Embraced by Our Mother

Earlier this month I was the spiritual leader of a group of people from the Diocese of Pittsburgh and other places on a Marian Pilgrimage to shrines and churches dedicated to Our Lady in Portugal, Spain, and France. One of the destinations was the beloved shrine of Lourdes, where the Mother of God appeared in 1858 to 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous in a grotto along the Gave River.  Lourdes is a spectacularly beautiful venue   in the foothills of the French Pyrenees Mountains. On the top of an outcropping of rocks where this grotto is found, a magnificent basilica was built in the nineteenth century. Actually, there are two basilicas, one built on top of the other. The upper one is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception; the lower one is dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. Curving down from the upper level of this beautiful edifice on each side are two walkways constructed of the same stone as the church.  They seem to embrace the “esplanade” or wide open space before the basilica and are often compared to two arms extending into the square as if to gather the people who come to pray. These arms could be said to be of our Holy Mother the Church, but also, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom Jesus gave to us to be Our Mother as He was dying on the Cross. As I gazed upon these arms as I stood praying in the square, I began to thank God for the gift of the Church, the Body of Christ on earth, and the incomparable gift of the Virgin Mary given to us to be Our Loving Mother.
           
One day when we were in Lourdes, I went to the Pilgrims’ Office  in the Spiritual Center to arrange for a place to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for our group of twenty-six people. The head of the office told me that the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary would be available in an hour and a half. I spread the word among the people of the group, and then, about twenty minutes before the Mass was to begin, went to the sacristy to prepare for Mass. There the sacristan, a soft-spoken French man, told me he had received no communication about the Mass. He indicated that he needed direction in order to proceed. I then began to walk across the square to the office in order to clarify the permission for the Mass. As I walked, I was stopped by many people asking for a blessing, some asking for prayers for sick relatives or other intentions, others looking for Mass, and others asking many different questions. Finally reaching the office, I asked them to call the sacristan and the question of offering Mass was resolved.
           
When I walked into the basilica to intone the Entrance Antiphon of the Mass, I was amazed to see not only our group of 26. In addition, I saw many people that I had spoken to during my walk to the Pilgrims’ Office. They were from France, Spain, Portugal, India, Malesia, Germany, Hong Kong, the United States, Africa, and South America. They were all gathered together before the altar seeking many favors and graces through the intercession of Our Immaculate Mother. I thought of the arms of the esplanade that gather pilgrims together, each with his or her own story and crosses to bear. I thought of the line from the eighth chapter of the document Lumen Gentium of the Second Vatican Council that describes what Our Blessed Mother does for us. “She (Mary) summons the faithful to her Son, to His sacrifice and to the Father’s love” (LG #65).
           
I am a firm believer in the assertion of Pope St. John Paul II, who said, “In God’s Providence there are no coincidences.” I believe that the reason for the miscommunication about the celebration of the Mass that resulted in my crossing the square again and speaking to so many people was, in God’s Providence, so that many more people would come to that Mass and be immersed in the Sacrifice of Jesus. I believe that I unknowingly became an instrument in Our Lady’s hands in summoning so many others to her Son, His sacrifice, and to the Father’s love. Her arms are always extended to embrace us and bring us to her Son Jesus.
           
Our Lady’s Shrine at Lourdes is an amazing place. It seems that for pilgrims who come to Lourdes, every step of their pilgrim way provides an occasion of grace, an occasion to grow closer to Jesus through His Most Holy Mother.  Even when things do not go as we plan, Jesus and His Mother turn every part of the day into an encounter of love.
           
Our Lady of Lourdes, embrace us and draw us to the Heart of your Son Jesus!

Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh