The apparitions of the Virgin Mary a Bernadette Soubirous on the Massabielle grotto, in Lourdes, gave rise to one of the greatest Marian devotions. Since then, the grotto has become a sanctuarywhere every year, thousands of pilgrims from all over the world come to pray to the Immaculate Conception. Through prayers and novenas, the Our Lady of Lourdes welcomes the sufferings of the sick and afflicted and transmits many graces to them: consolation, appeasement, healing.
Caring for the little ones with Saint Bernadette
The apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous
In the year 1858, Bernadette Soubirous saw a white lady appear (18 times) (in the Massabielle grotto), who revealed her name to her: The Immaculate Conception. The Blessed Virgin chose this young, simple and humble girl, to call to conversion a humanity that was moving away from God. “Pray for sinners”asked the Virgin. Through Bernadette, Mary shows how much God cares and cares for her children, especially those who are often excluded, forgotten, suffering.
After her “public” life, Bernadette entered the congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers, where she became Sister Maria-Bernarda; all her prayers were addressed to sinners and the sick. This wonderful sister was beatified in 1933.
The grotto of Lourdes
The Sanctuary developed around the Massabielle cave, the place of the apparitions of the Virgin. If now the Sanctuary is an impressive place due to the number of pilgrims, the two basilicas (Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Basilica of the Rosary and Basilica of Saint Pius X, the Way of the Cross and the numerous buildings for the reception of the sick), the Virgin Mary had chosen a very simple and remote place to appear to the young Bernadette.
The Magnificat of Saint Bernadette
“Oh Mary, you appeared to Bernadette
in the cavity of the rock;
to the cold and the shadows of winter
you brought them the warmth of your presence
and the radiance of your beauty.
Instill hope, renew confidence
in the emptiness of our lives,
so many times plunged into the shadow,
and in the emptiness of our world,
in which Evil asserts its strength.
You, who are the Immaculate Conception,
help us, for we are sinners.
Give us humility for conversion
and courage for penance.
Teach us to pray for all men.
Guide us to the source of true life.
Help us to walk as pilgrims
within the Church.
Stimulate in us the hunger for the Eucharist,
wayfarer’s bread, the Bread of Life.
Oh Mary, the Holy Spirit did wonders for you:
He, with his power, has placed you next to the Father,
in the glory of your Son, the Living One.
Return your motherly look
to our miseries of body and spirit.
May your presence, like comforting light,
shine by our side in the throes of death.
We want to pray to you, oh Mary,
with the simplicity of children, like Bernadette.
That we enter, like her, in the spirit
of the Beatitudes;
so we can, already down here,
begin to know the joys of the Kingdom
and sing with you your Magnificat.
Glory to You, Virgin Mary,
blessed servant of the Lord,
Mother of God,
abode of the Holy Spirit!
Amen!”
Communion of prayer for the healing of mind and body
Millions of pilgrims in prayer
Lourdes has become an important place of pilgrimageespecially for the sick. To pray to Our Lady of Lourdes is to enter into communion of prayer with the millions of pilgrims who come to Lourdes every year from all over the world. By placing at the feet of the Virgin what makes us suffer in body and soul, we share the sufferings of our brothers (Christians or not) and let ourselves be carried away by this immense shared hope!
The miracles of Lourdes not only refer to health recovery, but also and above all to conversion of heartsthe peace of the soul and the consolation in the physical and moral tests that we can find.
Sanctuary of Lourdes live
It is possible to pray in communion with all the pilgrims thanks to the prayers that take place every day in the cave and that are broadcast live on the Lourdes channel (it is also possible to find the broadcasts in repetition).
Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes
“Oh most lovable Virgin of Lourdes,
Mother of God and our Mother!
Full of affliction and with tears flowing from our eyes, we come in the bitter hours of illness to your maternal heart, to ask you to pour out the treasure of your mercy on us by the hand full.
We are unworthy for our sins that you listen to us: but remember that it has never been heard that none of those who have come to You have been abandoned.
Tender mother! Kind mother! Sweet mother!
Since God works by your hand innumerable cures in the prodigious Grotto of Lourdes, healing so many victims of pain, also keep a look of blessing for our poor sick person… (say the name of the sick person).
Obtain from your Divine Son Jesus Christ the desired health, if it is to be for the greater glory of God.
But much more, reach us all the forgiveness of our sins, patience and resignation in suffering and above all a great and eternal love for our God, imprisoned for us in the Tabernacles.
Amen.”
“Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!”
“Comfort of the afflicted, pray for us!”
“Health of the sick, pray for us!”
There are many other prayers to pray to Our Lady of Lourdes: the Lourdes rosary and, of course, the novena to Our Lady of Lourdes. We can also pray a novena to the Immaculate Conception; in fact, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception comes from the apparitions of the Virgin in Lourdes and those of the Rue du Bac in the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal.
Pray to Our Lady of Lourdes with
is an innovative social prayer network that brings together thousands of Christians from around the world, around various spiritual proposals. In fact, it is a great help to persevere in prayer and find content adapted to each spiritual need. For example, discover this novena to pray to the Virgin of Lourdes, patron saint of the sick.