourdes, France. Four years after Pope Pius IX had defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, the Virgin appeared dressed in white, with a blue sash and golden roses at her feet, identifying herself in the sixteenth apparition with the words: "I am the Immaculate Conception". During the visions, Our Lady exhorted prayer and penance for the conversion of sinners and caused a miraculous spring to flow, which became an instrument of countless physical and spiritual cures, transforming Lourdes into one of the largest pilgrimage shrines in the Catholic world, a sign of divine mercy and Mary's maternal care for the sick and afflicted.

🎼 Introit (Rev 21:2 | Ps 44:2)

Vidi civitátem sanctam, Jerúsalem novam, descendéntem de cœlo a Deo, parátam sicut sponsam ornátam viro suo. Ps. Eructávit cor meum verbum bonum: dico ego ópera mea Regi.

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Ps. My heart hath uttered a good word; I speak my works to the King. ℣. Glory be to the Father.

✉️ Epistle (Rev 11:19; 12:1 and 10)

Apértum est templum Dei in cœlo: et visa est arca testaménti ejus in templo ejus, et facta sunt fúlgura et voces et terræmótus et grando magna. Et signum magnum appáruit in cœlo: Múlier amícta sole, et luna sub pédibus ejus, et in cápite ejus coróna stellárum duódecim. Et audívi vocem magnam in cœlo dicéntem: Nunc facta est salus et virtus, et regnum Dei nostri et potéstas Christi ejus.

And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and the ark of his testament was seen in his temple, and there were lightnings, and voices, and an earthquake, and great hail. And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ.

📖 Gospel (Lk 1:26-31)

In illo témpore: Missus est Angelus Gábriel a Deo in civitátem Galilǽæ, cui nomen Názareth, ad Vírginem desponsátam viro, cui nomen erat Joseph, de domo David, et nomen Vírginis María. Et ingréssus Angelus ad eam dixit: Ave, grátia plena; Dóminus tecum: benedícta tu in muliéribus. Quæ cum audísset, turbáta est in sermóne ejus: et cogitábat, qualis esset ista salutátio. Et ait Angelus ei: Ne tímeas, María, invenísti enim grátiam apud Deum: ecce, concípies in útero et páries fílium, et vocábis nomen ejus Jesum.

At that time, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus.

💭 The Immaculate Conception as temple and ark of the new covenant

The solemnity of Our Lady of Lourdes constitutes a celestial confirmation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, intertwining liturgical theology with popular piety. Today's liturgy identifies Mary Most Holy with the "New Jerusalem" and the "Ark of the Covenant", biblical images that denote absolute purity and the immediate presence of God. In the Gospel, the greeting of the Angel Gabriel, "Hail, full of grace", is not merely a praise, but the revelation of the very name and essence of Mary before God: she is the one who was totally transformed by divine grace from the first instant of her existence, to be a worthy dwelling place for the Word. Saint Augustine, reflecting on the dignity of the Virgin, teaches that "all heresies are silenced in the face of the integrity of the Virgin, from whom Truth was born", emphasizing that to conceive the Holy God, the human nature of Mary needed to be preserved from any stain of original sin (Saint Augustine, De Natura et Gratia). The Epistle presents us with the vision of the temple opened in heaven and the appearance of the ark; in Lourdes, the "little grotto" became this temple where the Virgin, the true ark, manifested herself to bring healing and hope, reaffirming that "now is come salvation and the kingdom of our God". The purity of Mary, symbolized by the living water of the spring of Lourdes, is a reflection of the grace of Christ that she mediates for humanity, for as Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches, the fullness of grace in Mary is so great that it overflows for the salvation of us all (Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, III, q. 27, a. 5). Therefore, to celebrate Lourdes is to recognize that the mercy of God prepared a most pure vessel for the Incarnation, and through this same vessel, He continues to pour out graces upon the ailing world.