In Mary, the sign is grace
and must be welcomed
with gratitude and love
February 11th, 2021
Memorial of the Apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes
Meditation of the day of Pontiff Samuel
(Draft)
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and dear sisters, today we celebrate the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes with a living joy in our hearts. On 11 February 1858, Mary Most Holy appeared to a 14 year old girl, Bernadette Soubirous, to then announce herself, on the feast of the Annunciation of 25 March, as the Immaculate Conception, thus confirming the dogma of Pope Pius IX who in 1854, therefore four years before that event, proclaimed the dogma of faith that sanctioned Mary as conceived without the stain of original sin, hence conceived Immaculate. Therefore, the Immaculate conception.
Great is the grace that Heaven bestowed upon us at Lourdes, so that the world could even more honour and love Mary and understand her even more, in her essence and substance. Here are the abundant and copious signs over time gushed forth from the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who gave her blessed and miraculous water, through which many have been healed, in their body, in their spirit and in their soul. Here is the sign that confirms this great revelation. A sign, that of the water healing the body of many, that doesn’t end in and of itself, but a sign that bears abundant fruit the more alive is the faith of those who are called to receive that sign. The sign is thus a greater grace that Heaven grants to the sons of God and to all men and women of good will.
No one can disown the sign of Heaven on a systematic basis. Likewise, no one can despise the grace, lightheartedly saying that the signs do not help faith to increase or that they do not help people to seek faith and then to obtain it. Grace is grace and must be welcomed and loved. The sign is grace and must be appreciated, or at least not despised. Every son and every daughter are called to appreciate the gift of the father or of the mother who bend down over their hearts to bestow on them a greater help, even though that help, in that moment, may be not fully understood in its wholeness and depth.
This is what has happened here too, in the New Jerusalem, where the Heavenly Father and the Holy Mother have chosen Maria Giuseppina Norcia to announce to everyone that this is the Place chosen by Heaven for the fulfilment of the Celestial promises. And to confirm and support this announcement, here are the signs, the fruit of divine grace, that Heaven has bestowed and continues to bestow on all those who come to the Little Cradle of the Child Jesus with faith. Here is the holy water, that Mary Most Holy has wanted to give to her sons and daughters in this Land of Love. And here are the numerous corporal and spiritual graces that so many have received, confirming the truthfulness of the revelation and of the mission of Maria Giuseppina Norcia, which now continues. Mary Mother Church accompanies us in helping others to understand, love and welcome the New Jerusalem, the metaphysical dwelling that the Father has settled here.
What has happened at Lourdes is a step along the path of revelation and manifestation of the essence and the substance of Mary Most Holy, that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit now want to make completely known to all God’s sons. Here is Mary, known and acknowledged over time as “the Mother of God”, then as “the ever Virgin”, then as “the Immaculate Conception”, then as “the Assumed into Heaven, in body and soul”, and now known and acknowledged as “the Universal Coredemptrix”, She who, with the Son, through the Son and in the Son, Christ, has the power to save, through the special grace conferred on Her by God the Father Almighty.
Mary, the full of grace, bestows her physical and spiritual graces on all those who invoke her with faith. Mary is the Almighty by grace. And the Father grants everything to Mary. Every grace asked, through Mary, to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, can be obtained the more alive is the faith in Mary, in Christ, through Christ and with Christ.
This is the power of the action of the Holy Spirit, who is in Mary, the Temple of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit acts either directly, from heart to heart, or through the outward signs, given to humanity, such as the blessed water, the sign of the miraculous action of the Holy Spirit.
In the New Jerusalem everything is now being fulfilled and all is lived in Spirit and Truth. Do not be afraid. Come and quench your thirst, in Spirit and Truth, with the water of the Fountain of Life, which springs from the Heart of Mary, who gives to everyone her milk and her honey, her grace, to lead everyone to eternally live the eternal Life, which is Christ the Lord, the One and Triune God. Mary, the all beautiful, the all pure, the Immaculate Conception by the work of the Holy Spirit, in her threefold essence of Handmaid, Bride and Queen, is helping and will always help us, giving everyone her grace and her infinite love, to lead everyone to live a righteous, sound and holy life. Love Mary. Pray to Mary. Love her with all your heart, invoke her and nothing will be lacking. Mary, the full of grace, can do everything. “I am the Immaculate Conception”, said Mary in her manifestation to Bernadette. And we today, joining Bernadette and St Catherine Labourè, the saint of the miraculous medal, say together, with one heart and one voice: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who appeal to you”.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.