Today is Feb. 11th, the anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes, it’s also World Day of the Sick and the 6th Sunday of ordinary time. We will examine how Leprosy is symbolic of the forgiveness of sins and see how the message of Lourdes is helpful to the sick of body and soul.
In the first reading, from Leviticus, the lepers were told to shout, “Unclean, unclean”to prevent others from having contact with them. In the Gospel, Jesusstretched out His hand to touch the leper and instantly cured him. The people were horrified Jesus touched the leper because whoever touched a leper could get the disease. The leper had two sufferings; not only was he suffering from illness, but he was cut off from the community.
When Jesus healed the leper, Our Lord not only healed his illness but restored him to his community again. Our Lord told the leper to go and show the priest.
Back then, priests examined sores and blotches and would determine if the person would be separated from the community or if the blotch was gone the person could return to the community. This action of showing the blotch to the priest and the priest restoring the leper to the community is symbolic of what happens when we go to confession.
When we commit a mortal sin, Catholics are required to go to confession to the priest before receiving Holy Communion. When we commit a mortal sin, we separate our self from the mystical body of Christ. We separate our self from God. And if we want to be restored to body of Christ and be able once again to receive Holy Communion, we do as the leper, we go to the priest, and show him, so to speak, the blotch of sins on our soul. Jesus through the priest absolves and washes away our sins. We are restored to the body of Christ and able to receive Holy Communion.
In Lourdes, France there is a miraculous spring of water that through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary is responsible for over 7000 cases of physical healing, but millions of cases of spiritual healing. There the Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous, a 14 yr. old peasant girl.
In 1858 in the grotto of Massabielle, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared 18 times to Bernadette. The first apparition occurred on February 11thnear the River Gave. Mary asked her to pray the Rosary. In later apparitions, She requested the people do penance and pray for sinners. She wanted people to come in procession to the grotto and to have a church built on the site. She asked Bernadette to dig in the dirt near the cave, which was a pigs’ shelter. As she dug, a spring of water came up out of the ground and Bernadette was told to drink the water and wash her face in it. Later, Mary identified Herself as the Immaculate Conception.
As of today, there have been 69 Church approved medical miracles, due people who have come to bathe in the waters of Lourdes including one miracle approved in 2013. The miracles have been dramatic ranging from paralytics who have walked, pilgrims cured of blindness, cancer tumors disappeared and multiple sclerosis healed. Lourdes has since become one of the most famous shrines, attracting more than a million pilgrims each year. A Medical Bureau was established in 1882 to test the authenticity of the cures. The doctors include unbelievers as well as believers and any doctor is welcome to take part in the examination of the alleged cures.
Though thousands have been physically healed, millions have left Lourdes with greater faith. Moral and spiritual cures are more marvelous than physical cures. Some go to Lourdes with lifetime prejudices, yet their minds are cleared in a sudden manner. Frequently skepticism gives way to faith; coldness and antagonism become whole hearted love of God. Again and again those who are not cured of bodily pain receive an increase of faith and resignation – true peace of soul. They return accepting their suffering and resolve to carry their cross of their illness.
Here is a story of one miracle. The case of Gabriel Gargam is probably one of the best known of all the thousands of cures at Lourdes. He had a twofold healing, spiritual and physical.
Born in 1870 of good Catholic parents, he gave early promise of being a clever student and a fervent Catholic. The promise was not fulfilled because at 15 years of age, he had lost his faith.
Later in his life, he obtained a position in the postal service and was carrying out his duties as a sorter in December of 1899, when the train he was traveling from Bordeaux to Paris collided with another train. He was thrown 52 feet from the train. He lay in the snow, badly injured and unconscious for 7 hours. Paralyzed from the waist down, he was barely alive when lifted onto a stretcher. He was taken to a hospital and after eight months weighedonly 78 pounds. He couldn’t eat solid food and so took nourishment only by a feeding tube once a day. He brought suit for damages against the railroad. The Court granted him a yearly settlement to care for his needs. He could not help himself even in the smallest ways. Two trained nurses were needed to assist him night and day. Doctors testified the man was a hopeless cripple for life.
