There are many things to be found on the internet that are
worth far less than the time you will spend on them. One of the best and most worthwhile I have
found, though, is the blog of our own (that is, Archdiocese of Washington
priest) Msgr. Charles Pope. Consistently
for years, his work has displayed insight and clarity, alongside fidelity and
charity. Even (especially?) in the face
of incendiary commenters (both for and against his work), Msgr. Pope maintains
an exemplary standard and tone.
Why do I bring this to your attention? Because I just found that his recent post
about our patroness, Saint Bernadette Soubirous. Just this past week, I had been lamenting how
little attention we give to this remarkable person, even here where we are
supposed to be dependent upon her aid. I
was trying to think how to remedy that, and here is a start.
I share with you an excerpt from his post on our patroness,
but also this link to the whole post. I
hope you use it to get to know him and his work, for it will inform and elevate
your faith. http://blog.adw.org/2016/01/i-am-ground-like-a-grain-of-wheat-a-reflection-on-the-paradoxical-passion-of-st-bernadette/.
Monsignor
Smith
The
life of St. Bernadette Soubirous was steeped in paradox and irony. She was the
chosen visionary of our Lady at Lourdes and was to bring forth, by heavenly
guidance, a spring that would bring miraculous healing to thousands. Yet
Bernadette herself was beset with health problems that would cause her dreadful
suffering. Her quiet and heroic suffering, something she accepted with
obedience and as a kind of mission for souls, is not common knowledge today.
Hers was a beautiful, difficult testimony; she suffered mightily. I base my
reflections here on a biography of her by Fr. Rene Laurentin: Bernadette Speaks: A Life of St. Bernadette Soubirous
in Her Own Words.
Bernadette
Soubirous was born in January of 1844. Her father and mother were among the
working poor of the town of Lourdes, France. Her father was a resident miller
of a mill he did not own. For a time, the family found lodging in the Boly
Mill, where Bernadette was born. Surely the persistent, gentle sounds of the
mill grinding the wheat were some of her earliest memories. But famine brought
financial ruin to the Soubirous family; the mill was sold and they lost
everything. So poor did they become that they were forced to live in a cell of
the former town jail.
Such
poverty and poor nutrition surely contributed to her later health troubles and
to her diminutive stature. Bernadette stood only 4 feet 7 inches tall and had
an asthmatic condition that would be her cross throughout her life. […]
Many
visitors would ask her if she wanted to be a nun. She said, “Yes, but I haven’t
the health.” By 1864 her poor health had not improved much, but her attraction
to the religious life had grown. Bernadette despaired that she would ever have
the health to enter into the religious life. And yet the sisters who saw her
growth in holiness were willing to make exceptions.
In
1866 Bernadette entered The Sisters of Charity of Nevers, the same order that
had schooled her in Lourdes. Entering the novitiate, she looked forward to the
relative seclusion and solitude. The steady stream of visitors and the burden
of her fame continued to weary her.
Within
a month of entering, as the cool of late September approached, Bernadette’s
asthma grew worse. […]
Two
days before she died, St. Bernadette offered a metaphor for the mystery of her
suffering. Something in her hearkened back to the Boly Mill where she grew up
in Lourdes. The grinding of the millstone had lulled her to sleep as an infant
and accompanied her first years as a child. Perhaps it was that now-distant
memory that caused her to say, shortly before she died, “I am ground like a
grain of wheat.” She had never willfully complained about her suffering. Somehow
she seemed to know this was her mission: to suffer for others. […]
Most
know St. Bernadette simply as the little girl kneeling in prayer before the
Virgin Mary in countless grottos throughout the world. Less well known is the
private, personal, and profound passion of a great woman who discovered that
her mission was to suffer for others.
Where
does the water of Lourdes get its power to heal? Surely from the Lord. But
something of Bernadette’s passion runs through those waters as well. They are
indeed precious waters, bought at great price.
Saint Bernadette, pray for us.