Previous to the accident Gabriel had not been to Church for 15 years. His aunt, a nun of the Order of the Sacred Heart, begged him to go to Lourdes, but he refused. She asked him to place himself in the hands of Our Lady of Lourdes. After continuous pleading of his mother he consented to go to Lourdes. It was now two years since the accident, and not for a moment had he left his bed all that time. He was carried on a stretcher to the train. The exertion caused him to faint, and for a full hour was unconscious. They were on the point of abandoning the pilgrimage, as it looked as if he would die on the way, but his mother insisted they continue.
When he arrived at Lourdes, he went to confession and received Holy Communion. There was no change in his condition. Later he was carried to the miraculous pool and tenderly placed in its waters – no effect. Rather a bad effect resulted and he lay motionless. After a time, since he did not revive, they thought he died. Sorrowfully they wheeled the carriage back to the hotel. On the way back they saw the procession of the Blessed Sacrament approaching. Having placed a cloth over the face of the man whom they thought was dead, they stood aside to let it pass.
The priest passed carrying the Sacred Hostgave Benediction over the sorrowful group and the covered body. Soon there was a movement from under the covering. To the amazement of the bystanders, the body raised itself to a sitting posture. While the family was looking on dumbfounded and the spectators gazed in amazement, Gabriel said in a full, strong voice that he wanted to get up. They thought that it was a delirium before death, and tried to soothe him, but he was not to be restrained. He got up and stood erect, walked about and said he was cured. The multitude looked in wonder, and then fell on their knees and thanked God for this new sign of His power at the Shrine of His Blessed Mother.
Gabriel returned to the carriage and was wheeled back to the hotel. For two years hardly any food passed his lips, but now he sat down at the table and ate a hearty meal.
Notice how Gabriel cut himself off from the mystical body of Christ for 15 years because he no longer attended church. Just as a leper does not participate in the community, he separated himself from the Church and due to the accident could not participate in the community.
Only through absolution given to Gabriel in confessionwas he restored to the mystical body of Christ. Our Lord healed Gabriel’s soul first in Confession, then he received Jesus in Holy Communion. Then he was bathed in the waters from the miraculous spring and when he was blessed by the priest during the Eucharistic procession, Jesus healed his body.
The events of Our Lady of Lourdes remind the sick of today, what is most important is the healing of our soul. Even if our body is not healed our soul can be healed which prepares us for heaven. Eventually we all die.Even those who had miraculous cures later died, but our soul lives forever.
If we die, while our soul is cut off from the mystical body of Christ, due to mortal sin, then we will forever be cut off from heaven and we will go to hell to suffer for all eternity.If we think suffering in this life is hard, it’s nothing compared to the suffering of hell forever. It is better to accept our suffering in this life, so as to avoid suffering in the next. If we are not restored to the mystical body of Christ, through the absolution of a priest in confession, or if our sins are not forgiven by anointing of the sick, we will suffer the flames of hell forever.
Suffering is precious and valuable. As St. Vincent de Paul once said, “If we only knew the precious treasure hidden in infirmities, we would receive them with the same joy with which we receive the greatest benefits, and we would bear them without ever complaining or showing signs of weariness.”
St. Rose of Lima said, “This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross-- they can find no road to climb to heaven."
My dear people, may we resolve to regularly go and show our sins to the priest in confession. And if we commit a serious sin, run quickly without delay to receive spiritual healing.And if we want to be physically healed, let us first receive a spiritual healing, allowing Jesus to touch our soul, in confession, just like He touched and healed the leper.
Even though we may suffer from lack of nourishment, because we cannot eat, with a fever that will not break, with pain that will not go away, from sleepless nights and the fear of never getting better, we accept all our sufferings as penance for our sins, for the conversion of sinners and especially for love of Jesus and we trust Our Lady of Lourdes, that Shewill pray for us and keep us close to Her Son, so that when we die,our soul will have been washed clean in the blood of the Lamb. Let us keep our eyes on the hidden treasures, the spiritual joys, and the glory that awaits us in heaven.